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I've said before that C is small, but not simple.

Turing Tarpits like Brainfuck or the Binary Lambda Calculus are a more extreme demonstration of the distinction, they can be very tiny languages but are extremely difficult to actually use for anything non-trivial.

I think difficulty follows a "bathtub" curve when plotted against language size. The smallest languages are really hard to use, as more features get added to a language it gets easier to use, up to a point where it becomes difficult to keep track of all the things the language does and it starts getting more difficult again.




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