Comparison

Brainf*ck vs LispPad Go

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Brainf*ck

This tool provides an integrated development environment for an esoteric programming language known for its extreme minimalism. It allows users to write and execute programs using only eight simple commands, challenging and amusing programmers.

Highlights
  • Minimalist command set
  • Turing complete language
  • Instruction pointer execution
  • Byte cell array
  • Data pointer movement
  • Input/Output streams
Features
Read full description

Brain***k IDE is an esoteric programming language created in 1993 by Urban Müller, and is notable for its extreme minimalism. The language consists of only eight simple commands and an instruction pointer. While it is fully Turing complete, it is not intended for practical use, but to challenge and amuse programmers. Brain***k simply requires one to break commands into microscopic steps. The language's name is a reference to the slang term Brain***k, which refers to things so complicated or unusual that they exceed the limits of one's understanding. History In 1992, Urban Müller, a Swiss physics student, took over a small online archive for Amiga software. The archive grew more popular, and was soon mirrored around the world. Today, it is the world's largest Amiga archive, known as Aminet. Müller designed Brain***k with the goal of implementing it with the smallest possible compiler, inspired by the 1024-byte compiler for the FALSE programming language. Müller's original compiler was implemented in machine language and compiled to a binary with a size of 296 bytes. He uploaded the first Brain***k compiler to Aminet in 1993. The program came with a "Readme" file, which briefly described the language, and challenged the reader "Who can program anything useful with it? :)". Müller also included an interpreter and some quite elaborate examples. A second version of the compiler used only 240 bytes. As Aminet grew, the compiler became popular among the Amiga community, and in time it was implemented for other platforms. Several Brainf*ck compilers have been made smaller than 200 bytes, and one is only 100 bytes. Language design The language consists of eight commands, listed below. A Brain***k program is a sequence of these commands, possibly interspersed with other characters (which are ignored). The commands are executed sequentially, with some exceptions: an instruction pointer begins at the first command, and each command it points to is executed, after which it normally moves forward to the next command. The program terminates when the instruction pointer moves past the last command. The Brain***k language uses a simple machine model consisting of the program and instruction pointer, as well as an array of at least 30,000 byte cells initialized to zero; a movable data pointer (initialized to point to the leftmost byte of the array); and two streams of bytes for input and output (most often connected to a keyboard and a monitor respectively, and using the ASCII character encoding). Privacy policy: https://static.macflash.ru/PRIVACY_POLICY_EN Terms of use: https://static.macflash.ru/TERMS_OF_USE_EN

About

LispPad Go

This app is a lightweight development environment for writing and running Scheme code on iOS. It features a Scheme interpreter, a console for interaction, and a text editor with syntax highlighting and smart indentation. It supports R7RS standard Scheme with a wide range of libraries, including iOS-specific ones.

Highlights
  • Integrated Scheme interpreter
  • Read-eval-print loop console
  • Syntax highlighting text editor
  • R7RS standard Scheme support
  • iOS-specific libraries
  • Hygienic macros
  • Full numerical tower support
Features
Read full description

LispPad Go is a simple, lightweight, integrated development environment for developing and running Scheme code on iOS. The language supported by LispPad Go is based on the R7RS standard of the Scheme programming language. LispPad Go provides the following components: • A fully integrated Scheme interpreter • A console with a read-eval-print loop to interact with the interpreter • A text editor for writing Scheme code, supporting syntax highlighting, smart indentation, parenthesis matching, etc. • A large range of libraries, including iOS-specific libraries e.g. for networking, graphics, audio, databases, archival, text processing, etc. • Support for the Shortcuts app, allowing the execution of LispPad programs as standalone applications The Scheme dialect supported by LispPad Go provides the following features: • R7RS-compliant libraries • Hygienic macros based on syntax-rules • First-class environments • call/cc, dynamic-wind and exceptions • Dynamically-scoped parameters • Multiple return values • Delayed execution via promises and streams • Support for the full numerical tower consisting of arbitrary size integers, rationals, real numbers, and inexact complex numbers. • Unicode strings and characters • Vectors and bytevectors • Text and binary ports • R7RS-compliant extensible records • R6RS-compliant hashtables and enumerations • Threads

Screenshots

Brainf*ck4 screens
LispPad Go4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: LispPad Go at 96% against Brainf*ck's 40%. LispPad Go also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.9) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). Brainf*ck's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and device support (4 vs 2). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Brainf*ck sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. LispPad Go asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LispPad Go holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 37 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Brainf*ck's written reviews are positive against 96% of LispPad Go's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Brainf*ck ships an update every 2 weeks, LispPad Go every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Brainf*ck versus LispPad Go: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBrainf*ckLispPad Go
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (10 ratings)4.9 (37 ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews96.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1037 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB128 MB
Age rating12+4+
Developermacflash.ruMatthias Zenger

Customer experience

Brainf*ck

All ratings10 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative50.0%

LispPad Go

All ratings37 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive96.3%
Neutral3.7%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Brainf*ck

Subscriptions2
  • Premium month$1.491 Month
  • Premium year$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium unlimited$9.99
None

LispPad Go

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Brainf*ck free?
Brainf*ck is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LispPad Go free?
LispPad Go is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Brainf*ck or LispPad Go?
LispPad Go is rated higher. Brainf*ck averages 2.9 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while LispPad Go averages 4.9 from 37 ratings.
Do Brainf*ck or LispPad Go have ads?
Neither Brainf*ck nor LispPad Go shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Brainf*ck or LispPad Go?
Brainf*ck ships an update every 2 weeks, and LispPad Go every 2 months. Most recently, Brainf*ck was updated on September 21, 2026 and LispPad Go on September 20, 2026.

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