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Are there any confirmed (Documented by the creators, etc) uses or features of Brainfuck that are specific to itself?

Zoe
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HarryCBurn
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  • There are no practical uses for that language. The only reason it exists is just "for fun" – toniedzwiedz May 23 '14 at 17:59
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    I'd assumed this already, but I was told that a 'language shouldn't be put down for being 'hard to read', there are other reasons to make one'. – HarryCBurn May 23 '14 at 18:05
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    If you're going to accept an answer that begins with IMO maybe you should remove the disclaimer that says not to answer with opinions... – BoltClock May 23 '14 at 18:19
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    Regardless of the request for facts, this is far too off-topic for Stack Overflow. – Taryn May 23 '14 at 18:22
  • @BoltClock Apparently, I am an internet scrub; I had no idea what 'IMO' meant ;) – HarryCBurn May 23 '14 at 19:06
  • @200_success What I should have put, is 'over other, higher-level, languages' ;) – HarryCBurn May 24 '14 at 13:13
  • You could probably use brainfuck for code obfuscation – simple_code May 20 '17 at 22:41
  • Nowadays, there are some people who might say "I don't like/want programming language X; it's too easy/simple", then the perfect reply would be "then build applications using Brainfuck" :P – evilReiko Sep 05 '19 at 06:32

2 Answers2

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IMO, the goals of the Brainfuck language are

  • To demonstrate what a practical language should NOT look like;

  • To demonstrate that even a poorly-designed language can be Turing-complete;

  • To brag in front of your programmer friends, e.g. "I've written a calculator in Brainfuck!"

  • To "f*ck (~= train) your brains" and getting practice. Just like a puzzle. There are also no very practical uses of the Rubik's cube, right?

Alex Shesterov
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    The question says "Please keep opinions *far* away from this Q, so facts only please.", yet your answer begins with "IMO". – BoltClock May 23 '14 at 18:15
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    I knew I would get such a comment :) That's fair. But if I'd omit the "IMO", these statements would not become facts. They are still just my opinion. "No practical uses" is also just an opinion. This question is a request for opinions in its nature. – Alex Shesterov May 23 '14 at 18:21
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    Still a pretty good answer to this question. While the accepted answer just drops a "no", this answer explains why it exists. – Right leg Jan 13 '17 at 13:49
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There are no practical uses of Brainfuck.

Dmitri
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    Wikipedia agrees: "It is a Turing tarpit, designed to challenge and amuse programmers, and was not made to be suitable for practical use." – Tommy May 23 '14 at 17:59
  • @Dmitri: With that reasoning, no language is "practical". You don't need any of the existing languages. Yet some are practical to do certain tasks. – PlasmaHH Jun 03 '14 at 11:25