Install intercal with Homebrew, apt, Nix

Project links

• Homepage

Commands and aliases

• convickt
• ick

Project history

The upstream README credits Woods and Lyon with the original INTERCAL language and Raymond with the C implementation. It also records subsequent work by Steve Swales, Michael Ernst, Louis Howell, Brian Raiter, Joris Huizer, Alex Smith, and others. The README describes release 0.29 as a unified deforking of C-INTERCAL with Alex Smith and Raymond as co-maintainers.

The project HISTORY and NEWS files show a maintenance style built around keeping an intentionally absurd language buildable on ordinary Unix systems. Release 0.29 in 2010 added a regression-test suite and merged ESR/Alex Smith work; release 0.30 in 2015 was forced partly by the shutdown of Gitorious hosting; release 0.31 in 2019 notes hosting on GitLab; later releases focused on GCC, autoconf, portability, and hardening repairs.

Adoption history

C-INTERCAL survived because it became the canonical Unix package for trying the original esoteric language, not because it served mainstream production programming. Its availability in Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, and Nix keeps the joke executable: users can install a real compiler, run historical sample programs, and read manuals that preserve the language's anti-design humor.

How it is used

The README points users to the Revamped Manual and documents the basic compiler invocation `ick foo.i`. The distribution includes manuals, examples in the `pit` directory, editor support, generated parser files for systems without flex/bison, and a debugger/profiler, making it more substantial than a toy interpreter despite the language's parody roots.

Why package nerds care

C-INTERCAL is package-manager folklore: a deliberately painful language with a serious portability trail. It matters because package managers preserve not only practical tools but also cultural artifacts, and because C-INTERCAL turns esolang history into a buildable Unix package with man pages, tests, samples, and release engineering.

Timeline

• 1972: Don Woods and James Lyon designed INTERCAL.
• 1990: Eric S. Raymond's C implementation brought INTERCAL to Unix culture.
• 2010: C-INTERCAL 0.29 merged ESR and Alex Smith work and added regression testing.
• 2015: C-INTERCAL 0.30 moved project hosting after Gitorious shutdown pressure.
• 2019: C-INTERCAL 0.31 noted GitLab hosting.
• 2026: C-INTERCAL 0.34 focused on code hardening and modern toolchain compatibility.

Related projects

• The README points to CLC-INTERCAL as a related variant implementation. The package also belongs to the broader esolang lineage around languages such as Befunge and Unlambda, both of which appear in C-INTERCAL's examples, interfaces, or release history.

Sources

• CATB documentation, upstream GitLab README/HISTORY/NEWS files, GitLab project metadata, and Homebrew formula metadata.