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Comments (74)

  • haunter
    The 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!
  • s-macke
    My 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...
  • yayitswei
    In case anyone was wondering, the IOCCC specifically permits LLM use in their guidelines."The IOCCC has a rich history of remarkable winning entries created by authors who skillfully employed various techniques (often their own tools) to develop their code."
  • aquir
    The website itself is obfuscated, it’s not easy to find the C sources at all!
  • ollybee
    I with the Underhanded C Contest would come back, it was far more interesting to me. No disrespect intended to the Obfuscated C competitors.
  • roer
    There's a Frieren [1] reference in there! https://www.ioccc.org/2025/yang2/index.htmlOne of the main characters is called Fern, and she almost exclusively uses the common offensive magic of Zoltraak.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieren
  • msk-lywenn
    OMG, my game boy game of life implementation is included in one of the winning entries!
  • locao
    Back in 2000 I was being interviewed for my first internship, to join a team of C programmers. They showed me one of the winner entries of the prior years, asked me to review the code and left the room. About 5 minutes later they came back:– And?– I'm sorry I wasted your time. I just can't understand it.They burst into laughs and asked me to start the joining process.I wonder if people still make fun of interns. I still have a good laugh when I remember myself freaking out.
  • TZubiri
    I love the submissions of IOCCC generally, but the schedule and submission process looks like a mess, is that part of the joke? Or is it just because being consistent and designing a simple process is hard¡
  • Gathering6678
    There's another contest called Underhanded C that I enjoyed a lot reading, but it has been inactive for a decade at this point...
  • tomcloney007
    [flagged]
  • swordlucky666
    [dead]
  • nsoonhui
    I'm not sure this kind of competition is still meaningful, given that LLM can easily convert a program clearly written in any programming language to the most obfuscated C code, and can still easily verify it's correctness in an automated way.Do I miss anything?
  • larodi
    Tis a pity to not have LLMs compete, given level of obfuscation they be capable of.
  • rurban
    So like at a film festival, 90% of the entries won a price, but unlike a film festival there's not a single best. Weird, like modern education.