22nd International Obfuscated C Code Contest Starts Thursday 1 Aug 2013

achowe writes "The 22nd International Obfuscated C Code Contest opens 2013-Aug-01 03:14:15 UTC through to 2013-Oct-03 09:26:53 UTC. The rules have been updated, in particular Rule 2 (size rule) has changed. The draft rules and guidelines are available online. In addition there is now an IOCCC Size Rule Tool to aid with counting the secondary size rule. Questions and comments for the Judges can be emailed to q.2013@ioccc.org and must include 'IOCCC 2013' in the subject. Or contact them via Twitter @IOCCC." Anyone planning on entering?

Comments

You want obfuscated code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just code in VB.

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[Anonymous Coward]

or .Net

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[hcs_$reboot]

I'd have said Perl instead (program made from people in need of showing off, since there are ways to write redable Perl ).

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[mwvdlee]

since there are ways to write redable Perl ).

You mean like Perl code written on paper for an exam where mistakes are marked with a red pen?

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[TheCarp]

While I agree perl can be written readable, and I do try to do that whenever I am writting perl... it also has so much syntactic sugar and idiom that writing obfuscated perl is a bit too easy.

I used to give people a perl code test that included the line:

"split //;"

Where else can you operate on one variable, save your result in another, and specify neither? Never mind functions that operate differently depending on whether or not they are called in scalar context.

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[jones_supa]

My experience is that anything created by .NET crawls along like a dog, but I'm not sure how it contributes to obfuscated code. And as .NET executes bytecode, which programming language do you mean, C#?

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[Pino Grigio]

None of the software I write in C# crawls along like a dog. Notwithstanding the fact that .NET uses JIT (Just In Time Compilation), if you're doing something with a time constraint that's not met by .NET, you're either doing it wrong, using the wrong language or using the wrong hardware.

It's plenty fast enough for all kinds of applications.

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[RaceProUK]

My experience is that anything created by .NET crawls along like a dog

Don't blame the tools, blame the monkey using them. Bad code is bad, regardless of language/runtime.

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[Thud457]

one quine to rule them all. forever.

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would you not blame the tool if the tool itself is the problem? This whole "blame the user not the tool" meme is stupid as hell. There are plenty of tools that are made that are just plain bad and they deserve the blame they get.

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[RaceProUK]

Stop using a hammer to tighten a bolt then.

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[inasity_rules]

Seconded. I have written low level drivers in C#, and they keep up with the hardware just fine on old (Core 2 laptop processors are now old?!) machines, with numerous devices. In fact, the SQL throughput in .NET is pretty impressive. Admittedly, I miss pointer arithmetic, and the ability to read a byte array as (for example) an int32, but I don't miss the inevitable chaos that ensues from that... All in all, I think a good move for the software apart from the fact that I doubt it will be portable to mono... :/

Re:You want obfuscated code?

[aled]

Just code in VB.

So you didn't even looked at the contest site right? read some previous winners entries and come back then.
There is a reason that there is not a VB obfuscated contest.

Can you enter someone elses code?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a few examples in mind that I've had to work with.

Re:Can you enter someone elses code?

[hermitdev]

No from the rules:

7) The obfuscated C program must be an original work that you own.
You (the authors) must own the contents of your submission OR you must have permission from the owners to submit their content under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) license (see rule 18).

I was going to enter the contest

[Dishwasha]

But it was just way too confusing.

Re:I was going to enter the contest

[Anonymous Coward]

Rule #1: All candidates MUST be able to read obfuscated rules.

You mean C can be even more opaque?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't believe people try to make C even more unreadable and senseless.

Hell, their tutorials pretty much would win this competition.

Re:You mean C can be even more opaque?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you even C?

Absolutely!

[elfprince13]

I've been waiting for this all year. I've got some fun stuff planned. Good luck to all contestants :)

Here's my submission:

[I'm New Around Here]

10 GOTO 10;

/* I'm not saying what it does, but it's powerful.

Re:Here's my submission:

[egamma]

10 GOTO 10;

/* I'm not saying what it does, but it's powerful.

Shouldn't that say:

10 GOTO 10

Without the semicolon?

Re:Here's my submission:

[I'm New Around Here]

I can't answer that until you sign this support contract. X_________

And this non-disclosure form. X_________

And this non-compete agreement. X_________

And this EULA. X_________

And initial here ____ and here___ aaannd
here____.

A contest to code poorly?

[fredrated]

Next up: who can drive the poorest without killing anyone!

Re:A contest to code poorly?

[Pikewake]

NASCAR?

Re:A contest to code poorly?

