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2026 Obfuscated Programming Language Design Contest
In recent years, as the importance of AI-assisted programming continues to grow, new ideas are being demanded for programming languages as well. In a world where the shackles of readability have been removed, what kind of languages could exist?
We are hereby holding the 2026 Obfuscated Programming Language Design Contest. This contest celebrates programming languages that challenge our assumptions about syntax, semantics, and readability — languages that make you think, laugh, or question your sanity.
Rules
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Your entry must be a design of a new programming language.
It must not have been publicly released prior to the contest's start date.
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Your entry must include one or more sample programs
written in your language, which showcase its characteristics.
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You can submit multiple entries, and your team may consist of any number of members.
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The entirety of your entry must be submitted under MIT License.
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Your entry must bring the judges a surprise, excitement, and/or laughter.
Guidelines
(These are not strict rules but hints or suggestions.)
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A reference implementation is not required, but strongly recommended.
If you provide one, please include either a Dockerfile or
setup instructions for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS so that the judges can run your sample programs.
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The judges would prefer languages that are creative, consistent in their own logic, and/or delightfully unreadable.
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It is up to you whether or not to make your language Turing complete (if you have never heard that term, never mind.)
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To judge without bias, we will try to keep each entry anonymous during judgment.
Do not include anything that reveals your identity in your submitted files.
How to submit
- Your submission must consist of the following files:
remarks.markdownauthors.markdown- source code of the reference implementation (recommended)
- example program(s)
remarks.markdown must include the following information:
- The name of your programming language
- How to run your example program(s)
authors.markdown must include the following information (and the remarks.markdown must NOT have them):
- Your name (handle is ok)
- ccTLD of your country/region
- Compress your entry as a zip file called
entry.zip and send it to nandoku.submit at gmail.com as an attachment.
If you have any question, please send a mail to `nandoku at googlegroups.com`.
Important Dates
- Jun 1. 2026: Call for entries begins
- Oct 1. 2026: Submission deadline
- Dec 2026: Results announcement in this website
Judges
Alphabetic order.