Article View: comp.lang.postscript
Article #6577Obfuscated PostScript contest (2nd posting)
From: Jonathan Monsarrat
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 00:05
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1993 00:05
161 lines
7075 bytes
7075 bytes
This is the second and last posting before the contest ends on Sunday.
-Jon
------------------------------
1st International obFUsCaTeD POsTsCripT Contest
1993 Rules for the Contest
Jonathan Monsarrat (jgm@cs.brown.edu)
Alena Lacova (alena@nikhef.nl)
1 What it is
A contest of programming skills and knowledge, exclusively for the
PostScript programming language. Its purpose:
* To spread knowledge of PostScript and its details.
* To applaud those with the best tricks.
* To prove that humans can beat those damnable machine generators at
their own game by writing the most obscure and mysterious PostScript
programs ever.
Winners will receive the fame and attention that goes with having their
program entry posted as a winner to programmers world-wide.
Please forward these rules to anyone you know who may be interested.
A fancy PostScript version of these rules is available by ftp as
``wilma.cs.brown.edu:pub/postscript/rules.ps''.
2 How to Enter
Write a program in PostScript that does something special and shows off
an interesting quirk of the language or displays a special effect.
Almost anything is allowed! Write something creative that will catch
the attention of the judges. Your job is not only to make something
special, but to obscure the meaning of your entry by using obscure
techniques. The people who read your program shouldn't be able to
figure out how it does what it does. (Yes, it must do something.)
* Do not use a drawing program like MacDraw. Your contest entry cannot
be machine-generated in any way.
* Your entry can be as large as 5000 bytes. However, quality is
considered far more important than quantity. Entries that are smaller
than 1500 bytes and still do something are considered impressive.
Your entry may be multiple files totalling less than this byte limit.
* Don't forget to give a filename for your program.
* Your contest entry should run on GhostScript 2.5.2 so that a wide
variety of PostScript users may view your entry if it wins. This rule
may relunctantly be broken if necessary to the interesting
functionality of your program. GhostScript is a freely available
PostScript interpreter. You may get it from anonymous
ftp to ftp.cs.wisc.edu:/pub/X/ghostscript-*2.5.2*. Your system
administrator will be able to tell you how to use ftp.
* Your PostScript code should be as portable as possible so that many
people can enjoy running your program if you win. Do not use any
commands that are not part of the PostScript language (like the
GhostScript additional commands).
* Your program must be original.
* You may not submit more than twelve entries.
* Don't use PostScript 2 commands unless they are an important part of
your entry.
3 Documentation
Not writing documentation will increase the obscureness of your entry.
Good for you! However, you may wish to document anything special your
program does that is so obscure that the judges might miss it
completely.
If there is some special hardware that you rely on, or if the device
size or resolution are an important part of your entry, that must be
documented.
4 Where to Send It
Send your entry to Jonathan Monsarrat by email to jgm@cs.brown.edu.
If you don't have email, use this address:
Jonathan Monsarrat
14 Danforth Street
Rehoboth Massachusetts 02769 U.S.A.
Jon's phone number in the U.S.A. is (401) 863-7695.
We welcome your suggestions! Please email your suggestions and
questions.
5 Categories
Entries will be judged by category, with the overall winner being the
receiver of the Obfuscated PostScript award. Only the winning entries
of each category will be included in the contest winners archive.
Obfuscated PostScript
The most obscure PostScript program. It does something in a clever
way, and took us forever to figure out (if we did).
Best Artwork
The best example of art.
Most Compact
The best example of very tiny coding. How much less than 1000 bytes
can an interesting program be?
Best PostScript 1
The best entry that used only PostScript 1 commands.
Best Non-Graphics
The best entry that did not have a graphical output.
Best Interactive Program
The best entry that you type interactive commands to with an on-line
interpreter.
Most Useful
The entry most likely to be of some real use.
And anything so unusual and creative that it deserves an award.
6 Judging
The judges will choose the winners of each category.
Alena Lacova is a system administrator at NIKHEF (Institute for High
Energy and Nuclear Physics) in the Netherlands. She is the author of
The PostScript Chaos Programs, which draw Julia sets, Mandelbrot sets
and other kinds of fractal functions.
Jonathan Monsarrat is a graduate student from MIT and Brown University
in the U.S.A. He is the FAQ maintainer for the Usenet newsgroup
comp.lang.postscript and the author of The PostScript Zone and LameTeX.
7 Deadline and Schedule
Submissions will be accepted after 12:01 a.m GMT, Sunday November 29th,
1992. Your submission must be postmarked before 11:59 p.m. GMT, Sunday
January 10th, 1993. We must receive it before 11:59 p.m. GMT, Monday
January 11th, 1993.
Results will be posted as soon as we have them (probably in a couple of
weeks), but no later than Sunday, January 31st. Results will go out to
comp.lang.postscript (and a few well-chosen Usenet newsgroups), the
Compuserve group, and with the Adobe Developer's mailing. Copies of the
winning entries will be available by email and anonymous ftp, and also
by surface mail on computer diskettes for a small fee (if there is a
demand).
This document was written with the LaTeX language and formatted by
LameTeX, the PostScript hacker's LaTeX.
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems,
Incorporated.
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<JGM.93Jan5190549@vegas.cs.brown.edu>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!brunix!doorknob!jgmShow Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!brunix!doorknob!jgm From: jgm@cs.brown.edu (Jonathan Monsarrat) Subject: Obfuscated PostScript contest (2nd posting) Message-ID: <JGM.93Jan5190549@vegas.cs.brown.edu> Sender: news@cs.brown.edu Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Brown University Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 00:05:48 GMT Lines: 161