What is the hardest programming language?

Malbolge. It was so hard that the first program written for it was done by a machine two years after it's release.

But, if you want a non-esoteric language, then try learning Assembly Language.

CatsUnited wrote:

Malbolge. It was so hard that the first program written for it was done by a machine two years after it's release.

But, if you want a non-esoteric language, then try learning Assembly Language.

Yes, malbolge is ridiculously hard. But what about a whitespace language?

Butterflies.

Real programmers use butterflies.

I couldn't think of anything more difficult.

programming machine code, except via a Navajo code talker saying 1s and 0s. Yes, you are the code talker.

Using butterflies to send messages to a Navajo code talker who then speaks into Google Translate so that everyone can understand if he said zero or one, and then a 100 year old man heard him and walks a mile to get to an iPhone that has Siri to deliver the message. She is told to send a text message to an Arduino containing a zero or one, which tells it what to add to the code.

Now that's hard!

CatsUnited wrote:

But, if you want a non-esoteric language, then try learning Assembly Language.

It depends on what is meant by “hard”…

I wouldn't say it's that difficult to write a basic program in assembly - you tend to have a more limited set of the essential instructions, so in some ways it's easier. (I remember writing 6502 and Z80a assembly when I was still at secondary school - try some of those older ones and you'll get the essential idea pretty quickly. After that it's just a case of learning the appropriate mnemonics for more modern ones.)

I think I'd describe it as tedious rather than ‘hard’…

Well, programming languages are supposed to do the job, so unless it's an esoteric (for fun) language, I doubt any language would be created to be a pain in the neck…

Well, you could always invent a programming language where you instruct 7th graders at bottom set to do calculations…

iamunknown2 wrote:

Well, programming languages are supposed to do the job, so unless it's an esoteric (for fun) language, I doubt any language would be created to be a pain in the neck…

Yeah, exactly…

I think I'd say that it's more a case of not being ‘used to’ the way a language works.

A good example would be something like Joy, which is rather different to the more common languages you tend to come across these days. (See also Forth, which I recall finding really intriguing when the Jupiter Ace first came out around the same time as I got my ZX Spectrum.)

If you want an example of a serious (and very concise, yet powerful) programming language that was reasonably widely used early on, and yet seems very foreign to most coders these days, take a look at APL.

So far, I'm thinking like this:
Malbolge is hardest to program
Whitespace is the hardest to read, but has some practical uses

Um, may I ask, what is the purpose of topic?

We seem to head towards esoteric languages..

Malbolge may be tough, but it can be understood through concrete rules. if you're looking for the absolute hardest programming language, then quantum-computer machine language is just for you.

Zro716 wrote:

Malbolge may be tough, but it can be understood through concrete rules. if you're looking for the absolute hardest programming language, then quantum-computer machine language is just for you.

If I was going to program for a quantum computer, I'd program in QCL, Quiper, or something like that.

Rumanti wrote:

Butterflies.

Real programmers use butterflies.

I couldn't think of anything more difficult.

I wish you could +1 posts. I'm too lazy to find the clean version of the xkcd for anyone who doesn't get it…

MegaApuTurkUltra wrote:

Rumanti wrote:

Butterflies.

Real programmers use butterflies.

I couldn't think of anything more difficult.

I wish you could +1 posts. I'm too lazy to find the clean version of the xkcd for anyone who doesn't get it…

I made this a while ago. Found it in my pictures library. (It's also on the forums somewhere. No idea where though.)

PullJosh wrote:

I made this a while ago. Found it in my pictures library. (It's also on the forums somewhere. No idea where though.)
-snip-

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/1292670/ You can't see it though since CubeUpload is down.

djdolphin wrote:

PullJosh wrote:

I made this a while ago. Found it in my pictures library. (It's also on the forums somewhere. No idea where though.)
-snip-

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/1292670/ You can't see it though since CubeUpload is down.

it's up now

EDIT: huh, I can see the image but can't acsess the site…

WooHooBoy wrote:

djdolphin wrote:

PullJosh wrote:

I made this a while ago. Found it in my pictures library. (It's also on the forums somewhere. No idea where though.)
-snip-

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/1292670/ You can't see it though since CubeUpload is down.

it's up now

EDIT: huh, I can see the image but can't acsess the site…

Then it's probably a cached copy of the image.

djdolphin wrote:

WooHooBoy wrote:

djdolphin wrote:

PullJosh wrote:

I made this a while ago. Found it in my pictures library. (It's also on the forums somewhere. No idea where though.)
-snip-

https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/1292670/ You can't see it though since CubeUpload is down.

it's up now

EDIT: huh, I can see the image but can't acsess the site…

Then it's probably a cached copy of the image.

oh it's not cubeupload

TheLogFather wrote:

iamunknown2 wrote:

Well, programming languages are supposed to do the job, so unless it's an esoteric (for fun) language, I doubt any language would be created to be a pain in the neck…

Yeah, exactly…

I think I'd say that it's more a case of not being ‘used to’ the way a language works.

A good example would be something like Joy, which is rather different to the more common languages you tend to come across these days. (See also Forth, which I recall finding really intriguing when the Jupiter Ace first came out around the same time as I got my ZX Spectrum.)

If you want an example of a serious (and very concise, yet powerful) programming language that was reasonably widely used early on, and yet seems very foreign to most coders these days, take a look at APL.

FORTH is really fun to implement. Mostly because it is so similar to RPN, and uses a stack.