http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=309253

Two years ago I joined PerlMonks. Although I was already an experienced programmer, my Perl ability was very crude.

Two years of reading, writing, answering, proposing, and discussing has been enormously beneficial for my coding skills.

I should say how grateful I feel to the many Monks who have been helpful during these 2 years, but the list would be too long, and I wouldn't want to forget anybody. Therefore, instead of posting a meditation, I decided to write an obfu, whose output will tell how I feel for the Monastery as a whole.

The script may take a few seconds to come up with the output. Please, be patient.

s..7072696E74206D61707B735B305D5B5C34305D673B735B315D5B5C34355D673B245 F2E242F7D206D61707B20756E7061636B202822422A222C207061636B2822482A222C2 45F29297D2071772820666666666666666666666638203830363766666666336666382 + 0663365376666666633666638206633653766666666336666382066336537653339373 2373138 20663 3653 1 6339 3833 306 534382 066336 53466 39393 33 16 633382020 2 020 20663 3 6534 65313 9333066393820 202020 663 36534633 939 33 32363 4 38202020206 6336534 65313933 3237 313 82020 2 020 666666 666666 66666666663820 6666 6666666 6 666 666666666 66666 666663 82038306666666 6653 6376366 66666 6 3366 66 3820 20396 537666 6666536 3338 6 66666 6 63366 66 382039 6537666666653634346666666633666638203965373163386536366365333937323731 3820203830653463323636376363313833306534382020396665306366653637636339 3933316633382039666537636665363763633939333066393820396665346366653637 6363393933323634382039666631636665363763653339333237313820666666666666 666666666666666666666638293B20232323232323232323232323232323232323.;$; =$=+$=/5;$;=chr$;;$^=lc$;;$^++for+1..01046565;$;.='*';sub two_yrs{eval "$^'@{[shift]}','@{[shift]}'"}$..=two_yrs$;,$1 while "PerlMonks++" and '732e5c732e2e673b6576616c207061636b22482a222c245f'=~m;(..|2 years with PerlMonks improves your Perl coding habits, or so it);g;s,,$.,seems#;)

Happy coding

update davido reports that this script doesn't agree with Perl 5.8.0 on a Win98 system, making the machine exhaust its memory.
I am sorry about that, but I was only able to test it under WinXP, Win2000, cygwin, Linux Debian and Mandrake 2.4.18 and 2.4.21. It worked well.

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Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: 2 years
by Ananda (Pilgrim) on Nov 24, 2003 at 11:51 UTC
    Nice Work :)
    Ananda
Re: 2 years
by duff (Parson) on Nov 23, 2003 at 17:48 UTC

      Very nice, I like it. I wish obsfuscated code didn't make my head hurt. Maybe it will be different in two years.

      BTW, the code ran instantly with zero problems under Linux RH 9.

      xenchu

      Perl has one Great Advantage and one Great Disadvantage:

      It is easy to write a complex and powerful program in three lines of code.
Re: 2 years
by RolandGunslinger (Curate) on Nov 26, 2003 at 22:59 UTC
    Nice! I'm new to Perl also, I'm an experienced programmer though with 20+ years under my belt. Perl has helped me enjoy the coding process once again. I hope in 2 years time, that I'm as good at Perl as you are.
Re: 2 years
by petercooper (Acolyte) on Dec 10, 2003 at 13:52 UTC
    Nice work. I enjoyed reverse engineering this. I thought I'd cracked it, and then found you'd packed everything AGAIN, I was like 'argh!' but got there in the end ;-) Very cute.