This question on this kind of topic needs to stop being asked on Hacker News. It's fair to ask whether or not there was a material usage intended for the project, but if isn't one, we really need to stop implying that there should be.
that's not a chance I'm willing to take. This is how PHP started. It was a reject experiment that escaped the lab. Then some poor souls took it seriously. Now all of humanity suffers.
I would argue you haven't really learned how to program until you implement some kind of machine yourself or at least written a compiler. He probably has a very intimate understanding of how all that works now, and I bet he did it for that reason alone.
Yes, yes and you can't DJ without crates of vinyl and 2 turntables. I'll get off your lawn now