User:Hppavilion1/Esolang Adjectives

This page is a catalog of what I consider to be proper adjectives for describing Esolangs. This does not include adjectives for programming languages in general, like Declarative vs. Imperative. Feel free to add your own, if you like.

Esofeature Count

Esofeature Count is designated by whether a language is Monoesoteric or Polyesoteric.

A Monoesoteric language has a single, central esoteric feature (and possibly some minor corollary esoteric features) that makes the language an Esolang, while the rest of the language is normal. These are often used as Proof-of-concept languages and demonstrations, as opposed to esolangs for the sake of being esoteric. An example of this property is Call Queue, a language that is entirely normal, except it works on a call queue instead of a call stack.

A Polyesoteric language is the product of putting crazy in a blender, mixing the viscous liquid you get from that with a ground-up normal language, and baking the result into a language. They're convoluted, have more than one irregular feature, and aren't as nice and clean as monoesoteric languages. However, they still have a purpose in breaking standards and demonstrating entirely alternative ways of doing things. An example of this is INTERCAL

Normal Feature Count

A language can be either minimalistic or ornate.

A minimalistic language strives to have as few features as possible, achieving some goal while being small enough to fit inside a single person's head in its entirety, or just being small. Alternatively, it might be designed as a proof-of-concept that the programmer doesn't want to make too difficult to implement. The canonical example of this is Brainfuck.

Ornate languages go bananas with features. They add everything that comes to mind, creating a big, complicated monstrosity. If the author's memory serves, Gammaplex is a good example of this.

Esoteric Pervasiveness

If a language is made purely out of esoteric, like Thue, then it is referred to as Whole-grain Esoteric.

If it has features that are esoteric, but also has normal features that make it familiar to programmers, such as in Call Queue, then it is Heavily Processed.

Language Classes

There are a few major language classes recognized by me, all of them based on a major language. The class given effectively denotes the overarching goal of a language.

• INTERCALlian languages are entirely outlandish, being completely different from normal languages.
• Demonstrational languages are proofs-of-concepts, not Esolangs for the sake of Esolangs.
• Unlambdic languages are based off of entirely different, but still powerful, systems from what normal languages are based off of (similar to, but not the same as, INTERCALlian)