What’s the smallest possible programming language that can still be used to solve real problems? Certainly, a candidate for that prize would be Brainfuck, an esoteric programming language developed by Urban Müller in 1993. In this chapter, we’ll develop a Brainfuck interpreter. Brainfuck is perhaps the easiest possible programming language to write an interpreter for—you’ll be amazed at how succinct ours is. By the end of the chapter, you’ll have learned not only how Brainfuck works but also the core tenets of any interpreter.
What Is Brainfuck?
Brainfuck has only eight commands (+, -, ., ...
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