chongo@nsc.UUCP (Landon Noll) (04/30/86)
GOAL: To write the most Obscure working C program following the rules below: RULES: 1) The source must be 1024 bytes or less. NO exceptions! 2) Include in your letter: a) Name (or anonymous), Company/School, City, State and Country. b) Your path from a major network site, if applicable. c) A brief statement of what the program should do. d) The Machine(s)/Operating system(s) on which it runs. e) Enclose your source between the following lines: ---start of program--- <place obfuscated source of 1024 bytes or less here> ---end of program--- 3) The entry should be written in common C. (K&R + common extensions) 4) The program must be of original work. All programs must be in the public domain. All copyrighted programs will be rejected. 5) Entries must be received between 31-Mar-86 and 30-May-86 0:00 GMT. Email your entries to: decwrl!nsc!obfuscate Entries sent by UUCP Email will be confirmed starting 1-May-86. People are encouraged to submit entries via Email, however one may mail entries the following address: International Obfuscated C Code Contest National Semiconductor Attn: Landon Noll Mail Stop: 7c266 1135 Kern Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 U.S.A. AWARDS: Winners of each category and the best of Show will be posted to net.announce as well as being published in the May 86 issue of the "Micro/Systems Journal". Winners also get to receive international fame/flame for their efforts! JUDGING: Awards will be given to the best entry in a number of categories. The actual category list will vary depending on the types of entries we receive. At the moment, we are considering using the following: * The most obscure algorithm * The worst abuse of the C preprocessor * The strangest source layout * The best small one line program * The most useful program * <anything else we need to give recognition to a good entry> Judging will be done by myself, Larry Bassel and other local people who are willing to help out. We will attempt to run each of them on a Vax 785/4.2BSD system. Don't let the lack of such a system stop you! Try to avoid operating system/machine specific code if you do not have such a system. Extra points will be given for programs which: a) pass lint without complaint b) do something quasi-interesting c) are portable A larger program size was selected to allow for a wider range of program ideas. However if you don't need 1024 bytes don't use them. Given two programs with similar techniques and similar levels of obfuscation, we will tend to favor the more concise entry. POLL: We want to know what you think is the most poorly coded utility released with 4.xBSD and/or Sys V. The top results plus the best flameage will be posted along with the contest results. To vote, please follow the guidelines below: 1) Include at the top of the letter: a) Name (or anonymous), Company/School, City, State and Country. b) Your path from a major network site, if applicable. c) the name of the poorly coded utility d) the name of the operating system on which it is found e) the line: <<<FLAME ON>>> f) up to 1024 bytes of flameage of the source g) the line: <<<FLAME OFF>>> 2) Confine your vote to the standard set of commands. I.e., don't flame about local commands or user contributed software. 3) Submit your votes via Email to: for 4.xBSD: decwrl!nsc!bsd_util for Sys V: decwrl!nsc!sysV_util or, you may send your votes by letter to the same address used by the contest. Please place your votes on different sheets of paper. chongo <C> /\cc/\