APL, possible the only language with:

(1) One-liner contests (it has an amazing set of APL operators, which could be combined into fantastically unreadable code) -- the winner would be the solution using the fewest characters

(2) Dead-key contests ... the operators noted above were all available as a single keystroke. This contest was to solve a problem where the single operator one would normally use to solve the problem was on a dead-key (for those of us who recollect when keyboards might actually have a dead key)

(3) Pornographic code ... APL allowed assignments of multiple variables all in one statement. This lent a lot to the unreadability of code. Since it was impossible to clearly define what made a statement unreadable, it was decided that calling it pornography was the best description .... you can't define it, but you recognize it when you see it.


Jim




>APL is not dead, but not widely used either. It still has a big following for actuaries and similar data analysis.
>
>I agree with you about it being "succinct, abstruse, impossible to read". I liken it to Egyptian Hieroglypics. A Rosetta Stone (the actual tablet, not the software) should be issued with every purchase.
>
>Interestingly, there is an APL.NET.
>
>>I worked (exclusively) for 30 years in a long-since dead language, APL.
>>
>>It was the most succinct, abstruse, impossible to read language you've ever seen.
>>
>>We used to say that the code was self-encrypting -- you couldn't read it yourself after five minutes.
>>
>>I'd have to give it top honors of the languages I have worked in.