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree, there are size rules so you cannot . No one expects to use the code written for this competition for any practical purposes. "C" is such a powerful language that whenever you go through the code samples from winners, you will find something that surprises you even though you have been using C all your life. A more relevant analogy would be who can best drive in NASCAR in reverse or on two wheels or something but you get the point.

Re:A contest to code poorly?

[achowe]

IOCCC 1991 Best Utility was a vi like editor in 1536 bytes; Debian went on to use the unobfuscated version "ae" as a small editor for the rescue floppy for many many years.

Re: A contest to code poorly?

[andrewleung]

NASCAR was born from the whiskey runs during prohibition. Think about THAT.

Re:A contest to code poorly?

[Pino Grigio]

I'm pretty sure the winner would be a Russian.

Re:A contest to code poorly?

[Anonymous Coward]

As noted in TFA:

GOALS OF THE CONTEST:

        * To write the most Obscure/Obfuscated C program under the rules below.
* To show the importance of programming style, in an ironic way.
        * To stress C compilers with unusual code.
        * To illustrate some of the subtleties of the C language.
        * To provide a safe forum for poor C code. :-)

(emphasis mine).

Re:A contest to code poorly?

[fredrated]

Accidents are no laughing matter, but some of those are just too funny!

Re:A contest to code poorly?

[tlhIngan]

Actually, if you take a look at the entries, it's not really poor code, just highly skilled code.

Of course, if you've been in software development for any time, you'll realize that it's not the poor coders that do the crappiest hardest to maintain code, it's the prima donna ones that use all sorts of strange tricks that make code unreadable. At least poor coders generally produce bad code, but there's an honest effort that goes into it (like using the wrong sort, or not using an API that would've made life easier, etc.,). The hot shot coder would submit something like what you see in the IOCCC - it works like magic, but damn if you can figure it out.

And I believe one of the criteria has always been code aesthetics, hence why a lot of entries do a bunch of ASCII art stuff.

Re: A contest to code poorly?

[Briareos]

So... NASCAR evolved from driving drunk?

That explains some things...

Re: A contest to code poorly?

[hermitdev]

No...it evolved from driving to get drunk, and make a lot of tax-free money along the way.

Obscure dates/times, too

[Anonymous Coward]

2013-Aug-01 03:14:15 UTC through to 2013-Oct-03 09:26:53

Umm, where'd those dates/times come from?

03:14:15 looks like pi truncated to 4 decimal places, but why Aug 1? And where'd the close date/time come from?

Re:Obscure dates/times, too

[Anonymous Coward]

pi = 3.1415 92653 589...
That explains the close time anyway, I didn't look at the dates.

Re:Obscure dates/times, too

[leob]

Retrospectively,
Aug. 1 is the birthday of Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician, author of The enjoyment of mathematics. Selections from mathematics for the amateur (with Hans Rademacher).
Oct. 3 is the day Edouard Lucas, French mathematician, known for his study of the Fibonacci sequence, died.

Good old days

[fruey]

At least one of the judges (^chongo^) was a contributor to this very site many moons ago, not sure if he's still here. (Had|Has) some fine prime number & math pages.

I strongly suggest taking time to look at just what previous entries have been able to do, including print musical notation, a working spreadsheet implementation, and a flight simulator. With obfuscation & size limits.

Ahhh memories. Never could enter myself though, can't even write normal C with any proficiency.

And this is for people who

[azav]

think that C isn't obfuscated enough.

I've got one

[slashmydots]

I should send a co-worker of mine. Nobody can ever tell what the hell his code does.

Re:I've got one

[Anonymous Coward]

Some people are born with the gift. :P

Obfuscated Lisp

[ebno-10db]

Obfuscated C is unreadable, obfuscated Perl is completely impenetrable, but what I want to see is obfuscated Lisp.

Re:Obfuscated Lisp

[johntromp]

Obfuscated C is unreadable, obfuscated Perl is completely impenetrable, but what I want to see is obfuscated Lisp.

Then you clearly overlooked this Common Lisp entry:

http://www.ioccc.org/2005/mikeash/hint.text

Last year's winners also included some obfuscated lambda calculus programs, like a 167-bit prime number generator.

-John

I'm totally going to win with my

[mandark1967]

ROT26 encoded masterpiece.

Already entered, several times

[damn_registrars]

I send all the C that I write to IOCCC. When they get back to me with failures to understand and/or run it, I know it is OK to release to the general public. It is the greatest development system I've ever found, and it costs me nothing. Who needs beta testers when I can just submit my code to IOCCC?

It is telling there is obfuscated ..

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

It is very telling there is no obfuscated FORTRAN coding contests. I think most carefully written lucid code in FORTRAN will beat the winner of this obfuscated c code winner handily.