brainfuckz is a Brainfuck interpreter written in Zig. Brainfuck is one of the most famous esoteric programming languages — just 8 commands operating on a tape of memory cells, yet Turing complete. It’s a fun target for an interpreter because the language is so minimal that the implementation can stay small and focused, while still being a real, working system.

brainfuckz supports three modes: running code directly from the command line, executing .brain files, and an interactive REPL for quick experimentation.

$ brainfuckz code '>+++++++++[<++++++++>-]<.'
H

The file mode lets you run larger Brainfuck programs — including a Morse code translator and a full Mandelbrot set renderer:

$ brainfuckz file program/Mandelbrot.brain

Mandelbrot

Building in ReleaseFast mode gives a 10x+ speedup over the default debug build, which makes a noticeable difference for heavier programs like the Mandelbrot renderer.

This was an earlier Zig project for me — predating TINYLISP — and part of what got me comfortable with the language before tackling more complex systems work.