#include <stdio.h> /* * Review of one of the best IOCCC one liner winners. * See International Obfuscated C Code Contest (http://www.ioccc.org) * ...found other reviews with conceptual mistakes, so I wrote mine... * * Winners: http://www.ioccc.org/years.html#1987 * The code: http://www.ioccc.org/1987/korn.c * Hints: http://www.ioccc.org/1987/korn.hint * * Rodolfo Alcazar Portillo <rodolfoap@gmail.com> */ main() { /* a simple text */ printf("%s\n","unix"); /* or... */ printf("%six\n","un"); /* adding an unnecesary C text terminator does not change output */ printf("%six\n\0","un"); /* replace \n==\012 which is a printable form of an octal value */ printf("%six\012\0","un"); /* the additional X won't print due to +1 offset */ printf("X%six\012\0"+1,"un"); /* nor any other character */ printf("\021%six\012\0"+1,"un"); /* rephrasing syntax as a text array */ printf(&"\021%six\012\0"[1],"un"); /* And the preprocessor said "Let unix==1". Verification * $ cpp -dM /dev/null | grep unix * #define __unix__ 1 * #define __unix 1 * #define unix 1 * * Therefore it won't run on Windows unless compiled with cygwin or defined in preprocessor as: * #define unix 1 * * ...and therefore redefining the unix variable would raise an error. */ printf(&"\021%six\012\0"[unix],"un"); /* &text[n]==&n[text] is basic pointer arithmetics, or addition communitivity */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],"un"); /* 'a'==0x61 then ('a'-0x61)==0 */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],"un"+'a'-0x61); /* Then add any char -X- and a offset of 1 (=='a'-0x60) */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],"Xun"+'a'-0x60); /* use a double-quoted string, and its offset, which gives an integer value: 'a'=="a"[0] */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],"Xun"+"a"[0]-0x60); /* or the same, with an arbitrary text and offset */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],"Xun"+"XaXX"[1]-0x60); /* again, replace 1 with the predefined preprocessor unix==1 value... */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],"Xun"+"XaXX"[unix]-0x60); /* rephrasing, array pointer arithmetics, addition is communitive */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],"Xun"+(unix)["XaXX"]-0x60); /* ditto */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],(unix)["XaXX"]+"Xun"-0x60); /* at last, change ignored chars to something meaningful */ printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],(unix)["have"]+"fun"-0x60); }
2009/06/16
Ioccc best one liner
This is a brief analysis of korn.c, winner of the 1987 IOCCC. Why? Because. And because many people who shot some explanations have many flaws and conceptual mistakes.
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