The official reference implementation is Satriani
March 25, 2022 5:25 AM Subscribe
Rockstar is a computer programming language designed for creating programs that are also hair metal power ballads.
Mentioned but unlinked in a previous post about the Enterprise™ language, created for similar purpose to Rockstar: making already meaningless recruiter buzzwords even more meaningless through the power of heavy metal.
Particularly charming is Rockstar's "poetic literal" feature: "...poetic literals allow the programmer to simultaneously initialize a variable and express their innermost angst." You don't have to be a programmer or even think like one to appreciate the idea of expressing numbers with lyrics.
Esoteric programming languages such as these have a long history, most of which is least vaguely expressive in nature. The notion of language designs as works of art and cultural acts has been studied from a humanities perspective but as with many such things there are as many works as reasons for them.
Mentioned but unlinked in a previous post about the Enterprise™ language, created for similar purpose to Rockstar: making already meaningless recruiter buzzwords even more meaningless through the power of heavy metal.
Particularly charming is Rockstar's "poetic literal" feature: "...poetic literals allow the programmer to simultaneously initialize a variable and express their innermost angst." You don't have to be a programmer or even think like one to appreciate the idea of expressing numbers with lyrics.
Esoteric programming languages such as these have a long history, most of which is least vaguely expressive in nature. The notion of language designs as works of art and cultural acts has been studied from a humanities perspective but as with many such things there are as many works as reasons for them.
I respect all of the effort invested in the joke, the overall aesthetic of the joke, and the prospect of permanently burying the term "rockstar programmer" as the joke it should always have been.
posted by mhoye at 6:39 AM on March 25, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 6:39 AM on March 25, 2022 [14 favorites]
mhoye: "the term "rockstar programmer" as the joke it should always have been."
Yeah, like 'meritocracy', it's a joke most people didn't seem to get.
posted by signal at 6:45 AM on March 25, 2022
Yeah, like 'meritocracy', it's a joke most people didn't seem to get.
posted by signal at 6:45 AM on March 25, 2022
there's a fantastic talk from the guy who made it here
posted by Clowder of bats at 8:26 AM on March 25, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Clowder of bats at 8:26 AM on March 25, 2022 [5 favorites]
"Tommy used to work on the docs."
posted by eclectist at 8:41 AM on March 25, 2022 [43 favorites]
posted by eclectist at 8:41 AM on March 25, 2022 [43 favorites]
I enjoy Rockstar as a joke, and In the Speaking Code book you linked to, Cox points out how this type of esolang challenges the seriousness of programming; in that way, Rockstar is in a line of parody languages going back to INTERCAL of 1972.
However, I want to point out that many esolangs go beyond applying a theme (such as lyrics) to a familiar programming paradigm (procedural / imperative). I wrote about some recently for the art blog Hyperallergic.
Rockstar is similar to the multicoding languages, where code has two readings. Multicoding langauges like Chef, where code is written as cooking recipes, and in:verse, where code is poetry, are more open-ended than Rockstar, in such a way that programmers can code in their own style while exploring the aesthetic of the esolang as a system. In Chef, constructing a program that's also a recipe for something actually edible is an interesting challenge. In in:verse, each program looks like an in:verse program but also leaves room for individual expression.
Other languages explore alternate forms of computation, like Unlambda and Three Star Programmer. Then there are esolangs as pure idea-art, made up of impossible rules or that don't lead to computation, like the language Unnecessary (where all code is unnecessary), or the trans-finite languages of David Madore (perfectly valid theoretical languages that simply require infinitely large computers to run). These challenge conventional ideas of what a language is, of what code is.
posted by rottytooth at 8:57 AM on March 25, 2022 [16 favorites]
However, I want to point out that many esolangs go beyond applying a theme (such as lyrics) to a familiar programming paradigm (procedural / imperative). I wrote about some recently for the art blog Hyperallergic.
Rockstar is similar to the multicoding languages, where code has two readings. Multicoding langauges like Chef, where code is written as cooking recipes, and in:verse, where code is poetry, are more open-ended than Rockstar, in such a way that programmers can code in their own style while exploring the aesthetic of the esolang as a system. In Chef, constructing a program that's also a recipe for something actually edible is an interesting challenge. In in:verse, each program looks like an in:verse program but also leaves room for individual expression.
