« Pictures that were pr… | Home | BF+++ code release an… »

BrainF**k+++ reasons for existance

12 05 10 - 21:07 Goals of BF++:
1. Language must still be innately recognisable as BrainF**k. It must feel like coding BrainF**k.

2. Remove all the tedious bits. Yes, we know you can put 81 +es in a row. Yes, we know you can factorize the number and use ++++++++[>+++++<-]. You couldd also look the number up on http://esolangs.org/wiki/Brainfuck_constants. Yes, it is tedious - but tediousness at such a low level is not what this is about - there are better things to get stuck on how to implement. Hello World is now simpler to implement, but you could have generated all the +-[]ing with a program.

3. There are plenty of BrainF**k derivatives that make it harder to code, like BoolF**k like where you only operate on bits. This is not the goal here.

4. Add things that make it almost but not quite usable. If you just can't implement something reasonably, nobody will try. But it's more fun to just have it sitting right on the edge such that it's almost easy... but just that little bit harder than you want to go. Tempt people in with strings and sockets... but trap them in the rest. Programming is like a challenge now. So this means adding string support.

5. Also add stuff that makes it possible to write serious apps in it. Console IO is just not enough. So there's file I/O and network sockets.

6. Finally, make the expense of 3 + signs worth it, as someone has already made BrainF*ck++, and this adds more. And annoys people when what looks like line noise spits out the HTML source to their homepage.