Observe my wonderful Lua ASCII art creation:

                                                                _={_=_G
                                                              }for--[[--]]__
                                                            in(next),_["_"]do
                                                           (_)[_]=(__)_[#_[_]]
                                                          =_[_]_[_]="sub"end(_)
                              [_]=_[_]                    [_[_]]_[_._]=#"_._"_[
                       _[_._]]=_[_](_[_[_._]*_             [_._]],_[_._],_[_._
                    ]).._[_](_[(_[_._]+_[_._]/_[_._         ])*_[_._]],_[_._]/
                _[_._]+_[_._]/_[_._],_[_._]).._[_](_[_       [_._]*_[_._]],_
             [_._]+_[_._]-_[_._]/_[_._],_[_._]+_[_._]-_[       _._]/_[_._]
           ).._[_](_[_[_._]*_[_._]],_[_._],_[_._]).._[_](_[         _
         [_._]*_[_._]],_[_._]/_[_._]-_[_._]           ,_[_._
        ]/_[_._]-_[_._])_[_[_._]*_[_._]+_               [_._]-
      _[_._]/_[_._]]=(_)_[_[_._]*_[_._]+                  _[_._
     ]+_[_._]/_[_._]]=(_)_[#_+_[_._]/_[                    _._]]
    =_._[_[#_-_[_._]-#_/#_]]_[_[#_]]=_[                    #_](_[
   _[_._]].."(".._[#_-#_/_[_._]].."('"                     .._[_[_
  ._]]..[[("\\'..(...+#_*(_[_._]+_[_._]                   ))..'")')
  )()]])_[_[#_]]=_[_[_._]][_[_[#_]](_[_.                 _]*_[_._])
 .._[_[#_]](#_-_[_._]/_[_._]).._[_[#_]](_               [_._]+_[_._]
 +_[_._]/_[_._]).._[_[#_]](_[_._]^_[_._]-_[_         ._])]_[_[_[#_]](
 #_)]=#_*#_/_[_._]_[_[_[#_]](#_)]=_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+_[_[_[#_]](#_)]/_[(
 _._)]_._[_[    _[#_]](_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+#_-_[_._],_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+#_-
 #_/#_,_[_[_[   #_]](#_)]+#_/_[_._],_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+#_-#_/_[_._], _[
 _[_[#_]](#_)   ]+#_+#_/#_)](_[_[#_+_[_._]-_[_._]]](#_*#_/_[_._]-_[_.
 _],_[_[_[#_]   ](#_)]+_[_._]    /_[_.   _],_[  _    [_[#_]](#_)]+#_
 /_[_._]+_[_.   _],_[_[_[#_]](   #_)]+   #_/   _[_.   _]+_[_._],_[_[
  _[#_]](#_)]   +#_-_[_._]-_[_   ._]/_   [_._  ],#_   +#_+_[_._]-_[
  _._]/_[_._]   ,#_*(_[_._]+_[   _._])   -_[_.    _   ],_[_[_[#_]](
   #_)]+#_-_[   _._]-_[_._ ]/_   [_._]   ,_[_   [_[   #_]](#_)]+#_
    -#_/#_,_[   _[_[#_]](  #_)   ]+#_/   _[_   ._]+   _[_._],_[_[
     _[#_]](     #_)],#   _+#_    +#       _    /# _  + #_/#_,_[_
     [_[#_               ]](#_)     ]+_   [_._    ]-_  [_._]/_[_
      ._],_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+#_-_[_._]/_[_._],(_[_._])^_[_._]*(_[
        _._]+_[_._]/_[_._])+_[_._],_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+_[_._]*_[_
         ._],#_+#_+#_/#_+#_/#_,#_*#_/_[_._]+_[_[_[#_]](#_)]/
            _[_[_[#_]](#_)],_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+#_+_[_[_[#_]](
              #_)]/_[_[_[#_]](#_)]+_[_[_[#_]](#_)]/_[_[
                 _[#_]](#_)],_[_[_[#_]](#_)]-_[_._]))
                    _._=_[_[_._]][_[_[_[#_]](#_)]
                         ]_[(#_)^#_-_[_._]]=
                                 _._

As an improvement on my prior post, this valid Lua program has a more interesting whitespace arrangement, has less string literals, and less alphanumeric characters (no "byte" in this code, whereas the previous post does).

As a continuation of my Lua abomination series, the below code is surely one of the most indecipherable versions of print 'Hello World' that you're likely to see.

