<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
is	O
a	O
compiled	B-Language
language	I-Language
developed	O
in	O
1996	O
by	O
John	O
Carmack	O
of	O
id	O
Software	O
to	O
program	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
video	O
game	O
Quake	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
QuakeC	B-Application
,	O
a	O
programmer	O
is	O
able	O
to	O
customize	O
Quake	B-Application
to	O
great	O
extents	O
by	O
adding	O
weapons	O
,	O
changing	O
game	O
logic	O
and	O
physics	O
,	O
and	O
programming	O
complex	O
scenarios	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Quake	B-Application
engine	I-Application
was	O
the	O
only	O
game	O
engine	O
to	O
use	O
QuakeC	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
engines	O
used	O
DLL	O
game	O
modules	O
for	O
customization	O
written	O
in	O
C	B-Language
,	O
and	O
C++	B-Language
from	O
id	B-Application
Tech	I-Application
4	I-Application
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
QuakeC	B-Application
source	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
id	O
Software	O
Quake	B-Application
game	I-Application
logic	O
was	O
published	O
in	O
1996	O
and	O
used	O
as	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
modifications	O
like	O
capture	B-Application
the	I-Application
flag	I-Application
and	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
source	O
code	O
is	O
compiled	B-Language
using	O
a	O
tool	O
called	O
qcc	O
into	O
a	O
bytecode	O
kept	O
in	O
a	O
file	O
called	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
programmers	O
of	O
Quake	B-Application
modifications	O
could	O
then	O
publish	O
their	O
bytecode	O
without	O
revealing	O
their	O
source	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
Quake	B-Application
mods	O
were	O
published	O
this	O
way	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
allowed	O
the	O
Quake	B-Application
engine	I-Application
to	O
dominate	O
the	O
direction	O
of	O
the	O
first-person	O
shooter	O
genre	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thanks	O
to	O
Carmack	O
's	O
idea	O
of	O
extending	O
video	O
game	O
life	O
by	O
adding	O
unlimited	O
expandability	O
(	O
extensibility	O
already	O
played	O
a	O
big	O
role	O
in	O
Doom	B-Application
)	O
,	O
an	O
enormous	O
Internet	O
community	O
of	O
gamers	O
and	O
programmers	O
alike	O
has	O
arisen	O
and	O
many	O
modern	O
multiplayer	O
games	O
are	O
extensible	O
in	O
some	O
form	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
is	O
known	O
as	O
interpreted	O
because	O
as	O
Quake	B-Application
runs	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
continually	O
interpreting	O
the	O
progs.dat	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
syntax	B-Application
of	O
QuakeC	B-Application
is	O
based	O
on	O
that	O
of	O
the	O
C	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
explaining	O
its	O
name	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
does	O
not	O
support	O
the	O
implementation	O
of	O
new	O
types	O
,	O
structures	O
,	O
arrays	O
,	O
or	O
any	O
kind	O
of	O
referencing	O
other	O
than	O
the	O
"	O
entity	O
"	O
type	O
(	O
which	O
is	O
always	O
a	O
reference	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
also	O
suffers	O
from	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
many	O
built-in	O
functions	O
(	O
functions	O
prototyped	O
in	O
the	O
QuakeC	B-Application
code	O
but	O
actually	O
defined	O
within	O
the	O
game	O
engine	O
and	O
written	O
in	O
C	B-Language
)	O
return	O
strings	O
in	O
a	O
temporary	O
string	O
buffer	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
only	O
hold	O
one	O
string	O
at	O
any	O
given	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
does	O
not	O
contain	O
any	O
string	O
handling	O
functions	O
or	O
file	O
handling	O
functions	O
,	O
which	O
were	O
simply	O
not	O
needed	O
by	O
the	O
original	O
game	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
video	O
games	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
had	O
their	O
game	O
logic	O
written	O
in	O
plain	O
C/C	O
++	O
and	O
compiled	B-Language
into	O
the	O
executable	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
faster	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
this	O
makes	O
it	O
harder	O
for	O
the	O
community	O
to	O
create	O
mods	O
and	O
it	O
makes	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
porting	O
the	O
game	O
to	O
another	O
platform	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
Linux	B-Application
)	O
more	O
costly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Despite	O
its	O
advantages	O
,	O
the	O
choice	O
of	O
implementing	O
game	O
logic	O
using	O
a	O
custom	O
scripting	O
language	O
and	O
interpreter	B-Application
was	O
