https://www.aartaka.me.eu.org/blog/brainfuck-lessons

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I Wrote 2K+ Lines of Brainfuck. Here's What I've Learned

Programming in Brainfuck is fun. No, that's not the tears of pain
streaming down my face. I write Brainfuck almost professionally. At
least I founded BF Enterprise Solutions. Some of the products I made:

  * OS.bf, a full-featured operating system.
  * Actually usable text editor, ed.bf
  * meta.bf, a meta-circular evaluator for Brainfuck itself written
    in Brainfuck.

So I had my share of blood, sweat, and tears. Here's what I've got
from it.

SS When One Typo Kills Your Day

Some of my projects are big enough to do something useful. They are
also big enough to have enough chaos in them. In case you make a typo
in the code, they work. They don't miscompile, they don't fail type
checking. Mostly because it's Brainfuck and there's no type checking.

So yes, they work... In a slightly broken way. Some inputs simply
cause infinite loops. Some inputs make the program stop responding.
Some inputs happen... even if the program requires no input! Okay,
that last one was an exaggeration. But still, the point stands:
broken code doesn't break immediately.

See commit 6f0b33b for the example of several typos that broke
recursive bracket evaluation in meta.bf.

Debugging is simple: just run the program in the memory-displaying
interpreter. And step through every command tracking what happens to
the memory. Yes, every single command. Even if the program is half a
thousand lines long.

I am a much more patient person now that I wrote my share of
Brainfuck. I will automatically qualify as Embedded Software
Engineer. Debugging a running hardware is nothing compared to
debugging opaque Brainfuck programs.

SS I Am The Virtual Machine

I must admit that stepping through every command is deadly. It's
often impossible or too long. Yes, I had half an hour long session of
one pass through the buggy program. And there are several such
sessions one needs to find and fix the bug. So the only adaptation
strategy I got is stepping through the code in my head.

Many C programmers write screenfuls of code without trying it out.
Compiler often starts screaming. A lot. Panicky. But the more code
one writes, the less compiler warnings they get.

So again, I'm a better C (or any compiled language really) programmer
now. I can compile and run arbitrarily complex code mentally. And
debug it too.

SS Grand Designs

I'm often lying awake at night and iterating on Brainfuck code in my
head. Some algorithm I can improve, or some data layout that my
programs can benefit from. Especially when that relates for string/
array algorithms from str.bf, like swap.bf optimization commit
e067d73.

Data layouts are extremely important. A good data layout might
eliminate a lot of copying loops and minimize memory use. It's also a
good way to reason about programs. That's why bf.doc has an extremely
detailed section on memory layout notation.

Any sufficiently big library or algorithm needs a good data layout.
Much like the conventional wisdom: good data structure eliminates the
need for smart algorithms. So yes, I'm prepared for practical
programming: I am focused on data instead of code.

SS Should You Try Brainfuck Too?

Yes, you should. It's an illuminating experience. While I'm not sure
if it's good for your mental health, it's fun at least.

So go ahead, hack up your own OS.bf and learn your own lessons from
programming in the best programming language out there!

Or just star some of my projects and get horrified from their code 

I'm looking for new projects/positions. If you or your company needs
a Lisp/Clojure dev with C and JavaScript experience, then we might be
a good match!

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Copyright 2022-2023 Artyom Bologov (aartaka). Any and all opinions
listed here are my own and not representative of my employers;
future, past and present.