_={_=_G}for--[[]]__--[[]]in(next),_["_"]do(_)[_]=(__)_[#_[_]],_[_[_]:byte(-#"#"
)+#_[_]-(#{}+#"(#''"*#"*#*#*"*#"_[_[]]")]=_[_],_[_]end(_)[_]=_._[_[#""]]{[_._[_
[#""]]]=_}_[""]=_._[_._[_[#[=[=#=]=]*-((#[=[#[=]#]=]))]](_._[_[-#[[_[-#[#_[_]]]
](_))]_[";"]=_._[_[#"#"+(#")#^")^#"#^"]]_["'"]=[[sub]]_['"']=_[""][_["'"]]_["/"
]=[[/_)=.,[#"('*:^;+]]_["'"]=_[""][_['"'](_[-#[[=[=]=]]],-#",_",-#"..").._["'"]
]_["["]=_['"'](_[-#"#-]_"],#",",#{_}).._['"'](_[-#"-"],#",",#"#").._['"'](_[-(#
"^#^")^#"^#"],#"-",#"(").._['"'](_[#_[-#"#"]*-#"[#"],#_[-#"#"],#_[-#"#"]).._[''
..'"'](_[-#[[=[]=]]],#_["/"]/#_["/"],#"/").._['"'](_[-(#"#)-")^#[[""]]],-#"-,",
-#[=[[]]=])_["]"]=_['"'](_[-#_[-#"-"]],#",",#"#").._[";"](_["["]..[=[('\]=]..(#
'#).'*#',..]]'*#'",#"#",'-#'(').."')")().._['"'](_[-#_[-#"-"]],-#_[-#"-"]-#"-",
-#_[-#"-"])_['_']=_[";"](_["["]..'(_[""].'.._[";"](_["["]..[[('\]]..((#_["/"]+#
"'")*#"#*("*#"..").."')")().._['"'](_[#_[-#"_"]*#"[_"],-#"#-,",-#"(,").._['"'](
_[-#_["/"]],-#",",-#"(")..'(_["/"],...,#"#","")-#"#")')_[";"](_["'"](_["'"]([[]
#/#)[([;#.))."[,[:[:[+)/,#[+#)[:[.)))^)^#/#)[([;#.))."[,[:[:[+)/,#[+#)[:[.)))^]
]],"[^".._["/"].."]",""),"(.)(.)",_[";"]("_['.'],_['#']=...".._["["].."(_['']."
.._["]"].."(_['_'](...)*#_['/']+_['_'](_['#'])))")))(...)_={#{...},#{#{}},#"#"}

(If you don't believe me, it does print Hello World).

The aim was to use as few alphanumeric characters as possible, and I think I did fairly well - you've only got "G", "for", "in", "next", "do", "byte", "end", and "sub". For a language which typically is full of alphanumeric characters, I consider it quite impressive. As an added bonus, there is also no whitespace.

Only about half a line of the code is an encoding of "print'Hello World'" - the other lines just perform generic decoding. That's right; not only this is an obscene obfuscation, it's also an easily reusable obfuscation.

I thought this wonderful little wordplay from the Lua mailing list deserved some more visiblity:

Person A: IMO python is by far the better language for "first programming language" than Lua.
Person B: If you're going to make an audacious assertion, please back it up with justification :)
Person C: Justification changes the syntax.

Unfortunately, you need to have a fair bit of knowledge on computer programming languages to appreciate it.

As of today (September 20th 2009), corsix.org has moved server. It used to be hosted over at www.ecwhost.com, who I was very happy with up until recently, whereas now it is hosted on its own virtual private server. While I was moving server, I also updated Drupal (the software which runs this site) to the latest available version.

Hopefully, you won't notice any visible differences from this change. If you do, then leave a comment or drop me email at [email protected] (or, if my new DNS servers are also failing to serve MX records, [email protected]).

For the past two months or so, one of my side projects has been writing an open source clone of Theme Hospital. I recall Theme Hospital as being one of the great classic games I had when I was younger, and it's sad to watch it slowly become harder and harder to play on modern operating systems, with modern hardware, and with modern conveniences (like 3-button mice, screen resolutions larger than 640x480, and so on). A game like Theme Hospital really deserves a decent open source clone, and so I thought I'd have a stab at making one.

You can find downloads, source code, an issue tracker, etc. over at Google Code if you're interested.