There are more than 9000 programming languages in the world. If you want to learn to code, which programming language would you choose? Easier or difficult ones? In this article, we will look at some of the most difficult programming languages in the world in 2023.
Malbolge
Malbolge programming language was introduced in 1998 by Ben Olmsted. It was named after the eighth circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Malbolge is so difficult to learn that it took almost two years to write a program in this language. It is categorized as an esoteric programming language and code written in Malbolge looks like garbage text. It is also said that even Ben Olmsted didn’t write any code in this programming language.
Apart from obscure notation, it is also a self-modifying language. There are almost no resources to learn this language as very few people know this language. Even if you are an experienced programmer, you might not want to learn this language.
Whitespace
As the name suggests, the Whitespace programming language uses only whitespaces and tabs. It was introduced by Edwin Brady and Chris Morris on April fools day in 2003. In this language, you can only use spaces, tabs, and newlines to write your code. The interpreter will ignore any additional characters. Ignore writing, can you even view the code in the first place? I will never suggest you even try to learn such a difficult programming language.
Intercal
This language was introduced by Don Woods and James M. Lyon in 1972. It doesn’t contain any pronounceable acronym. It has keywords like please, readout, ignore, forget, etc. A specialty of this program is that you need to use the please keyword exactly four times. Even if it is three or five, it won’t work.
Cow
The cow programming language was introduced in 2003 by Sean Heber. It has only 12 instructions and the entire code can be written using the word ‘Moo’ and its variations. Any other character isn’t recognized in this language. The makes this language one of the most difficult programming languages to learn.
Brainfuck
As you can guess from the name itself, Brainfuck is a very complicated programming language. It was introduced by Urban Muller in 1993. There are only eight commands in this language.
Shakespeare
Shakespeare is also an esoteric programming language. It was introduced by Jon Åslund and Karl Hasselström. It has been designed to make the programs look like Shakespeare’s plays. In the beginning of the program, a character list defines a number of stacks, naturally named “Romeo” and “Juliet.” These characters have a conversation in which they change each other’s highest values, push and pop each other, and do I/O with each other. The characters can also ask each other conditional assertions by asking each other questions. Overall, the programming model resembles assembly language, but it is significantly more verbose.
ArnoldC
It is also an esoteric programming language. It was introduced by Lauri Hartikka. In this language, variables and keywords are differentiated by capitalization. Variables should always be lowercase, whereas keywords are always uppercase. Each new keyword command in ArnoldC should be written on a new line.
Haskell
Haskell is named after the great mathematician Haskell B Curry. It is a lambda calculus-based, polymorphically statically typed, and purely functional language. It is largely used in research, industrial applications, and training. Unlike other modern programming languages that support imperative commands, Haskell follows a 100% functional paradigm. It’s difficult to grasp the subtleties of Haskell compilation and mistake correction. It contains a lot of jargon and you may find it difficult to work with Haskell if you are a beginner in programming.
Prolog
Prolog is a logical programming language. It is extensively used in implementing artificial intelligence-based expert systems and natural language processing. You might find it a difficult programming language as it requires the programmer to think about their logic upfront.
Lisp
It is the second oldest programming language. Nowadays, it is mostly used in higher-level systems and for artificial intelligence. Lisp is considered one of the most difficult programming languages as it is a fragmented language with domain-specific solutions.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed some of the most difficult programming languages in 2023. I would suggest you not invest your time in learning these languages. The first reason is that they are very difficult to learn. Moreover, these languages are not used in industries. So, learning these languages will not help you expand industry-relevant skills. You can learn Python, Java, C++, or any other programming language that is easy to learn and has industrial applications. If you learn a programming language that has no use, it is better not to learn that language.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Stay tuned for informative articles.
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