Brainf*ck!

What the heck is Brainf*ck?

Brainf*ck is an esoteric programming language noted for its extreme minimalism.

What is an Esoteric Programming Language?  

An esoteric programming language is a programming language designed to test the boundaries of computer programming language design, as a proof of concept, or as a joke.

A little bit of history...

Brainf*ck is the ungodly creation of Urban Muller in 1993. His intention was to design a 

language which could be implemented with the smallest possible compiler. He managed to write a 240-byte compiler. 

Get ready to be Brainf*cked!

A Brainfuck program has an implicit byte pointer, called "the pointer", which is free to move around within an array of 30000 bytes(also referred to as the 'tape'), initially all set to zero. The pointer itself is initialized to point to the beginning of this array. 

As it was stated earlier, Brainf*ck is noted for its extreme minimalism. This language is very minimalistic because it only uses 8 symbols. 8 symbols? Yeahp! It only uses the symbols ><+-.,[ ] 

Each symbol represents a command:

> Move the pointer to the right
< Move the pointer to the left
+ Increment the memory cell under the pointer
- Decrement the memory cell under the pointer
. Output the character signified by the cell at the pointer
, Input a character and store it in the cell at the pointer
[ Jump past the matching ] if the cell under the pointer is 0
] Jump back to the matching [ if the cell under the pointer is nonzero

Let's look at a C equivalent to understand further:

(Program Start) char array[30000]; char *ptr=array;

> ++ptr;
< --ptr;
+ ++*ptr;
- --*ptr;
. putchar(*ptr);
, *ptr=getchar();
[ while (*ptr) {
] }

The essence of Brainf*ck programming is to manipulate the 'tape' using the 8 listed commands. Let's try to program in Brainf*ck!


The classic Hello World! program Brainf*ck style:

 +++++ +++++             initialize counter (cell #0) to 10
[                       use loop to set the next four cells to 70/100/30/10
    > +++++ ++              add  7 to cell #1
    > +++++ +++++           add 10 to cell #2 
    > +++                   add  3 to cell #3
    > +                     add  1 to cell #4
    <<<< -                  decrement counter (cell #0)
]                   
> ++ .                  print 'H'
> + .                   print 'e'
+++++ ++ .              print 'l'
.                       print 'l'
+++ .                   print 'o'
> ++ .                  print ' '
<< +++++ +++++ +++++ .  print 'W'
> .                     print 'o'
+++ .                   print 'r'
----- - .               print 'l'
----- --- .             print 'd'
> + .                   print '!'
> .                     print '\n'


Our group mate then tried programming in Brainf*ck (lakas mo brad!):

The Group's Feedback:

"The language's name is so appropriate! It will really mess up with your brain. It's an interesting challenge for every programmer with a lot of time to waste! Haha.  I thought that assembly was already cryptic, but when I saw this PL, BOOM! All I can say is "WTF." This programming language is so cool! Mr. Muller, what have you done? "
                                                                     - Ivan Escamos, 2010-42113

"Brainf*ck language can turn your brain upside down when it comes to programming complex implementations. An amusement for bored programmer geeks who wants extreme challenges." 
                                                                      - Ciejay Hernandez, 2010-41303

" Brainf*ck is awesome but mind distorting. Coding in such a language takes a lot of time and effort. However, it helps to be familiar with the ascii code."
                                                                      - Ian F. del Barrio, 2010-45988

"Hindi siya readable.. Hindi rin sya writable... Mahirap aralin... Parang unfriendly sa mata yung symbols..."
                                                                       -Keeshiah Ong, 2010-52851


References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck
http://esolangs.org/wiki/brainfuck
http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/bf/