Why INTERCAL is better than Perl (2002)

INTERCAL has made many contributions to the state-of-the-art for numerous modern languages. My personal favorite sides with the author with the implementation of COME FROM, which is indisputably a vast improvement over the much maligned GOTO. It's so handy that it's been ported to Python! [0]

[0] http://entrian.com/goto/

Java implementation here:

http://progopedia.com/implementation/j-intercal/

Now, are there any true innovators out there that want to put a REST-ful web framework on it? ;)

Hearing about INTERCAL always reminds me of this: https://skillsmatter.com/skillscasts/6088-the-worst-programm...

That was hilarious. Especially the precedence section. The brilliance behind INTERCAL's design also inspired work in the functional programming domain:

http://www.madore.org/~david/programs/unlambda/#what_is

The lambda calculus without the lambda operation. Brilliant improvement!

Now we just need a video of Wirth's reaction to a demo of these.

Perl doesn't have boolean types and you have to end class definitions with 1; Most languages are better than Perl.

My favorite part, at the end:

...With INTERCAL, you can regularly type your name in your program. Especially if your name is FORGET.

Author

Jean Forget ...

Perl lends itself to craziness because of the notorious TMTOWTDI principle taken to the extreme - Intercal can indeed appear more sane than many Perl programs I have had the misfortune to use and (shudder) update.

Is this article actually serious? I can't help but think it is satirical.