Files
Landon Curt Noll f64f244ba6 update due to recent commits
The largest change was due to modifying `ioccc.css`
that resulted in all year and entry tarballs being modified.

Ran `make update` to perform the above.
2025-11-25 22:42:46 -08:00
..
2025-11-25 22:42:46 -08:00
2020-12-30 16:57:03 -08:00
2023-07-06 21:49:38 -07:00

To build:

    make all

To use:

    ./korn

Judges' remarks:

The Judges believe that this is the best one line entry ever received. Compile on a UNIX system, or at least one using a C implementation that fakes it. Very few people are able to determine what this program does by visual inspection. I suggest that you stop reading this section right now and see if you are one of the few people who can.

Several points are important to understand this program:

  1. What is the symbol unix and what is its value in the program? Clearly unix is not a function, and since unix is not declared to be a data type (such as int, char, struct foo, enum, ...) what must unix be?

  2. What is the value of the symbol "have"? (hint: the value is NOT 4 characters, or 'h', or a string) Consider the fact that:

    char *x;

defines a pointer to a char (i.e. an address), and that the = assigns things of compatible types. Since:

    x = "have";

is legal C, what type of value is "have"?

  1. Note that the following expressions yield the same value:
    x[3]        *(x+3)    *(3+x)

since addition is commutative. What can be said about this value?

    3[x]

David Korn's /bin/ksh provides us with a greatly improved version of the /bin/sh. The source for v7's /bin/sh greatly inspired this contest.

Author's remarks:

No remarks were provided by the author.