First annual obfuscated C code contest

[Landon C. Noll]

im sure you have all seen gross, or down right structurally obscene C
source code before. some people who deal with various parts of the
UN*X source wonder if some folks try rather hard to produce such
down right smelly code.

now you have the chance to compete with the worst C hackers around
by sending in your own obfuscated C program. just follow the contest
rules below:
1) the source file must be no more than 512 bytes long

2) mail your source to: hplabs!nsc!chongo
no later than April 11, 1984. entries posted to
the net will NOT be accepted. please give your
letter the subject of: obfuscated C code contest.

3) winning entries will be posted to net.lang.c after
April 12, 1894. (thats the prize folks)

4) indicate your net address in the text of your
entry, this will be used to give credit unless
you indicate that you want to remain anonymous.

5) entries must be of original work. (dont send anything
that might upset Big Brother Bell) all entries are
public domain. (who would want to own them anyway?!)

entries will be judged for: violations of structured programming, non-clarity,
and use of "by the K&R book" C. (use of local mods to C are not encouraged)
extra credit if they can be compiled using the 4.2BSD C compiler on our VAX 780,
but dont let the lack of a 780 or 4.2 discourage you!

chongo <flames about the contest will be kindly #ifdef'ed out> /\CC/\

UN*X is a trademark of Usenet Hackers Anonymous

[Sam Kendall]

I was told of a contest held some years ago, possibly at Interactive
Corp., which was to READ obfuscated C. The program in question was
carefully constructed, with identifiers like O0O0OO, and was block-
structured in the sense that it was shaped like a rectangular block
with minimal spacing. The object was to figure out what the program
did by reading the code.

Sam Kendall {allegra,ihnp4,ima,amd70}!wjh12!kendall
Delft Consulting Corp. decvax!genrad!wjh12!kendall

[Landon C. Noll]

just to stop flames:

the date 1894 should have been 1984. though this is not an
error, using 1984 does put a better bound on things...

chongo <> /\../\