dropped	O
from	O
the	O
next	O
generation	O
Quake	B-Application
II	I-Application
engine	I-Application
in	O
favor	O
of	O
compiled	B-Language
C	B-Language
code	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
overall	O
inflexibility	O
of	O
QuakeC	B-Application
,	O
the	O
increasingly	O
complex	O
game	O
logic	O
,	O
the	O
performance	O
to	O
be	O
gained	O
by	O
packaging	O
game	O
logic	O
into	O
a	O
native	O
dynamic	O
link	O
library	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
advantage	O
of	O
leveraging	O
an	O
already	O
established	O
programming	O
language	O
's	O
community	O
,	O
tools	O
,	O
educational	O
materials	O
,	O
and	O
documentation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
bytecode	O
afforded	O
little	O
opportunity	O
for	O
mischief	O
,	O
while	O
native	O
code	O
has	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
whole	O
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QuakeC	B-Application
bytecode	O
also	O
worked	O
on	O
any	O
machine	O
that	O
could	O
run	O
Quake	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compiling	B-Language
to	O
native	O
code	O
added	O
an	O
additional	O
barrier	O
to	O
entry	O
for	O
novice	O
mod	O
developers	O
,	O
because	O
they	O
were	O
being	O
asked	O
to	O
set	O
up	O
a	O
more	O
complicated	O
programming	B-Application
environment	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
eventual	O
solution	O
,	O
implemented	O
by	O
the	O
Quake	B-Application
III	I-Application
engine	I-Application
,	O
was	O
to	O
combine	O
the	O
advantages	O
of	O
original	O
QuakeC	B-Application
with	O
the	O
advantages	O
of	O
compiling	B-Language
C	B-Language
to	O
native	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
lcc	B-Language
C	I-Language
compiler	I-Language
was	O
extended	O
to	O
compile	B-Language
standard	O
C	B-Language
into	O
bytecode	O
,	O
which	O
could	O
be	O
interpreted	O
by	O
a	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
in	O
a	O
manner	O
similar	O
to	O
QuakeC	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
was	O
solved	O
by	O
further	O
compiling	B-Language
the	O
bytecode	O
into	O
native	O
code	O
at	O
run	O
time	O
on	O
supported	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
id	O
Software	O
released	O
the	O
source	O
of	O
qcc	O
,	O
their	O
QuakeC	B-Application
compiler	B-Language
,	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
original	O
QuakeC	B-Application
code	O
in	O
1996	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
added	O
functionality	O
,	O
optimizations	O
,	O
and	O
compiling	B-Language
speed	O
boosts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1999	O
,	O
when	O
id	O
Software	O
released	O
the	O
code	O
from	O
Quake	B-Application
's	O
engine	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
(	O
GPL	B-License
)	O
,	O
the	O
workings	O
of	O
the	O
bytecode	O
interpreter	B-Application
were	O
examined	O
and	O
new	O
QuakeC	B-Application
compilers	B-Language
were	O
released	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
J.P.	O
Grossman	O
's	O
qccx	O
and	O
a	O
new	O
version	O
of	O
FrikQCC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
compilers	B-Language
took	O
advantage	O
of	O
newly	O
discovered	O
features	O
in	O
a	O
backwards-compatible	O
way	O
so	O
that	O
the	O
bytecode	O
could	O
still	O
be	O
properly	O
interpreted	O
by	O
unmodified	O
Quake	B-Application
engines	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
Quake	B-Application
engine	I-Application
source	O
code	O
now	O
able	O
to	O
be	O
changed	O
,	O
further	O
features	O
were	O
added	O
to	O
QuakeC	B-Application
in	O
the	O
form	O
of	O
new	O
built-in	O
functions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Features	O
long	O
yearned	O
for	O
by	O
QuakeC	B-Application
coders	O
finally	O
reached	O
realization	O
as	O
QuakeC	B-Application
now	O
had	O
file	O
and	O
string	O
handling	O
functions	O
,	O
enlarged	O
string	O
buffers	O
,	O
more	O
math	O
functions	O
,	O
and	O
so	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
programmers	O
taking	O
advantage	O
of	O
these	O
changes	O
lost	O
backwards	O
compatibility	O
with	O
the	O
unmodified	O
Quake	B-Application
engine	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Xonotic	B-Application
since	O
version	O
0.7	O
uses	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
enhanced	O
Quake	B-Application
engines	I-Application
(	O
notably	O
Darkplaces	O
and	O
FTEQW	O
)	O
have	O
support	O
for	O
an	O
extension	O
of	O
regular	O
QuakeC	B-Application
(	O
now	O
commonly	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
server-side	O
QuakeC	B-Application
)	O
that	O
allows	O
client-side-only	O
scripting	O
of	O
the	O
Quake	B-Application
engine	I-Application
.	O
</s>
