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Interview With Author of the First Spoof Language

Posted by Soulskill on from the spoof-language-real-beard dept.

An anonymous reader brings us Computerworld's interview with Don Woods, one of the creators of Compiler Language With No Pronounceable Acronym (INTERCAL). INTERCAL and its documentation were created in 1972 as a parody of that era's languages and instruction manuals. Among other things, Woods had this to say: "We designed the language without too much trouble. Writing the manual took a while, especially for things like the circuit diagrams we included as nonsensical illustrations. The compiler itself actually wasn't too much trouble, given that we weren't at all concerned with optimising the performance of either the compiler or the compiled code. I admit I'm surprised at its longevity. Some of the jokes in the original work feel rather dated at this point. It helps that the language provides a place where people can discuss oddball features missing from other languages, such as the 'COME FROM' statement and operators that work in base 3."

14 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Bah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Intercal has nothing on Brainfuck. Brainfuck makes every other spoof programming language look like a joke. I'd write the Hello World! program here, but Slashdot's content filter doesn't support Brainfuck code.

    1. Re:Bah! by Jerome+H · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well if you are looking for really fucked up language can I suggest Malbolge ?
      Here is the link:

      http://esoteric.voxelperfect.net/wiki/Malbolge

      --
      int main() { while(1) fork(); }
    2. Re:Bah! by Goaway · · Score: 5, Informative

      Most people entirely miss the point of Brainfuck. It was never meant to be esoteric for the sake of it, or to "challenge and amuse programmers" as Wikipedia puts it.

      It was designed to create a compiler as small as possible. The original AmigaOS compiler was 240 bytes in size. Even smaller compilers have been created by people who truly grasped the spirit of the language.

    3. Re:Bah! by Tmack · · Score: 5, Funny
      The language you refer to is whitespace, as described and linked in a comment below as well.

      I would post "Hello World" written in it here, but the comment thingy refused to accept it: "Filter error: Please use less whitespace."

      tm

      --
      Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
    4. Re:Bah! by mobby_6kl · · Score: 5, Funny

      Your suggestion is laughable. There is only one acceptable answer.

  2. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft announces new language for the .NET platform, IronINTERCAL.

    With all the features of regular INTERCAL, but only runs on Windows Vista (tm).

    Miguel De Icaza had this to say about the exciting new development - "No Me Gusta." He's clearly speechless about this fabulous new language available only on Windows Vista (tm).

  3. COME FROM revival by listen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you hunker down and squint at it the right way, COME FROM is really an early form of aspect oriented programming - non local transfer of control to the point of definition - yeah, yeah CLOS fans we know that real generic functions subsume AOP and date from the mists of the 80s - but this is from the early 70s so it is pretty interesting. Over application of hyped technologies for the win!

  4. A widely accepted use of COME FROM by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you hunker down and squint at it the right way, COME FROM is really an early form of aspect oriented programming

    Even before the alleged fad that is AOP, processors have had hardware support for COME FROM for a long time. It's called a breakpoint.

  5. Better spoof languages by russotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    INTERCAL has nothing on APL. Or even on Stroustroup's parody of C, which people actually think you're supposed to use.

  6. P ' ' by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most people entirely miss the point of Brainfuck. It was never meant to be esoteric for the sake of it, or to "challenge and amuse programmers" as Wikipedia puts it.

    It was designed to create a compiler as small as possible.

    That, and Brainfuck is a realization of P ' ', the first imperative structured programming language ever to be proved Turing complete.

  7. it's apparently amateur night by Tumbleweed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh please.

    Has noone here ever used perl? :)

  8. Re:LOLCODE by Izzy84075 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You DO realize that's what it's supposed to do, right?

  9. Woah! by Zwicky · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow! Researching these esoteric programming languages has been more than a brainfuck - it is positively a brainfuck++. Nay, I'm sure just reading of them is causing an irreversible loss of knowledge of real programming languages - that must surely qualify as a quantum brainfuck whereby both cannot be fully comprehended at the same time.

    Man, now I really feel like a dumbf*ck! Fuck, Fuck! Double fuck!

    The bad news is that my pointy haired boss has ordered that all development switch to his new favorite language. I think he may have been smoking something.

    This is bad for me because he has now had to ask me to go ahead and come in on Saturday. This means I will have to cancel my date, who has real come hither eyes, and I was so confident it was going to be a real beneficial[0] night[1].

    Argh!

    I wish I could get all my ducks in a row so I could give him a swift kick with my size nines so he walks funny for a week, flick him the V and leave this crummy company; that would rock!

    [0] High five!
    [1] Unlike the last one, on which the lady gave me an unexpected present.

    --
    "Three eyes are better than one" -- Lieutenant Columbo
  10. Re:LOLCODE by exley · · Score: 5, Funny

    u is in our threadz
    missin teh point