NInickcw·Nov 1, 2026
Ha! Yes I discovered that this is true in C as part of my IOCCC entry:
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/ncw3/pr...
In Domain hacks with unusual Unicode characters (2018)ioccc-src
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HTML2021–2026
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Winners of the International Obfuscated C Code Contest
17Distinct people
27Mentions
4Explicit recommenders
1.5KGitHub stars
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What it is
Winners of the International Obfuscated C Code Contest
GitHub
Where it is used
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What people are saying
This one is my favorite: https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/ncw1/pr...
HappMacDonald used a recommendation phrase. 4 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year27 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2021-04-02 16:04:27 UTC to 2026-11-01 18:36:41 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 10 | 1 | 9 |
What Hacker News says
27 sourcesIn fact that line in question does come from an IOCCC winner: https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/1985/shapiro...
In Yet another way to invoke functions without parenthesesThis one is my favorite:
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/ncw1/pr...
In Making a Python interpreter in 1024 bytesIf you have control over the HTTP server, a different technique is to set "refresh" in the response header[1], which makes the client fetch new animation frames periodically. This is the technique used in a 2013 IOCCC entry to show a continuously updated clock that's rendered as PNG[2].
[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/...
[2] https://www.ioccc.org/2013/mills/index.html
The "Refresh" header is encoded backwards on this line:
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/619f554bbdb19e5003a...
In Regressive JPEGsYes, I’ve tried it. For example, this was my winning entry from a year ago [0].
The LLM only performs trivial obfuscation, not advanced transformations.
For example:
if (x == 1 || x == 2) { ...
can be transformed into:
if (!(2+x*x-3*x)) { ...
An LLM will do this if you explicitly ask it to, but not on its own.
[0] https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2024/macke/p...
In The 29th International Obfuscated C Code Contest (IOCCC) 2025 WinnersI pointed Claude Opus 4.7 at my Forth entry ( https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/ncw3/pr... ) and it absolutely refused to have anything to do with it citing security violations and accusing me of creating malware :-)
Claude seems OK with it now, so I don't know whether that was a glitch but it was quite funny.
In The 29th International Obfuscated C Code Contest (IOCCC) 2025 WinnersMy favorite is the 366-byte C program emulator that can run Linux and Doom [0].
The VM implements an OISC - a One Instruction Set Computer [1].
[0] https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/cable/p...
[1] https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/cable/R...
In The 29th International Obfuscated C Code Contest (IOCCC) 2025 WinnersThe GameBoy emulator's code also looks like the GameBoy. Slow clap this is insane, definitely my favorite entry.
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/ncw1/pr...
The author, Nick Craig-Wood, is the creator of rclone!
In The 29th International Obfuscated C Code Contest (IOCCC) 2025 Winners366-byte C program emulator can run Linux and Doom – IOCCC29 winner
6 points · Open discussionThis VM implements an OISC - a One Instruction Set Computer.
More information:
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2025/cable/R...
In 366-byte C program emulator can run Linux and Doom – IOCCC29 winner(a) I'm complaining about the messed up syntax and symbol soup.
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2024/burton/...
This code is fairly easy to understand, too, then.
(b) No, it would definitely not look "pretty similar".
(c) So what? You talked about abstractions in cryptographic code. Abstractions are layers to hide things. That is bad in crypto code.
In Notes by djb on using Fil-CThis is very cool, although a more compact way to check for single line comments (introduced in C99) versus division using "//* */". I used that trick here:
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/a1c86c8a7a533e3c2cd...
In Squashing my dumb bugs and why I log build IDsI'm not sure why you feel like providing instructions when they're documented in the repo just one level up from the linked file: https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/tree/master/2024/kurdyuk...
In Twenty Eighth International Obfuscated C Code Contestthis one is nice, Wordle shaped Wordle program
https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/blob/master/2024/burton/...
