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ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
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Click the cover to see the book

Quick look: Strange Code

November 3, 2022

Some time ago I wrote about esolangs -- esoteric languages — in my newsletter, Digital Education (where this article first appeared). Strange Code looks at these and also atypical languages, which are those that are not mainstream.

It all sounds very non-relevant, but as Daniel Temkin says in the Foreword:

“It is invaluable for programmers to better understand “how the computer is turning the programs you’re writing into actions,” as Pressey put it, and how to shape that process, whether for practical or creative ends.”
— From Strange Code

It's very interesting -- there's even a language that generates code by your dancing in front of a webcam. Imagine doing that with your Year 9s on a Friday afternoon!

The author even gets the reader creating a new programming language. Bonus: for a book about programming it's remarkably readable!

A fuller review will appear in due course.

If you would like to comment on this article, you can do so here.

In Bookshelf, Quick Looks, Computing Tags esolangs, Programming, programming languages
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