Daniel Temkin
@dtemkin.bsky.social
1.6K followers 640 following 590 posts
Artist + esolanger, he/him New book: Forty-Four Esolangs—the first artist’s monograph of programming languages—out now: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553087/forty-four-esolangs/
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dtemkin.bsky.social
Honored to be prominently discussed in this #esolang podcast which raises some of the most critical questions in the space and covers a LOT of material in its nearly two hours
dtemkin.bsky.social
It was about having a day job as an artist. I need to think of better advice for young people
dtemkin.bsky.social
After each talk the main thing I remember is the one question I wish I’d answered better
Reposted by Daniel Temkin
markcmarino.bsky.social
Come hear Daniel Temkin talk about the strangest prpgramming languages in the world at his USC book launch Wednesday! Sponsored by HaCCS lab, the Harman Academy, Media Arts + Practice and the Dornsife Writing Program!

@dtemkin.bsky.social @ahmansonlab.bsky.social
dtemkin.bsky.social
Great!! It’s a big space, don’t think it’s going to fill by then
dtemkin.bsky.social
I think if we misuse it the right way, we can get it to lie most of the time
dtemkin.bsky.social
There are surely more important things to worry about with the cbs take-over, but them ruining Trek feels the most personal
Reposted by Daniel Temkin
markcmarino.bsky.social
We're excited to host a book launch with Daniel Temkin, one of the world's leading experts in esoteric programming languages (or Esolangs).

Book Launch: Forty-Four Esolangs
2pm, October 15
Ahmanson Lab (3rd Floor of Leavey) @dtemkin.bsky.social @ahmansonlab.bsky.social
dtemkin.bsky.social
This place is incredible; they keep all the hardware functioning
dtemkin.bsky.social
Successfully delivered a working Minitel from Paris to the Large Scale Systems Museum outside of Pittsburgh!
Minitel on chair in front of a pdp-11
dtemkin.bsky.social
How ai summarizes my book tour email:
Beware, I may be coming to a town near you!
dtemkin.bsky.social
But imagine a RockStar that borrowed from langs like Ashpaper, where rhyme has semantic value. Or Prāsa, whose lexicon is in the rhythm of syllables (built on Telugu poetry). A lyric-based esolang could use rhyme and rhythm for expression and go so much further…
dtemkin.bsky.social
It doesn’t allow for the expressiveness of a true multicoding language like Piet… your RockStar program reads pretty much like mine; it leaves SOME room for personal expression in code but not enough to make it rewarding to spend much time with (imo).
dtemkin.bsky.social
To be honest, I don’t get what RockStar is going for… Sure, it undermines the seriousness of the compiler, like Ook or LOLCODE. Maybe it seems funnier to people who were into these kinds of bands.
dtemkin.bsky.social
My partner and I were SCREAMING at the rottytooth bit until you connected it was me. So glad you discussed Less Humble Programmer; I'm proud of that piece... We listened the morning before an esolang talk, so was super encouraging. When we got the space, the curator had just listened as well
dtemkin.bsky.social
Would love to chat with y'all about non-English esolangs. BTW, bodyfuck was made before the Kinnect, it just uses the webcam, which is pretty amazing... There were a few langs you mentioned that are new to me and I'm excited to check out. I have a lot more random thoughts, too much to summarize here
dtemkin.bsky.social
I think picking that article to review was a way of pushing back against the usual canon of 20 year old esolangs, and showing how much more going on, from eso-livecoding to multicoding, syntax-heavy langs beyond Shakespeare, etc. Making a 2hr podcast and keeping it compelling is a feat!