__            _                       _   _            
   \ \ _   _ ___| |_    __ _ _ __   ___ | |_| |__   ___ _ __
    \ \ | | / __| __|  / _` | '_ \ / _ \| __| '_ \ / _ \ '__|
 /\_/ / |_| \__ \ |_  | (_| | | | | (_) | |_| | | |  __/ |
 \___/ \__,_|___/\__|  \__,_|_| |_|\___/ \__|_| |_|\___|_|
                                                          
   ___          _   _                _                    
  / _ \___ _ __| | | |__   __ _  ___| | _____ _ __        
 / /_)/ _ \ '__| | | '_ \ / _` |/ __| |/ / _ \ '__|       
/ ___/  __/ |  | | | | | | (_| | (__|   <  __/ |          
\/    \___|_|  |_| |_| |_|\__,_|\___|_|\_\___|_|


by Boris Grishenko


Among the ancient mongers of the Cult of Perl there is a long-standing tradition
of writing computer software so unreadable by the human eye that it has turned in
to an art-form.

Called 'Obfuscaded Code', these programs are a form of net-art that can have many
aesthetic qualities that separate them from other paradigms such as esotheric
programming languages like the Brainfuck interpreter - where the entire program
is written using only 8 different characters: ><+-.,[] - or Malbolge (the 8th
circle of hell) - which was specifically designed to be almost impossible to use.

A simple example of such a program is the following:

$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgc";
tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print;

Which actually writes: Just another Perl hacker,

This can go even a step further, where the entire code initially looks like
a character-based ASCII-drawing. Secretly these drawings can run as a program and
sometimes output something completely different than what they on the surface
seem to represent.

You can try to run the following pieces of 'ASCII-artcode' using the standard
Perl interpreter. - just copy the entire drawing to a textfile and run in a
terminal using ~$ perl textfile

Or you can always appreciate their intricate visual representation.



                                                for  
                                               ($k  =
                                              1.2  ;$k
                                                >-   
                                   1.2 ;$k-=(2.4     )/40){
                                    for                   ($j=-2.1
                              ;$j <.7                        ;$j  
                               +=2.8                         /100)
                              {($x,                           $y,  
             $i )=($j,       $k,                                0);  
             while  (sqrt(   $x**                              2+$y 
           **2)          <2 &&                               $i<200)
      {($x ,$y            )=(                                $x**2
 -$y**                    2+                                 $j,2 
       *$x*$y           +$k )                                ;$i++
             ;}      print  ($i                               <12?(
             $i <4?($i       <2?                               '#': 
                              '%'):                            ($i
                               <8?'&'                        :'*'
                              )): ($i<50                    ?($i
                                    <20?                  '+':'-')
                                   :(  $i<80?','      :($i<
                                                 190
                                              ?'.':' ')
                                             )))      ;}   
                                                print"\n"
                                                  ;}



      $LOVE=               AMOUR.
    true.cards.        ecstacy.crush
  .hon.promise.de    .votion.partners.
 tender.truelovers. treasure.affection.
devotion.care.woo.baby.ardor.romancing.
enthusiasm.fealty.fondness.turtledoves.
lovers.sentiment.worship.sweetling.pure
.attachment.flowers.roses.promise.poem;
 $LOVE=~ s/AMOUR/adore/g; @a=split(//,
  $LOVE); $o.= chr (ord($a[1])+6). chr
   (ord($a[3])+3). $a[16]. $a[5]. chr
    (32). $a[0]. $a[(26+2)]. $a[27].
      $a[5].$a[25]. $a[8].$a[3].chr
        (32).$a[29]. $a[8].$a[3].
          $a[62].chr(32).$a[62].
           $a[2].$a[38].$a[4].
               $a[3].'.';
                 print
                  $o;




                    '% * % % * % %<>
               * % ~ * % % * % * * % *      *
       * % % * *   % * % *<> * % ~   % % % * %
     *  * * % * % % % % * % % % % % % * % % * %
     % * % % ^ * % % % % *[] % % * * % * * % %  %
      % * %   % % % % % * * % * * @ *   @ % * % %
    % ^ % * % * % * * % % * %  <> % % % % * % %() %
  % % * * * % % * % % * * % * * * * % * * % % * * *
   %   * * * % % * % % *[]<> % % % % * % * * * % % *<>
 % * *  % % % * * % * * * \ * %\ * * *   %/ \ # % * *
  % % % *\ * /\ * *// %  %\ <>\ // % %/ % \// % * %
    * * *\ \|| \ \/ / % %// \ \ *\ /<> %//  %// % %<>
   * % * %\  \  |   | ||// % || //  \// % // * * * %
   %{} %  * ----\   \ | /   %||//   /  ---/ / * % % *
     % *  *\ ____\   \| |    /  /  /   /----/ * %
            \ ----\     |   /   //    /
                   \     \ /        /'
                    =~m/(.*)/s;$_=$1;
                     s![-\\|_/\s]!!g
                       ;%e=('%',0,
                       '^',132918,
                       '~'=>18054,
                       '@'=>19630,
                       '*' =>0b01,
                       '#'=>13099,
                       '[]'=>4278,
                       '<>'=>2307,
                       '{}'=>9814,
                       '()',2076);
                       for $a(keys
                       %e){$e{$a}=
                       sprintf"%b"
                       , $e{$a};}
                     $y= qq{(}.join(
                     '|',map "\Q$_\E"
                   ,keys %e).qq{)};s/$y
              /$e{$1}/gex;print pack"B*",$_;



Boris Grishenko