Strange Code: Esoteric Languages That Make Programming Fun Again

By: Ronald T. Kneusel

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Synopsis: Strengthen your overall coding skills by exploring the wonderful, wild, and often weird world of esoteric languages (esolangs).Strange Code starts with a dive into the underlying history of programming, covering the early computer-science concepts, like Turing machines and Turing completeness, that led to the languages we use today. It then explores the realm of &“atypical&” programming languages, introducing you to the out-of-the-box thinking that comes from these unusual approaches to coding. Later chapters address the even more unusual esolangs, nearly all of which are like nothing you&’ve ever seen. Finally, author Ron Kneusel helps you develop and use two entirely new programming languages. You may not apply these languages in your day job, but this one-of-a-kind book will motivate you to think differently about what it means to express thought through code, while discovering the far-flung boundaries of programming. You&’ll learn:How to program with pictures using PietHow to write two-dimensional programs in BefungeHow to implement machine-learning algorithms using the text pattern matching language SNOBOLHow to decipher Brainfuck code like [->-[>+>>]>[[-]+>+>>]How to design and create two original programming languages Learning to think in these languages will make you a better, more confident programmer.