\documentstyle{article} \setlength{\textwidth}{6.5 in} \setlength{\textheight}{9 in} \setlength{\topmargin}{0 in} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0 in} \setlength{\parindent}{0 in} \begin{document} \begin{center} {\Large 1st International obFUsCaTeD POsTsCripT Contest} 1993 Rules for the Contest {\em Jonathan Monsarrat} (jgm@cs.brown.edu) {\em Alena Lacova} (alena@nikhef.nl) \end{center} \section{What it is} A contest of programming skills and knowledge, exclusively for the PostScript programming language. Its purpose: \begin{itemize} \item To spread knowledge of PostScript and its details. \item To applaud those with the best tricks. \item To prove that humans can beat those damnable machine generators at their own game by writing the most obscure and mysterious PostScript programs ever. \end{itemize} Winners will receive the fame and attention that goes with having their program entry posted as a winner to programmers world-wide. Please forward these rules to anyone you know who may be interested. The fancy Obfuscated PostScript version of these rules is available by ftp as ``wilma.cs.brown.edu:pub/postscript/obfuscated/rules.ps''. This is also the site with the obfuscated contest winners. \section{How to Enter} Write a program in PostScript that does something special and shows off an interesting quirk of the language or displays a special effect. Almost anything is allowed! Write something creative that will catch the attention of the judges. Your job is not only to make something special, but to obscure the meaning of your entry by using obscure techniques. The people who read your program shouldn't be able to figure out how it does what it does. (Yes, it must {\em do} something.) \begin{itemize} \item Do not use a drawing program like MacDraw. Your contest entry cannot be machine-generated in any way. \item Your entry can be as large as 5000 bytes. However, quality is considered far more important than quantity. Entries that are smaller than 1500 bytes and still do something are considered impressive. Your entry may be multiple files totalling less than this byte limit. \item Don't forget to give a filename for your program. \item Your contest entry should run on GhostScript 2.5.2 so that a wide variety of PostScript users may view your entry if it wins. This rule may relunctantly be broken if necessary to the interesting functionality of your program. GhostScript is a freely available PostScript interpreter. You may get it from anonymous\\ ftp to ftp.cs.wisc.edu:/pub/X/ghostscript-*2.5.2*. Your system administrator will be able to tell you how to use ftp. \item Your PostScript code should be as portable as possible so that many people can enjoy running your program if you win. Do not use any commands that are not part of the PostScript language (like the GhostScript additional commands). \item Your program must be original. \item You may not submit more than twelve entries. \item Don't use PostScript 2 commands unless they are an important part of your entry. \end{itemize} \section{Documentation} Not writing documentation will increase the obscureness of your entry. Good for you! However, you may wish to document anything special your program does that is so obscure that the judges might miss it completely. If there is some special hardware that you rely on, or if the device size or resolution are an important part of your entry, that must be documented. \newpage \section{Where to Send It} Send your entry to Jonathan Monsarrat by email to {\bf jgm@cs.brown.edu.} If you don't have email, use this address:\\ Jonathan Monsarrat\\ 14 Danforth Street\\ Rehoboth Massachusetts 02769 U.S.A. Jon's phone number in the U.S.A. is (401) 863-7695. We welcome your suggestions! Please email your suggestions and questions. \section{Categories} Entries will be judged by category, with the overall winner being the receiver of the Obfuscated PostScript award. Only the winning entries of each category will be included in the contest winners archive. \begin{description} \item[Obfuscated PostScript] The most obscure PostScript program. It does something in a clever way, and took us forever to figure out (if we did). \item[Best Artwork] The best example of art. \item[Most Compact] The best example of very tiny coding. How much less than 1000 bytes can an interesting program be? \item[Best PostScript 1] The best entry that used only PostScript 1 commands. \item[Best Non-Graphics] The best entry that did not have a graphical output. \item[Best Interactive Program] The best entry that you type interactive commands to with an on-line interpreter. \item[Most Useful] The entry most likely to be of some real use. \end{description} And anything so unusual and creative that it deserves an award. \section{Judging} The judges will choose the winners of each category. {\bf Alena Lacova} is a system administrator at NIKHEF (Institute for High Energy and Nuclear Physics) in the Netherlands. She is the author of {\em The PostScript Chaos Programs,} which draw Julia sets, Mandelbrot sets and other kinds of fractal functions. {\bf Jonathan Monsarrat} is a graduate student from MIT and Brown University in the U.S.A. He is the FAQ maintainer for the Usenet newsgroup {\bf comp.lang.postscript} and the author of {\em The PostScript Zone} and {\em LameTeX}. \section{Deadline and Schedule} Submissions will be accepted after 12:01 a.m GMT, Sunday November 29th, 1992. Your submission must be postmarked before 11:59 p.m. GMT, Sunday January 10th, 1993. We must receive it before 11:59 p.m. GMT, Monday January 11th, 1993. Results will be posted as soon as we have them (probably in a couple of weeks), but no later than Sunday, January 31st. Results will go out to {\bf comp.lang.postscript} (and a few well-chosen Usenet newsgroups), the Compuserve group, and with the Adobe Developer's mailing. Copies of the winning entries will be available by email and anonymous ftp, and also by surface mail on computer diskettes for a small fee (if there is a demand). % \begin{stealth} % This document was written with the LaTeX language and formatted by LameTeX, % the PostScript hacker's LaTeX. % \end{stealth} {\sc PostScript} is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Incorporated. \end{document}