diff --git a/2000/tomx/try.alt.sh b/2000/tomx/try.alt.sh
index 1d8f730d8..0ffb04090 100755
--- a/2000/tomx/try.alt.sh
+++ b/2000/tomx/try.alt.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,19 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# 
-# try.sh - script to show 2000/tomx
+#
+# try.alt.sh - demonstrate IOCCC winner 2000/tomx alt code
+#
+
+# make sure CC is set so that when we do make CC="$CC" it isn't empty. Doing it
+# this way allows us to have the user specify a different compiler in an easy
+# way.
+if [[ -z "$CC" ]]; then
+    CC="cc"
+fi
+
+make CC="$CC" alt >/dev/null || exit 1
+
+# clear screen after compilation so that only the entry is shown
+clear
 
 echo "Using tomx.alt.c to compile mkentry.c directly:" 1>&2
 echo "$ chmod +x tomx.alt.c" 1>&2
diff --git a/2000/tomx/try.sh b/2000/tomx/try.sh
index db719b5b8..e3bb764dc 100755
--- a/2000/tomx/try.sh
+++ b/2000/tomx/try.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,19 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# 
-# try.sh - script to show 2000/tomx
+#
+# try.sh - demonstrate IOCCC winner 2000/tomx
+#
+
+# make sure CC is set so that when we do make CC="$CC" it isn't empty. Doing it
+# this way allows us to have the user specify a different compiler in an easy
+# way.
+if [[ -z "$CC" ]]; then
+    CC="cc"
+fi
+
+make CC="$CC" all >/dev/null || exit 1
+
+# clear screen after compilation so that only the entry is shown
+clear
 
 if [[ ! -f "tomx" || ! -e "tomx" ]]; then
     echo "Compiling tomx.c:" 1>&2