While these languages where ment to be confusing and hard to read, under the hood they are as simple as you can get. They are essentially state machines. Now, obviously this does not mean that it is simple to write code with them, quite the opposite, but in theory they are as simple as you can get.
A more widely used language which I consider to be esoteric is COBOL. (hot take :D)
There is also a youtube channel who is dedicated to esoteric programming languages: youtube.com/@Truttle1
I'm a coder who has worn a lot of hats, from individual contributor to lead engineer to "CTO" (yes, in quotes, make of that what you will!). I've plenty to learn and hopefully some to share as well.
Other than meme languages like Brainfuck, the most obscure language I've used was Prolog which we used for a bit in university.
It's a really cool language but it's radically different from typical programming languages, so it's pretty tricky to pick up even if you're already experienced at programming. While most common programming languages are "procedural", Prolog is a "logical" programming language, so it's a whole different paradigm.
Learning Prolog was really fun and I think it can help solidify your grasp of recursion which it tends to use really heavily.
I haven't used it but as I understand it Lisp is quite similar and has more practical uses.
Open-source developer with 15+ years of experience, active Polish Wikipedia editor, mentor, and official Wikimedia Polska trainer. Lead creator of the WikiZEIT project and photographer.
YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS 'This is Factorial'
DISCOVER HOW TO factorial WITH n
RUMOR HAS IT
WHAT IF n IS ACTUALLY 0
SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT 1
LIES!
SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT
n TIMES factorial OF n MINUS 1
END OF STORY
EXPERTS CLAIM result TO BE factorial OF 10
YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS result
PLEASE LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE
BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SAY PLEASE result15
TALK TO THE HAND "FizzBuzz"
BULLSHIT
BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SAY PLEASE result3
TALK TO THE HAND "Fizz"
BULLSHIT
BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SAY PLEASE result5
TALK TO THE HAND "Buzz"
BULLSHIT
TALK TO THE HAND index
YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR LOGIC
YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR LOGIC
YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR LOGIC
NULAN: why? Well, because I wrote it on a Dragon 64 for my own use.
Loosely based on Logo with a bit of reverse polish notation to make it more complicated and with recursion built in.
I used it to create fractals and that was about it.
I would say that makes it pretty obscure - and looking back at it, it is obscure to me right now!
The rockstar language, it's really obscure to understand what the code does but it is cool to read it and it has a cool backstory: codewithrockstar.com/
Brainfuck, Whitespace, LOLCODE
While these languages where ment to be confusing and hard to read, under the hood they are as simple as you can get. They are essentially state machines. Now, obviously this does not mean that it is simple to write code with them, quite the opposite, but in theory they are as simple as you can get.
A more widely used language which I consider to be esoteric is COBOL. (hot take :D)
There is also a youtube channel who is dedicated to esoteric programming languages: youtube.com/@Truttle1
LOLCODE is a piece of art.
Other than meme languages like Brainfuck, the most obscure language I've used was Prolog which we used for a bit in university.
It's a really cool language but it's radically different from typical programming languages, so it's pretty tricky to pick up even if you're already experienced at programming. While most common programming languages are "procedural", Prolog is a "logical" programming language, so it's a whole different paradigm.
Learning Prolog was really fun and I think it can help solidify your grasp of recursion which it tends to use really heavily.
I haven't used it but as I understand it Lisp is quite similar and has more practical uses.
Tabloid
Here is example of the code of factorial:
There is even an online playground.
There's Piet, which is just pictures. Here's "Hello, World!"
I'd hang this in my bedroom.
There's also Malbolge which is just so evil that I can't explain it. Go read the wiki.
There's Shakespeare, Chef, Befunge, and a lot more.
And one of my personal favourites: ArnoldC
NULAN: why? Well, because I wrote it on a Dragon 64 for my own use.
Loosely based on Logo with a bit of reverse polish notation to make it more complicated and with recursion built in.
I used it to create fractals and that was about it.
I would say that makes it pretty obscure - and looking back at it, it is obscure to me right now!
Definitely Malbolge, although Befunge is also nice.
APL created by Ken Iverson.
The rockstar language, it's really obscure to understand what the code does but it is cool to read it and it has a cool backstory: codewithrockstar.com/
We learned OOP concepts in Lingro iirc it was a kind of actionscript/flash thing that literally nobody used in production lol
The programming language for Texas Instruments calculators