The Hacker Folk Art of Esoteric Coding

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

sohkamyung

88 points

17 comments

thereader.mitpress.mit.eduTechstory

calmpositive

Debate

20/100

Esoteric Programming LanguagesCoding as ArtHacker Culture

Key topics

Esoteric Programming Languages

Coding as Art

Hacker Culture

The article explores the concept of esoteric coding as a form of hacker folk art, and the discussion revolves around the creative and philosophical aspects of coding, highlighting the intersection of technology and art.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

Peak period

60-66h

Avg / period

3.4

Comment distribution17 data points

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Based on 17 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Sep 25, 2025 at 6:20 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Sep 27, 2025 at 9:48 PM EDT
3d after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
4 comments in 60-66h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Sep 28, 2025 at 11:41 PM EDT
3 months ago
Step 04

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Discussion (17 comments)

Showing 17 comments

jvanderbot

3 months ago

2 replies

Ok this part is prescient:

"The parody language INTERCAL was revived as C-INTERCAL, where one literally pleads with the interpreter to run their cryptic code."

bryanrasmussen

3 months ago

1 reply

hmm, this sounds like a job for vibe coding!

euroderf

3 months ago

"ChatGPT, write me an INTERCAL compiler in INTERCAL. Take your time."

xpointer

3 months ago

Also, the code for the original INTERCAL-72 compiler was recently re-discovered: https://esoteric.codes/blog/published-for-the-first-time-the...

lrobinovitch

3 months ago

1 reply

Also linked in the article, https://esolangs.org is worth a read if this is up your alley

lifthrasiir

3 months ago

That wiki also comes with a funny CAPTCHA:

> Which number does this Befunge code output: 9731231181>\#+:#*9-#\_$.@

Duanemclemore

3 months ago

1 reply

The FOC podcast folks released an episode on a paper (they didn't like) on esolangs just today. [0] Their episode on INTERCAL is an all-time classic.

I'm also excited for my copy of Temkin's book to arrive!

[0] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-take-esoteric-pro...

xpointer

3 months ago

1 reply

The FOC podcast is super fun and they end up discussing a few esolangs from the Forty-Four Esolangs book (Entropy, FatFinger). I'm also on a podcast about the book with Sam Arbseman (author of Magic of Code): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daniel-temkin-on-esote...

Duanemclemore

3 months ago

1 reply

Hello sir! I found out about esoteric.codes from FOC a while ago, have read most of what's on there since. Honestly surprised Steve (or early days with Ivan) never had you as a guest / interviewee. So I'll definitely check this one out. Congrats on what looks like an amazing book, can't wait until I get to read it.

Thank you for bringing an underappreciated corner of computing to people's attention!

xpointer

3 months ago

Thanks! It's so nice that esolangs are starting to get wider appreciation as a cultural form.

ashu1461

3 months ago

1 reply

Reminds be of how people use typescript types like a hidden programming language making calculators etc.

h4ch1

3 months ago

Also: TypeScript types can run DOOM [video] (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43184291)

emoII

3 months ago

1 reply

It seems the link to the minesweeper paper is broken, anyone know the title/has an alternate link?

dubya

3 months ago

My guess is Richard Kaye, "Minesweeper is NP-complete", but it's paywalled. Certainly the paper is listed somewhere on https://minesweepergame.com/math-papers.php

omoikane

3 months ago

1 reply

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