Logo by winner Matt Zucker

The source winners of the 27^th IOCCC have been released. Congratulations!

The IOCCC is currently CLOSED.

Right now, you CANNOT register as a contestant with the IOCCC,
nor can you submit an entry because the IOCCC is yet NOT open.

Please see the watch the IOCCC news below for information on the next IOCCC.

You may also check on the status.json for the current status of the IOCCC.

Goals of the Contest

• Obfuscate: tr.v. -cated, -cating, -cates.
  1. 1. To render obscure.
     2. To darken.
  2. To confuse: his emotions obfuscated his judgment.
     [LLat. obfuscare, to darken : ob(intensive) + Lat. fuscare,
     to darken < fuscus, dark.] -obfuscation n. obfuscatory adj
     
  
  
• The IOCCC:
  • To write the most Obscure/Obfuscated C program within the rules.
  • To show the importance of programming style, in an ironic way.
  • To stress C compilers with unusual code.
  • To illustrate some of the subtleties of the C language.
  • To provide a safe forum for poor C code. :-)

IOCCC news

• 2023-05-22
  • We have been busy preparing for an important / significant update to this web site. In the temp-test-ioccc GitHiub repo, we have made nearly 2000 changes to date.

    While you are free to look at the temp-test-ioccc GitHiub repo, please do not link to it as this repo and related web site will disappear once the main IOCCC winner repo has been updated.

    Also be aware that the temp-test-ioccc GitHiub repo is undergoing rapid changes. There are broken links and other things in mid-change.

    Once we are ready to update the IOCCC winner repo and its associated www.ioccc.org web site, we will post a news article warning of the pending change that is about to arrive.

    These 2000+ changes in the temp-test-ioccc GitHiub repo include diverse things such as:
    • Moving IOCCC winners into their own separate directories
    • Fixing lots and lots of typos
    • Fixing Makefiles and code to allow for nearly all winners to be compiled on modern systems
    • Reworking the Makefiles to use a consistent set of rules
    • Reworking the Makefiles to compile under gcc and clang
    • Replacing the various hint files with a README.md markdown that is more consistent across IOCCC years
    • Setting up a system whereby authors of IOCCC entries may update their own contact information via a GitHub pull request
    • Setting up to generate the top level years.html file via a tool
    • Setting up to generate the top level winners.html file via a tool
    • etc.

    We have lots more to do. Our work is not finished. We just wanted to let you know that we are making good progress.

    In regards to the next IOCCC. We do plan to hold a 28th IOCCC. However before we do that, we plan to hold what will be called IOCCCMOCK, a beta-test IOCCC where we plan to test the new mkiocccentry tool, a tool that will package submissions to the IOCCC.

    We are working on an improved IOCCC submit server that will allow those who submit entires to be informed about the status of their submission. This IOCCC submit server will be beta tested in the IOCCCMOCK.

    We are working on a method to rapidly post the winners of an IOCCC. No longer will winners be subject to a long delay between announcing that they have won and their code being made available. No longer will procrastination delay the public seeing the winning code. Instead the announcement of the winners of an IOCCC will be done by posting the winning code via a GitHub commit. Any corrections, improvement, typo fixes and other fixes will be applied to the winners via GitHub pull requests: by the authors and/or other interested 3rd parties.

    All the above represent one of the most significant (and useful) changes to the IOCCC since it started back in 1984. While we are doing lots of testing, we are sure that issues, mis-features and even bugs will be uncovered when we go live. For this reason, we plan to beta-test the process by holding an IOCCCMOCK. The IOCCCMOCK will be like a regular IOCCC except that the judges will not judge the code. Instead, people will be invited to submit a simple "Hello, world!" style program. Awards will be given to those who:

    • submit the best pull requests that fix a bug
    • submit the best pull requests that fix a typo
    • make the best suggestions for improvements
    • have the most fun / make us laugh
    • etc.

    The IOCCCMOCK will allow is to restart the beta-test contest should a major problem be discovered that needs urgent fixing. The IOCCCMOCK will us to beta-test the new IOCCC process without putting the hard work of those who submit real IOCCC entries at risk.

    Stay tuned!

• 2023-01-30
  • We added to the status.json page, a "status_date" JSON member whose value is the date of the most recent status.json modification, in date(1) format.

    We also added to the status.json page, a "latest_news" JSON member whose value is the date of the most recent news item.