#include <stdarg.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
# include <stdio.h>
#define J(J) for (\
_ j=0; j<5; ++j) J;
#define/*IOCCC*/I \
\
\
\
_ W,_ O,_ R,_ D,_*L,_*E
#define A(A )for(_ j=0; !o&&j<5&&(k = t[l][j]); ++j)A&&++o;
typedef/* ; ; */void q; typedef int _ ; typedef char/* */p;
struct{ p a [257],b[9][ 5],c[5],d[5 ]; _ e,f; } i;p t[78557
][5]; _ s,a []={ 9,9,9, 10,13,18,27 ,39,55,1,18 ,2,1,1,35,2
,19,18,1,52 ,36,35,20,3 ,2,19,18,18 ,69,2,53,1, 52,37,3,20,
36,19,35,18 ,52,86,2,53 ,70,1,69,38 ,4,21,3,37, 19,36,35,25
,10,+17,15, 26,9,11,12, 23,2,06,18, 13,20,22,14 ,1,24,19,21
,16,5,7,4,8 ,3},u=' ';_ W(p*a,p*b){ for(p*c=a+5 ;a<c;)*a++=
*b++;return 0; } _ O
Read the rest
(p* a,p b){ p*c =a+5; for(; a<c&&*a-b;)
++a; return a<c?5-(a-c) :0; } _ R(p *a, ... ) { va_list b ;
va_start(b, a); vprintf (a,b); exit (1); } q D( p*a){ if (s
==sizeof t/ 5)R("limit" " %d\n",s); p*b=s[t],i, j; for(i=j=
0; i<7&&!j; ++i)if(!(j= *a==10?i:0) )*b++=u|* a ++; j-5||++
s; } q L(p* a,_ b){ for (_ l=0,o=0, k; l<s; o=0 ){ A(i.c[j]
&&k-i.c[j]) A(i.a[k])A( i.d[j]&&!O( t[l],i.d[j] ))for(_ f=i
.e; f--&&!o ; )A(i.b[f] [j]==k)if(! o){ J(o+=t[ l][j]==a[j]
)o=o==5?b!= 5:0; } o?W( t[l],t[--s] ) :++l; } } _ e(I){ for
(; O<D; )L[ R++]=E[O+++ D*W];return R; } q S( _ O,_*l){ for
(_*s=&a[a[O ]],*e=a[-~O ]+s-a[O]; s <e; ){ _ i= *s++,j=i&15
,k=l[i>>=4] <l[+j]?k=l[ i],l[i]=l[j ],l[j]=k:i; } } _ o(I){
_ o=0, w=0; for(; o<D&w <D; )L[R++] =E[o+D*W]>= E[w+D*O]?E[
o+++D*W]:E[ w +++ D*O]; return e(O, w,e(W,o,R,D ,L,E),D,L,E
); } q l( _ n,_*f){ for (_* e=f+26, i,j; f<e&&* f>u; f+= i)
{ for(i=1,j =*f/u; i <n &&f[i]>>5== j; )++i;for (j=0; j <i;
++j)f[j] &= 31,f[j]|=a[ f[j]+a[~-9] ]<<5; S(i,f ); } } q v(
_ a,_*w,_*k ){ o(2,3,o( 0,1,0,a,w,k ),a,w,k); o (0,1,0,a+a,
k,w); l(a,k ); } p*E(p* d){ _ l,j,k =u,b[u] ,c[ k]; p*e[97]
[5 ]={ 0} ; for(l=0; l< k; ++l)c[l] =l; for(l=0 ; l<s; ++l)
J(c[t[l][j] -97]+=k)for (l= j=7; j< 22; j+=l)S( l,c+j-l); v
(l,b,c);for (l= 0; l<k; ++l)b[c[l]& ~-k]=l; for (k*=3,l= 0;
l<s; ++l) { _ i=0; J( i +=b[t[l][j] -97])if(i<k )J(e[i][ j]
||(e[i][j]= t[l],j=4))} for(l=0; l< k; ++l)for( p*b=0,k=j=0
; j<5&&(b=e [l][j]); k= !++j){ p c[ 32]={0} ; d =*d-120?d:b
; if(s>2)J( k+=++c[b[j] -97]>1); if (!k) return b; } return
d; } p*r(p* b){ _ k, l; for(_ j=k=l =0; j<5; ++ j) { signed
char n=b[j] ,o=b[j-~5]+ ~0x66; (o?i .b[i.e]:i.c )[j]=n; !o?
i.a[n]=!++k :O(i.d,n)|| (*(o<0?&i.a [n]:&i.d[i. f++])=l=n);
} i.e += !! l; L(b, k); return E("" "xyzzy"); } _ main(_ n,
char**v){ p *j=i .c-97, *l=j-11; n- 2?R("usage" ": %s dict"
"\n",* v):5 ; ; FILE*k= fopen(*++v, "r"); if(!k ) return //
perror(*v), 1; ; while( fgets(j, u^ n,k)) D(j); fclose (k);
; ; setbuf( stdout, 0); while(~-s){ printf("? " ); while(~(
n=getchar() )&&n-10&&l< j)*l++=n; l <j&&R("inp" "ut: guess"
" color\n") ;printf("%" ".5s\n",r(l =j+~10)); } return 0; }
This one is so cool: https://github.com/ioccc-src/winner/tree/master/2024/macke
> This is an emulator capable of running a full modern Linux system with a minimal set of features.
In Twenty Eighth International Obfuscated C Code ContestShowing the 15 most recent of 27 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.