Despite the language's intentionally obtuse and wordy syntax, INTERCAL is nevertheless Turing-complete: given enough memory, INTERCAL can solve any problem that a Universal Turing machine can solve.

") The assignment operator, represented as an equals sign ( INTERCAL's " half mesh ") in many other programming languages, is in INTERCAL a left-arrow, < code ><-</ code >, referred to as " gets " and made up of an " angle " and a " worm ".

Unlike INTERCAL, it is not overtly humorous, and contains nothing terribly silly.

It is also a common feature of esoteric programming languages that strive to have obfuscated code, such as INTERCAL.

The earliest, and still the canonical example of an esoteric language was INTERCAL, designed in 1972 by Don Woods and James M. Lyon, with the stated intention of being unlike any other programming language the authors were familiar with.

COMEFROM was eventually implemented in the C-INTERCAL variant of the esoteric programming language INTERCAL along with the even more obscure ' computed '.

This was actually implemented in the INTERCAL programming language, a language designed to make programs as obscure as possible.

*, a keyword in the INTERCAL programming language

INTERCAL was intended to be completely different from all other computer languages.

Although this feature existed in the original INTERCAL compiler, it was undocumented.

According to the INTERCAL manual, " the aim in designing INTERCAL was to have no precedents ", supposedly neither in flow control features, nor in data manipulation operators.

The manual also contains a " tonsil ", as explained in this footnote: " 4 ) Since all other reference manuals have Appendices, it was decided that the INTERCAL manual should contain some other type of removable organ.

Kvikkalkul's origins are probably not as claimed, but instead it was likely invented as a joke, like INTERCAL.

For many years INTERCAL was represented only by paper copies of the INTERCAL manual.

There are two currently maintained versions of INTERCAL: C-INTERCAL, formerly maintained by Eric S. Raymond, and CLC-INTERCAL, maintained by Claudio Calvelli.

( More modern versions of INTERCAL have by and large kept the same data structures, with appropriate modifications ; TriINTERCAL, which modifies the radix with which numbers are represented, can use a 10-trit type rather than a 16-bit type ), and CLC-INTERCAL implements many of its own data structures, such as ' classes and lectures ', by making the basic data types store more information rather than adding new types.

James M. Lyon | Jimbo Lyon, one of the authors of INTERCAL

In recent versions of C-INTERCAL, the older operators are supported as alternatives ; INTERCAL programs may now be encoded in ASCII, Latin-1, UTF-8, EBCDIC, Hollerith, or Baudot.

Common operations in other languages have cryptic and redundant syntax in INTERCAL.

Most implementations of INTERCAL do this very slowly, however.

In C, it took less than half a second ; the same program in INTERCAL took over seventeen hours.

The INTERCAL manual gives unusual names to all non-alphanumeric ASCII characters: single and double quotes are " sparks " and " rabbit ears " respectively.

However, each of these variables has its own stack on which it can be pushed and popped ( STASHed and RETRIEVEd, in INTERCAL terminology ), increasing the possible complexity of data structures.

Early implementations of INTERCAL were tied to the IBM System / 360 and an unidentified Atari computer ( probably the Atari 2600 ) and have not survived.

To allow INTERCAL to run on computers using ASCII, substitutions for two characters had to be made: $ substituted for ¢ as the mingle operator, " represent the increasing cost of software in relation to hardware ", and?

It is important for an understanding of Zen to realize that the esoteric preoccupations of the select few cannot be the doctrine of the common man.

Holmyard, when writing on exoteric aspects, states that they can not be properly appreciated if the esoteric is not always kept in mind.

The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including " hidden ", " esoteric ", " spurious ", " of questionable authenticity ", ancient Chinese " revealed texts and objects " and " Christian texts that are not canonical ".

In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, the character of Alberto Mallich ( founder of the Unseen University and later Death's manservant Albert ) is a sly nod to Albertus Magnus in his more legendary and esoteric guise.

Along with tarot divination, astrology is one of the core studies of Western esotericism, and as such has influenced systems of magical belief not only among Western esotericists and Hermeticists, but also belief systems such as Wicca that have borrowed from or been influenced by the Western esoteric tradition.

Although the butterfly effect may appear to be an esoteric and unlikely behavior, it is exhibited by very simple systems: for example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill may roll into any of several valleys depending on, among other things, slight differences in initial position.

Esoteric Christianity is a term which refers to an ensemble of spiritual currents which regard Christianity as a mystery religion, and profess the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices, hidden from the public but accessible only to a narrow circle of " enlightened ", " initiated ", or highly educated people.

This is still a matter of debate within the esoteric and Wiccan community.

This is still a matter of debate within the esoteric and Wiccan community.

In contemporary esoteric traditions, it is commonly associated with the qualities of emotion and intuition.

However, later in the work, he argues against the Gnostics that faith, not esoteric knowledge, is required for salvation.

The Stromata is less systematic and ordered than Clement's other works, and it has been theorized by André Méhat that it was intended for a limited, esoteric readership.

The Zohar, which was written in the 13th century, is generally held as the most important esoteric treatise of the Jews.

Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest.

His definition is based on the presence in the esoteric currents of four essential characteristics: a theory of correspondences between all parts of the invisible and the visible cosmos, the conviction that nature is a living entity owing to a divine presence or life-force, the need for mediating elements ( such as symbols, rituals, angels, visions ) in order to access spiritual knowledge, and, fourthly, an experience of personal and spiritual transmutation when arriving at this knowledge.

It is believed that spiritual salvation is attained by receiving the ' Nur ' ( light ) through the " esoteric ", that is, spiritual search for enlightenment.

In order to distinguish esoteric currents based primarily on sources from late Antiquity and the European Middle Ages, from e. g. Islamic or Jewish currents with similar features, the more precise term " Western esotericism " is often employed.

Beside such revived currents from late Antiquity, a second major source of esoteric speculation is the Kabbalah, which was lifted out of its Jewish context and adapted to a Christian framework by people such as Johannes Reuchlin.

The post-theosophical Anthroposophical movement is a synthesis of occultist, Christian and Neoplatonic ideas with Western esoteric concepts as formulated in the wake of Theosophy.

:“ While I am convinced of the critical importance of historiography in the study of esotericism ( and for this reason all of my academic books are firmly grounded in historical method ) I do not believe that historiography is adequate in itself to convey the complex, multivalent nature of esoteric thought, traditions, or most of all, experience.

It is used in some esoteric languages including Unlambda.

A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis ( esoteric or intuitive knowledge ) is the way to salvation of the soul from the material world.