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The Hacker Folk Art of Esoteric Coding
- jvanderbot 1y agoOk this part is prescient: "The parody language INTERCAL was revived as C-INTERCAL, where one literally pleads with the interpreter to run their cryptic code."
- bryanrasmussen 1y agohmm, this sounds like a job for vibe coding!
- euroderf 1y ago"ChatGPT, write me an INTERCAL compiler in INTERCAL. Take your time."
- xpointer 1y agoAlso, the code for the original INTERCAL-72 compiler was recently re-discovered: https://esoteric.codes/blog/published-for-the-first-time-the-original-intercal72-compiler-code https://esoteric.codes/blog/published-for-the-first-time-the...
- untrimmed 1y agoThis completely reframes coding from a tool to a medium. It's less about computation and more about... encoded philosophy?
- lrobinovitch 1y agoAlso linked in the article, https://esolangs.org https://esolangs.org is worth a read if this is up your alley
- lifthrasiir 1y agoThat wiki also comes with a funny CAPTCHA: > Which number does this Befunge code output: 9731231181>\#+:#*9-#\_$.@
- Duanemclemore 1y agoThe FOC podcast folks released an episode on a paper (they didn't like) on esolangs just today. [0] Their episode on INTERCAL is an all-time classic. I'm also excited for my copy of Temkin's book to arrive! [0] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-take-esoteric-programming-languages-seriously/id1265527976?i=1000728662449 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-take-esoteric-pro...
- xpointer 1y agoThe FOC podcast is super fun and they end up discussing a few esolangs from the Forty-Four Esolangs book (Entropy, FatFinger). I'm also on a podcast about the book with Sam Arbseman (author of Magic of Code): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daniel-temkin-on-esoteric-programming-languages/id1796494444?i=1000728209795 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daniel-temkin-on-esote...
- Duanemclemore 1y agoHello sir! I found out about esoteric.codes from FOC a while ago, have read most of what's on there since. Honestly surprised Steve (or early days with Ivan) never had you as a guest / interviewee. So I'll definitely check this one out. Congrats on what looks like an amazing book, can't wait until I get to read it. Thank you for bringing an underappreciated corner of computing to people's attention!
- xpointer 1y agoThanks! It's so nice that esolangs are starting to get wider appreciation as a cultural form.
- ashu1461 1y agoReminds be of how people use typescript types like a hidden programming language making calculators etc.
- h4ch1 1y agoAlso: TypeScript types can run DOOM [video] (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43184291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43184291)
- emoII 1y agoIt seems the link to the minesweeper paper is broken, anyone know the title/has an alternate link?
- dubya 1y agoMy guess is Richard Kaye, "Minesweeper is NP-complete", but it's paywalled. Certainly the paper is listed somewhere on https://minesweepergame.com/math-papers.php https://minesweepergame.com/math-papers.php
- omoikane 1y agoSee also: https://esoteric.codes/blog/forty-four-esolangs-an-artists-monograph-of-programming-languages https://esoteric.codes/blog/forty-four-esolangs-an-artists-m... The linked article is the preface to the book, and the book appears to be based on the collection of blog entries from https://esoteric.codes/ https://esoteric.codes/
- xpointer 1y agoHi, I'm the author. Esoteric.codes is my blog on esolangs in general; the book is a collection of my esolangs in particular. Also just to note that e.c had been on hold while I focused on the book, but I'm working on new posts, so please send anything new esolang-related my way!