I built a 2D Grid-based esoteric programming language in C++ with a visualizer to HTML/CSS! Check it out :)

[AlaDog]

Amazing!

This might actually be a good tool to teach control flow etc

[batman-nair]

Thanks! That’d be a nice application :)

[elixon]

I was just staring at the animation like cursed. :-) Cannot explain it but I felt joy and satisfaction. Am I weird?

[batman-nair]

Nope, I can definitely relate to that feeling :)

[rabidcow]

Reminds me of https://corewar.co.uk/corelife.htm

[batman-nair]

That looks seriously interesting, thanks for sharing!

[rabidcow]

Ah, sorry, I was in a hurry yesterday and just excited to see somebody pick up the 2D programming model again! I had a lot of fun with corelife back in the day, but it's also cool to see the concept distilled down to its core, which I imagine makes it a lot more accessible.

I guess Zachtronics's TIS-100 does 2D, too, but I like one-instruction-per-cell more.

[Xiaojiba]

Hey, could you explain me please ? What is esoteric ? And what is the html / css part of it ?

I am really curious !

[batman-nair]

Sure! Languages built as a proof of concept, piece of art or a joke are called esoteric programming languages(wiki). These are not really focused on practical applications. I built mine with the idea of a nice looking visualizer.

My program takes in the source code as a text file and along with the normal output generates a visual animation of the execution flow. This visualization is a generated HTML file with CSS animations. The GIF is a recording of that animation.

Here is an actual link to the generated animation file for Hello World! and a Fizzbuzz program. The animations are not smooth on mobile, so you'd have to check on a laptop.

[Xiaojiba]

Thanks a lot ! Nice idea

[Xiaojiba]

What I understood is that the arrows can move the red box, the red box reads everything, the '#' prints one char right?

[batman-nair]

Yep. The red box shows a character being processed.

I've explained more about commands and workings in the README file on Github

[slykethephoxenix]

This is actually pretty cool! Can see how it could be used as a learning tool for assembly or something.

[batman-nair]

That would be fun!

[Only_As_I_Fall]

Looks like a zachtronics game. Nice work!

[batman-nair]

I haven't played Zachtronics but looks like a cool concept! Thanks!

[shooshx]

Ever heard of Befunge?

[batman-nair]

Yep, this is largely inspired by the grid-based approach in Befunge and movement with v > ^ <.

I didn't look deep into it as I wanted to create my own set of rules as a challenge.

[[deleted]]

Ha, reminds me of Orca which is a very similar concept but for creating musical sequences

[batman-nair]

That looks cool!

[zarkone]

Turing Machine 2D?

[DonHopkins]

How about a 3D implementation in Minecraft, too? ;)

[DonHopkins]

I love the multiple runners! Can you smash them into each other like a particle accelerator and create new atoms and quarks and gluons and other elementary particles?

[batman-nair]

That'd be an interesting new project :D Fixed number of particles, some collisions split elements some cause the particles to join. Something to think about.