The instruction sets are the remaining lines, formatted like >C.I:WMN
C current instruction name.
I the input from the current tape position. Either 0 or 1. Each instruction has
execution parameters for both inputs.
W the output to be written to the tape at the current position. Either 0 or 1.
M the movement of the read/write head. A 0 moves the head one position to the
left. A 1 moves it to the right.
N the name of the next instruction to be executed at the new tape position.
Would it have been clearer to use "<" or ">" to specify whether to move left/right from the current position?
As it's structured, that wouldn't work. To move, it replaces the leading zero of the tape with:
* If the movement is "0": "00"
* If the movement is "1": ""
The choice of 1 to move right is arbitrary (but makes sense to match the 0), it could be any other symbol, but the 0 is needed to because that's what's prepended to the tape.
Someone could probably find a way around it, but it would likely make it harder to understand.