Nullary

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Nullary is an esolang created by User:occular.

History

The language was conceived in May 2016, as a possible answer to the question "What would be next step along from the Unary language (or other 0-dimensional languages)?".

Description

Nullary is a computer language that takes no user input. A correct implementation of Nullary takes no program and no parameters from the user.

Upon launch, a Nullary implementation takes note of the elapsed time since the epoch (in the current timezone) measured in microseconds (denoted T).

Convert T into base 1 (unary). Execute this as input to the Unary or Progressive Unary esolangs.

If Nullary doesn't output something exciting in a quick enough time, you can turn off your computer.

Practicality

Needless to say, Nullary isn't a very practical language. It may be of use to time travellers with a warped sense of humour, or those of a very patient disposition.

Language Variant: Nullary+

Instead of using Unary, translate T into base 8 and use it as Brainfuck input. This variant has the advantage of not having the input parsing delay that Unary/Progressive Unary has.

See Also

  • Seed
  • Wait, which this is essentially a dialect of.