    For example:

        "status_date" : "Mon Jan 30 02:28:44 PST 2023",
        "latest_news" : "Mon Jan 30 02:28:44 PST 2023"
    

• 2022-12-18
  • As per the suggestion of Toni Mikkola (@Virtaava@home.social) we now maintain a status.json page on this web site.

    In addition to the IOCCC-style easter egg, you may count on the JSON status page having a JSON member with name of "contest" that will have a value of either "closed" or "open". When a future IOCCC is announced or the IOCCC is currently open, the JSON member with name of "contest" will change from "closed" to "open".

    Additional JSON members be added describing the contest such as the IOCCC contest number, open date, close date, timezone, etc. The details of such additional JSON members are TBD.

    When an open IOCCC closes, we won't instantaneously update the status.json page. Instead you will have to rely on the additional JSON information and/or read the IOCCC news, and/or follow us on Mastodon via @ioccc@fosstodon.org.

• 2022-11-29
  • We are plan to abandon our IOCCC Twitter feed in favor of our new IOCCC Mastodon feed.

    Our Mastodon username is: @ioccc@fosstodon.org.

    Please note: As of the date of this posting, our account was just setup, so there isn't much to read there, yet.

    In the future we plan to use Mastodon as our official announcement platform. This will include announcing:

    • IOCCC news updates
    • Start of a new IOCCC
    • Updates on the IOCCC judging process
    • Who won the IOCCC
    • etC. :-)

    When registering for a new IOCCC, we will no longer ask for an optional twitter handle. Instead, you will be asked if you wish to provide a Mastodon username when you submit your IOCCC entry. Use of Mastodon is NOT required to enter the IOCCC, but nevertheless is encouraged. Proving a Mastodon username will be entirely optional.

    Non-mastodon users can follow the IOCCC postings via: fosstodon.org/@ioccc.

    If you do not yet have a Mastodon account, you may obtain a free mastodon account via: joinmastodon.org.

    If you do have / obtain a Mastodon account, please do us a favor and follow the IOCCC at:

    @ioccc@fosstodon.org

    The IOCCC wishes to thank the good folk running the fosstodon.org Mastodon hub. Their technology focused Fosstodon Hub is made possible by volunteers, and those who voluntarily support the cost of their server.

    Stay tuned in Mastodon as we update you on our progress towards the next IOCCC!

• 2022-11-19
  • Source code has been released for version 0.8.1 2022-11-19 of the mkiocccentry repo, a GitHub repo that includes the official iocccsize tool, and a tool will form a compressed tarball of their entry.

    We are working on a submit server that will allow a registered IOCCC contestant to upload the above mentioned compressed tarball: when the contest is open of course.

    Once we reach version 1.0, we plan to invite the public to test and comment.

    We plan to hold in 2023, what we will call IOCCCMOCK, a trial IOCCC contest where the judges will go through the motions (without judging the content) of an IOCCC: testing the above mentioned tools and testing the submit server.

    We are working on complete rebuild of this web site as well.

  
  
• 2022-01-15
  • Source code has been released for version 0.24 2022-01-15 of the mkiocccentry tool, a tool that is based on, and is containing, the official iocccsize tool, will form a compressed tarball that a registered IOCCC contestant will upload to the submit server (when the contest is open of course).
  
  
• 2021-12-27
  • The Judges are continuing to work on re-tooling how we run the IOCCC. We are writing tools under various repositories our IOCCC GitHub organization site.

    We plan to hold IOCCC28 in 2023. Sorry for the delay, but we think you will appreciate the re-tooling when it is completed. Stay tuned!

  
  
• 2021-10-21
  • The Judges are re-tooling how we run the IOCCC. Our goal is to build a smoother, more rapid process centered around GitHub.

    For example, when we announce the winners, we will do so by committing their code to the Winning entries of the IOCCC repo, so that people will be able immediately view the winning source.

    We plan to refactor and modernize the IOCCC web site. We also plan to build a new and improved way to submit entries the next IOCCC. As a result of all this work we need to do, we plan to hold IOCCC28 in 2023 instead of 2021. Sorry for the delay, but we think you will appreciate the re-tooling when it is completed.

    Stay tuned for how you may be able to help in the IOCCC redesign for IOCCC28!

  
  

Older news has been archived, but is not currently available

© Copyright 1984-2020, Leo Broukhis, Simon Cooper, Landon Curt Noll - All rights reserved This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.