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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Annie's work brings engagement with code to theatre, with experimental works where performers (human and non-) act on generated music or texts.
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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.
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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.
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David Madore is responsible for Unlambda, one of the best-known and most-confounding esolangs of all time. An accomplished mathematician, Madore also produced languages that cross from natural numbers into infinity, but may be incompatible with our Universe
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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.
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Before brainfuck and Befunge, there was INTERCAL. Don Woods discusses the creation of this pioneering esolang and how he looks at geek culture today.
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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
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Evan Buswell sees the history of computer science as completely suffused with the anxiety about the possibility of code changing state. Here he explores alternatives that embrace this anxiety and see where it leads
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Corbett discusses how Cree#, which began as a "Processing for Indigenous Languages," grew into a suite of tools: a full-fledged Cree-based programming language, associated keyboard, and a toolkit to bring other Indigenous languages into computation
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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
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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.
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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.
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Ramsey explores alternate computer histories and examines the biases of code through his languages and environments
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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.
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Winnie's academic research and artistic practice, is at the forefront of critical code studies. Her thesis centers on the animated throbber, the marker of code liveness. She has been awarded the Top-Ranked LABS Abstracts 2017 by Leonardo and the Winner of The 2018 Aarhus University Research Foundation PhD award, as well as the Expanded Media Award for Network Culture at Stuttgarter Filmwinter among many others. Currently, she is Assistant Professor at the Department of Digital Design and Information Studies, teaching Aesthetic Programming and Digital Culture.
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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.
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