Genie Tutorials, Blogs and Code Examples

This page provides links to tutorials, blog posts and code examples of the Genie programming language. It has been ported from the now-retired GNOME Wiki page.

Many of these resources are several years old. They may still be useful but some links can be outdated or point to archived versions of long-gone websites.

Help wanted

If you know of a useful resource (or a more up-to-date replacement for one of the links below), open an issue or a pull request on the Vala docs repository.

Tutorials and Articles

• The Genie Programming Language Tutorial - the official tutorial, ported into this documentation. the up-to-date reference manual maintained alongside the Vala compiler.
• Cross Compiling Vala/Genie from Linux to Android - part of the Avalanche Games project; may be interesting for advanced users.
• Genie Doc (Español) - "Wiki de programación con Genie", an excellent set of tutorials and examples with screenshots and code samples; covers the basics and also GTK+3, GStreamer, Pango, Cairo and more.
• Genie = Python + Vala (Polski) - some good introductory examples of using Gtk and Cairo.
• The Genie language - by Barry Kauler; links to more detailed tutorials toward the bottom of the page.
• Genie (programming language) - Wikipedia article.
• GTK GUI development in Genie - a basic introduction from 2010.
• In the Bottle - Good performance and easy coding - by Ankur Kumar, article published in 2010 in Linux Magazine.
• Newest 'genie' Questions on Stack Overflow - technical questions and answers.
• Raspberry Pi Home Server - Install and test the Vala language / Genie - a tutorial using Genie and the WiringPi GPIO interface library to blink a LED on the Raspberry Pi.
• Vala and Genie Programming - PuppyLinux - a basic introduction from the Puppy Linux project.

Blogs and Forum Posts

• Six Weeks with Vala - February 2016, blog post reviewing the author's experience with Vala and Genie: "I found that Genie, the 'other' language compiled by valac, is vastly underrated. Genie could be the next big thing..."
• Nim vs. Vala/Genie - May 2015, Reddit post comparing Nim with Vala and Genie.
• Genie - Coding Craig - December 2011, an enthusiastic and critical overview.
• Vala/Genie versus Python opinion piece - forum post highlighting the speed of a very simple compiled Genie program over Python.
• Genie/Vala - July 2010, first impression of Genie and Vala.
• Jazyk Genie (Polski) - June 2010, introduction to Genie.
• Genie Improvements - June 2008, the introduction of lists and dicts by Genie's creator Jamie McCracken.
• Introducing Genie - the smart programming language - May 2008, by Jamie McCracken.

Code Examples and Utilities

• AgenDie - an address book with a GTK+3 front end.
• GameFoo - "A POC for an ECS game engine written in Vala/Genie".
• Genie sample code — full sources hosted in this documentation (basic I/O, Cairo, GIO, LibSoup, XML, and more).
• Image viewer - example of an image viewer written in Genie.
• Image viewer 2 (GtkStack) - another example of an image viewer written in Genie.
• indent/genie.vim - Vim text editor indent script for the Genie language.
• Khövsgöl Source Code - a shared music player and library / playlist manager licensed under the GPL. A good example of using GTK, SQLite and GStreamer 1.0 in Genie. Provides integration with PulseAudio, JACK, IceCast, RTP, desktop, MPRIS and Zeroconf/Bonjour.
• ShmupWars - Vala - arcade-style game mostly written in Genie and some Vala, uses SDL 2.
• py2gs - a simple Bash script as a starting point to convert Python to Genie.
• SDL 2.0 Example - example of Genie code with the SDL 2.0 bindings. Makes use of a font, image and audio file.

Communities

• Vala Community - chat rooms, forums and other community resources for Vala and Genie.
• Newest 'genie' Questions on Stack Overflow

See Also

• Introduction to Genie - language overview and tutorial.
• Developing Genie - guide to improving the Genie scanner and parser.