Learn MatchBox
Ten short lessons from your first script to a native executable, with a live playground on every page.
On this page
MatchBox is the Rust runtime for BoxLang. This course takes you from a first script to a native executable in ten short lessons. You do not need to install anything to start: every code sample has a Run this in your browser button that opens a real MatchBox runtime, compiled to WebAssembly, right under the code. Edit the sample, break it, run it again.
Your progress is remembered in this browser, so you can stop and pick up where you left off.
- Welcome to MatchBoxWhat MatchBox is, how it relates to BoxLang, and your first script, run in the browser.
- Install and runInstall MatchBox with MVM, then run and compile a script on your own machine.
- Values and stringsVariables, numbers, strings, interpolation and operators.
- Arrays and structsLists and key-value data, and the loops that walk over them.
- Functions and callbacksFunctions, default and named arguments, arrow functions, and map, filter and reduce.
- Classes and objectsBundle data and behavior together, with a constructor and methods you can chain.
- Errors and control flowif and switch, break and continue, and handling errors with try, catch and finally.
- Running work at the same timeFutures, runAsync and then, and how the browser build runs them.
- Build and shipTurn a script into bytecode or a single native executable you can hand to anyone.
- Where to go nextChoose your next project and explore the tools for your deployment target.
Before you start
You should know the basics of at least one programming language. You do not need to know BoxLang, CFML or Rust. The lessons that install tools or build files (lessons 2 and 9) show commands for your own terminal, because a browser tab cannot do those. Everything else runs on this page.
The playground has limits: a run stops after 5 seconds, source and output are capped at 64 KiB, and there are no files, network or Java. See the playground page for the full list.