Code Obfuscation In C

[Zaccheus]

The following is a Windows console application I've written in ANSI C.

 

/*main.c*/printf(void*);int i=??<4997970??>;int(*q??(1??))(void*)=??<printf??>;main()??<(0??(q??))(&*&i);??>

 

I'll post a slightly more readable version tomorrow.

:lol:

[sparhawk]

There is a whole library of nice code samples like this.

[oDDity]

Is this some sort of hilarous in-joke among programmers?

[Zaccheus]

http://www0.us.ioccc.org/main.html

[Zaccheus]

Not that it matters in this case, but in future, I'd really appreciate it if someone could please ask me before they move a thread of mine from a private section to the public part of the forum.

 

Anyways - here's a more sane version of my code:

/*main.c*/

/* NOTE: 
* ??< is the same as { 
* ??> is the same as } 
* ??( is the same as [ 
* ??) is the same as ] 
*/

/* printf takes a pointer and returns an int */
printf(void*);

/* In memory the following four bytes are: 'R', 'C', 'L', 0 */ 
int i={4997970};

/* int (*p)(void*) would be a pointer to a function */
/* which takes a void* and returns an int */
/* Here we have an array of these pointers, */
/* with one element: a pointer to printf  */

int (*q[1])(void*) =
{
   printf
};

main()
{
  (0[q])(&*&i); /* Calls printf - same as: (q[0])(&i); */
}

[sparhawk]

Since this was obviously a fun posting, and there was no private content there was no reason to keep it there.

[Zaccheus]

Well, I've submitted an elaborate c file of 1237 bytes to the contest, we shall see what comes of it.