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The 2006 Underhanded C Contest Begins

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the segmentation-fault-core-dumped dept.

Xcott Craver writes "The second annual Underhanded C Code Contest is live as of April 4th, and runs until July 4th. The object is to write malicious C code that looks perfectly readable and innocent under informal inspection of the source."

7 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. I'll submit the source code for... by IIDX · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Windows!

    Oh darn, it's not written in C.

  2. Potential (unintentional) Winners by tpgp · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    The competition is:
    For this year's challenge, imagine you are an application developer for an OS vendor. You must write portable C code that will inexplicably taaaaaake a looooooong tiiiiime when compiled and run on a competitor's OS.
    Potential (unintentional) Winners:

    1) MS (whoops, except they don't write portable code)

    2) Sun (whoops, Java's slow on all OSs)

    3) Apple (whoops, see points one and two)

    Its a joke! You can relax now MS / Sun / Apple fans!
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  3. LAMP by Douglas+Simmons · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Now that I'm getting PHP under my belt, do I have any reason to learn C? Isn't it Ruby time? Shouldn't everyone go LAMP beginner programmer or otherwise?

  4. In my experience by Billosaur · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    ...in this contest you must write code that is as readable, clear, innocent and straightforward as possible, and yet it must fail to perform at its apparent function. To be more specific, it should do something subtly evil.

    That sounds like most of the C code I've ever seen... or written, come to think of it...

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  5. Re:I Win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Your "witty sarcasm" doesn't make you any less of an idiot.

  6. Any C code is potentially malicious by jb_nizet · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    To me, as soon as the C code uses pointers, it is potentially malicious. That's one of the reason why so many people choose Java, C# or other pointer-free languages.

    1. Re:Any C code is potentially malicious by Arandir · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Sorry, but you're an ass. You've been fed a diet of shit so long you think it tastes good. Pointers aren't a problem, improper use of them is. Surprise! Improper use of ANYTHING is a problem!

      Undisciplined use of pointers is going to cause bugs. But since undisciplined coding itself causes bugs, who the fsck cares? The solution isn't to ban pointers, but to start beating undisciplined coders over the head. I'm not saying you have to use pointers, but if you are avoiding them because of fear, it's time to learn how to use them properly.

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