this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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Is brainfuck efficient ?
For the programmer? Very no.
For saving space if run via interperter? No.
For running compiled for conventional CPUs? No.
Compared to CISC instruction sets? Absolutely no.
BF might be highly efficient if crunched down to a bit-packed representation (3 bits per instruction) and run on an FPGA that understands it.
For demonstrating to CS freshmen that Turing Completeness isn't that remarkable of a language feature: very highly efficient.
Can be compressed very efficiently. I do dread the thought of writing a driver in brainfuck.
Which basically means: "You have to write more code than actually needed". It's more a con than a pro in my eyes.
Hot take: As a VM with only eight instructions, it's very easy to code and securely sandbox. Maybe BF has utility as a compilation target?
Why specifically a driver ?
Hardware is complex and mysterious enough without added complexity of an esoteric language.