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38 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
# Esoteric Programming Language
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So called esoteric programming languages (esolangs) are highly experimental and [fun](fun.md) [programming languages](programming_language.md) that employ bizarre ideas. Popular languages of this kind include [brainfuck](brainfuck.md), [chef](chef.md) or [omgrofl](omgrofl.md).
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There is a wiki for esolangs, the [Esolang Wiki](https://esolangs.org). If you want to behold esolangs in all their beauty, see [hello world in different languages](https://esolangs.org/wiki/Hello_world_program_in_esoteric_languages_(nonalphabetic_and_A-M). The Wiki is published under [CC0](cc0.md)!
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Some notable ideas employed by esolangs are:
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- Using images instead of text as [source code](source_code.md) (e.g. *Piet*).
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- Doing nothing (e.g. *Nothing*).
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- Being 2 or more dimensional (e.g. *Befunge* or *Hexagony*).
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- Source code resembling cooking recipes (e.g. *Chef*).
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- Trying to be as hard to use as possible (e.g. *Brainfuck*).
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- Trying to be as hard to compile as possible (e.g. *Befunge*).
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- Adding randomness to program execution (e.g. *Entropy*).
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- Obligation to beg the compiler to do its job (e.g. *INTERCAL*).
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- Using only white characters in source code (e.g. *Whitespace*).
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- Using only single letter in source code (e.g. *Unary*).
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- Using git repository structure as source code (e.g. *legit*).
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- Source code resembling dramatic plays (e.g. *Shakespeare*, actual [real-life](real_life.md) plays were performed).
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- Solely focus on [golfing](golf.md), i.e. writing the shortest possible programs (e.g. *GoldScript*)
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- Using [unicode](unicode.md) characters (e.g. *UniCode*).
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- Being infinitely many languages (e.g. *MetaGolfScript*, each one solves a specific program in 0 bytes).
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Esolangs are great because:
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- **They are actually useful research in language design**, even if most of the ideas aren't useful directly, esolangs really teach us about the borders and definitions of what languages are. And sometimes, by mistake, actual discoveries are made.
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- They are **[fun](fun.md)**.
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- **They are great exercise in [programming](programming.md)** and design. Simple languages that are allowed to not be useful are potentially good for education as they let the programmer fully focus on a specific idea and its implementation.
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- **They blend technology with [art](art.md)**, train creativity.
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- **They are a breath of fresh air** in the sometimes too serious area of technology. Hobbyist and non-commercial programming communities are always great to have.
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## History
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INTERCAL, made in 1972 by Donald Woods and James Lyon, is considered the first esolang in history: its goal was specifically intended to be different from traditional languages and so for example a level of politeness was introduced -- if there weren't enough PLEASE labels in the source code, the compiler wouldn't compile the program.
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In 2005 esolang wiki was started.
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