Other languages explore alternate forms of computation, like Unlambda and Three Star Programmer. Then there are esolangs as pure idea-art, made up of impossible rules or that don't lead to computation, like the language Unnecessary (where all code is unnecessary), or the trans-finite languages of David Madore (perfectly valid theoretical languages that simply require infinitely large computers to run). These challenge conventional ideas of what a language is, of what code is.
posted by rottytooth at 8:57 AM on March 25, 2022 [16 favorites]
The union's now a struct, he's debugging malloc, oh fuck.
posted by Arctic Circle at 9:46 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Arctic Circle at 9:46 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
prospect of permanently burying the term "rockstar programmer" as the joke it should always have been.
Came in to say that exact same thing.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:53 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Came in to say that exact same thing.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:53 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ah, these are fun.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:01 AM on March 25, 2022
posted by Going To Maine at 10:01 AM on March 25, 2022
"Tommy used to work on the docs."
Ricky was a young man
He had a heart of code
posted by clawsoon at 10:16 AM on March 25, 2022 [6 favorites]
Ricky was a young man
He had a heart of code
posted by clawsoon at 10:16 AM on March 25, 2022 [6 favorites]
More than words, they're longint fields
'Cause these integers aren't reals
posted by credulous at 10:42 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
'Cause these integers aren't reals
posted by credulous at 10:42 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
oh god i love this
posted by cortex at 11:23 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by cortex at 11:23 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Darkness takes your heart
Poetry is imperfection
If your heart is less than poetry
Give your heart back
Let my heart be your heart
Knock my heart down
Let the wind be the darkness taking my heart
Knock my heart down
Let the shadow be the darkness taking my heart
Give back the wind with the shadow
My soul is impervious
The night is a razor
Until my soul is the night
Whisper the Darkness taking my soul
Build my soul upposted by uncleozzy at 12:22 PM on March 25, 2022 [6 favorites]
I'm really tempted to come up with an FFT implementation, but that's too close to the actual work that I ought to be doing instead.
posted by biogeo at 5:48 PM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 5:48 PM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
I've never encountered the esolang concept before, but this seems to me to be a perfect illustration of its potential for both beauty and silliness. I want to spend every hour of every day reading the docs. thanks so much for posting this!
posted by Kybard at 7:40 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Kybard at 7:40 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
in the code November rain
posted by clawsoon at 12:51 AM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by clawsoon at 12:51 AM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
Multicoding langauges like Chef, where code is written as cooking recipes
I'm here to talk about my PTSD. We had various batch processes that were basically data science pipelines at large scale. A template for a pipeline was a recipe, inputs were ingredients, to run a job you cooked it. We had a job to check consistency called Doorley, who's a famous Irish restaurant critic. Newcomers assumed we were a weird cult. And we were.
posted by kersplunk at 2:41 AM on March 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm here to talk about my PTSD. We had various batch processes that were basically data science pipelines at large scale. A template for a pipeline was a recipe, inputs were ingredients, to run a job you cooked it. We had a job to check consistency called Doorley, who's a famous Irish restaurant critic. Newcomers assumed we were a weird cult. And we were.
posted by kersplunk at 2:41 AM on March 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I fell in love with Inform many years ago. It's probably also considered an esolang; it's designed for programming text adventures using natural language. My attempts at a superhero Inform adventure led me to give up the idea of making a game, but instead to end up writing several short novels. Those who persevered and created Inform adventures have an incredible library to play through. I remember particularly liking the Beauty and the Beast retelling called Brass, by Emily Short.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 5:46 AM on March 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 5:46 AM on March 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
I tinkered with Inform 7 when it came out but found the natural language bit to be awkward. It wasn't really natural language at that point, it was just different strings for the same structures. It may have evolved since then which would be truly lovely. Inform 6, the traditional not-esoteric domain-specific language is still supported today and at least to me is more approachable.
There's probably an entire other post about DSLs to be made.
posted by majick at 10:09 AM on March 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
There's probably an entire other post about DSLs to be made.
posted by majick at 10:09 AM on March 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
« Older Excuse me Geoff is ENERGY EFFICIENT | Pianist Barney the Cat jams with bassist Jeffin... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Thanks for the chuckle.
posted by signal at 5:55 AM on March 25, 2022 [5 favorites]