As the creator of languages like Underload, and an administrator of the esolangs.org wiki, ais523 talks through what makes esolangs interesting and challenging vs thematic and gimmicky.
(Interview)
#Bitwise Cyclic Tag
#brainfuck
#Burn
#C-Intercal
#early esolangs
#engaging with logic
#Funge-98
#LOLCode
#the dematerial
#turing tarpit
#Unlambda
#Wiki Cyclic Tag
In this second interview with ais523, we discuss his experiments at finding 'the essence of programming,' using analog computing, extreme minimalism, and a deletionist model of computation
(Interview)
#90
#Amnesiac From Minsk
#engaging with logic
#Minsky machine
#Subtractpocalypse
#the dematerial
#Three Star Programmer
#turing tarpit
#ZISC
Alex was a key developer of live coding as a musical practice, and, with Nick Collins, created the Algorave concept. Alex has developed software for coding-as-performance, including TidalCycles.
(Interview)
#Algorave
#performative code
#runme.org
#Tidal
Allison Parrish is a poet and programmer who researches and makes art about language, often in the context of computation and the Internet. She is the creator of the everyword Twitterbot and the author most recently of Articulations, a book of generative poems from an algorithm which extracts linguistic features from over two million lines of public domain poetry, then traces fluid paths between the lines based on their similarities.
(Interview)
#Ephemerides
#everyword
#phoentic vectors
#poetry
#text of code
Annie's work brings engagement with code to theatre, with experimental works where performers (human and non-) act on generated music or texts.
(Interview)
#algorithmic theatre
#text of code
Ben is an early esolanger, whose Malbolge, a language created in a single afternoon, is still considered the most challenging to code; he gives insight into the early days of esolangs.
(Interview)
#befunge
#Dis
#Malbolge
#turing tapit
#xn13.c
Chris has been making esolangs before they had a name; he helped foster the community through the mailing list where much of the early discussion took place, and is responsible for the enormously influential Befunge language, among many others.
(Interview)
#ALPACA
#befunge
#Fred Fish
#Funge-98
#gemooy
#SMETANA
#text of code
#turing tarpit
David has created some of the best-known esolangs, including Chef and Piet, which exress code within other rule-based systems, and Whenever, a language that overturns a key element of how code is controlled.
(Interview)
#Chef
#Ook!
#piet
#text of code
#Whenever
Eric, best known for his work in the free software / open source movement, is also responsible for developing C-INTERCAL in 1990, a critical moment for esolangs, from the 70s language INTERCAL, perhaps the very first esolang
(Interview)
#C-Intercal
#INTERCAL
Keymaker created one of my favorite languages, Unnecessary. In this, the very first interview for esoteric.codes (from January 2011), Keymaker discusses his work in esolanging and in brainfuck programming
(Interview)
#Clue
#text of code
#turing tarpit
#Unnecessary
#Wheat
Martin Ender creates 2D languages of unusual topologies, with code arranged in hexagons, triangles, or using registers arranged in icosohedral structures. We discuss the aesthetics of Funges and golfing languages, and how to both make a complex esolang clear enough for programmers to be able to engage with its central premise.
(Interview)
#Alice
#befunge
#engaging with logic
#Hexagony
#text of code
#turing tarpit
#Wumpus
Martin created (or, in a sense, discovered) JSFuck, an esoteric approach to JavaScript. His other work similarly deals with code as a self-referential medium.
(Interview)
#Aurbesh
#brainfuck
#JavaScript
#JSFuck
#quine
#text of code
#turing tarpit
Ramsey explores alternate computer histories and examines the biases of code through his languages and environments
(Interview)
#text of code
#Zajal
#قلب [ 'alb ]
Scott founded esolangs.org, the indispensable depository of esolang knowledge. Here he talks about the history of the form and the key role esoprogrammers play.
(Interview)
#Bitwise Cyclic Tag
#brainfuck
#Hev
#Qdeql
#SMETANA
#Sortle
#turing tarpit
Wouter created FALSE, the language which inspired Befunge and brainfuck, launching esolangs as we know them today. He also created the once-enormously-popular (non-esoteric) Amiga E language.
(Interview)
#Aardappel
#Amiga-E
#Bla
#FALSE
