Well now that the "Signature" and "Avatar" contests are over, I thought that I would propose a new challenge, and this one's in the form of a programming challenge.

A quine is a program that presents an interesting problem -- basically it's a program that needs to output its own source code (no, you can't just read your original source file). Basically, if you wrote the program in C, the program should output things like:

#include <stdio.h> void main(void) { printf("#include <stdio.h>\n"); printf("void main(void)\n"); printf("{\n"); printf(" printf(\"#include <stdio.h>\\n\");\n"); ....etc }

I have always found quines to be an interesting mental problem, and recently I wrote my own in C# (I'll post it sometime soon if enough people are interested, but I don't want to give my method away too early). I'd love to see people write quines in their particular language-of-choice -- whether it be C++, Python, Perl, C#, PHP, or any other one that you like to use.

FYI, mine took me about 5 hours to write -- a Friday evening, then I woke up on Saturday and continued coding. Jennifer was a little puzzled when I was so excited that I woke her up on Saturday with excitement that I finally had gotten it to work perfectly right.

It's not hard to get the source close, but to get it *exact* is trickier.

Anyway, I hope you all find this as interesting and challenging as I did!

In Christ,
clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

------------------
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes...

30 List

------------------
Karl /GODCENTRIC
Visionary Media
the creative submitted to the divine.
Husband of my amazing wife Aleshia
Klumsy@xtra.co.nz

It would be really cool to see how you did it Clint?

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

I'll post the code later so that I don't spoil any one's fun...

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by HanClinto:

A quine is a program that presents an interesting problem -- basically it's a program that needs to output its own source code (no, you can't just read your original source file)

---

Is that it? What else does it do?

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

quote:

---

Originally posted by CPUFreak91:
Is that it? What else does it do?

---

It's not simple as it sounds because it must print the source code which includes the code that prints...

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jari:
Wow I think I got it... I used defines which made it pretty easy, is that allowed?

I'll post the code later so that I don't spoil any one's fun...

---

Great job, Jari! And yes, I think #defines are perfectly allowed -- it's not something I can use in C#, but hey, use whatever the language gives you, yes?

Let's hold off on posting any of our solutions until say... tomorrow or the day after? I'll post my solution this Friday.

What would the "30 LIST" do?

Cheers!

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

quote:

---

Originally posted by HanClinto:

Let's hold off on posting any of our solutions until say... tomorrow or the day after? I'll post my solution this Friday.

---

OK, I'll be posting after you in case I got the idea wrong.

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

Some people make it simpler on themselves by having the whole program be on a single line (easy to do in C++, not so easy in VB), but I chose to have my program keep its formatting (complete with tabs and newlines and whatnot).

Cheers!

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

quote:

---

Originally posted by HanClinto:
Basically, you should be able to run your program, take the output of the program, put it into a file, then compile that file, run that new program, and repeat ad-infinitum, with the output of the program always being the same.

---

OK then I got.

quote:

---

Originally posted by HanClinto:
Some people make it simpler on themselves by having the whole program be on a single line (easy to do in C++, not so easy in VB), but I chose to have my program keep its formatting (complete with tabs and newlines and whatnot).

---

I didn't bother to keep spaces and tabs the same, just line changes.

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

I didn't come up with my solution entirely on my own (kindof wish I had), but I viewed at least one quine solution to get a basic idea of how one might do it, and then I took that idea and made my own.

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

------------------
globalrant.tk

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

quote:

---

What would the "30 LIST" do?

---

30 is the line number and list is a basic command to list its sourcecode..

so 30 list would just show 30 List
could be 10 or whatever or whatever line number you wish actually you go do

20 a = 5
30 b = a + 10
40 c = b * b
50 List

so basic is a very quine friendly language.

------------------
Karl /GODCENTRIC
Visionary Media
the creative submitted to the divine.
Husband of my amazing wife Aleshia
Klumsy@xtra.co.nz

So, I think what you are saying is that you have your lanugage run it's own language, like iterpret it to run?

------------------
"Be nice to the nerds because later on, you'll be working for them" - Bill Gates

could make an MMORPG in three lines, given I had a single DLL with the entire thing in it programed in a different language :P

And Klumsy, yes, it appears that Basic is a very Quine-friendly language, but while it would accomplish the task, I think it's breaking the rules of "not allowed to read its own source file".

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

correct = "Is this correct?" print correct print "correct = \"Is this correct?\"\nprint correct"

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

[This message has been edited by CPUFreak91 (edited October 12, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by CPUFreak91 (edited October 13, 2005).]

------------------
globalrant.tk

maaayybbeee....

Yeah, that DOES bear a strking resemblance to HTML (Which none of these blasted forums seem to use!! i HATE UBB, learn HTML and then you hafta switch! grr.)... but i think its only skin deep... i mean, its Java that does all the cool stuff on the web sites!

------------------
(yes, i know im stupid)

Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right.
The kingdom of hevan bleongs to them.-Matthew 5:10

PM ME YOUR DESCRIPTION OF ME! ILL PUT IT HERE!

Here's all the comments!

------------------
globalrant.tk

------------------
Karl /GODCENTRIC
Visionary Media
the creative submitted to the divine.
Husband of my amazing wife Aleshia
Klumsy@xtra.co.nz

------------------
globalrant.tk

quote:

---

Originally posted by CPUFreak91:
So is this correct? (Python)

---

To quote code, you can use: a [ code ] tag.

correct = "Is this correct?" print correct print "correct = \"Is this correct?\"\nprint correct"

Okay, I don't know Python, but what is the output of that program? It looks like it would be:

correct = "Is this correct?" print correct

It would still need the final line in order for it to be correct -- the output needs to be exactly the same as the source file -- though I think you're definitely on the right track!

I may be wrong though -- you might have gotten it right and I just don't know Python well enough.

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

------------------
"Be nice to the nerds because later on, you'll be working for them" - Bill Gates

[This message has been edited by firemaker103 (edited October 13, 2005).]

quote:

---

Originally posted by crazyishone:
hmm...python seems to bare similarities to HTML. perhaps only skin-deep simliarities?

---

Nope. Not at all. I can't get the white box thingy to work.

Python is used a lot on the web, you just never notice it. I don't think anyone's done fancy internet stuff though like with Java. Ppl prefer the power of python for mySQL databases and such.

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
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See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

http://www.madore.org/~david/computers/quine.html

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

That read was way over my head at parts (I feel like since I left college, my brain has notched down quite a bit), but I really liked this quote from the end:

quote:

---

Yow! I've just lost the SOURCE CODE for all my QUINE PROGRAMS! What will I DO NOW with just the BINARIES?

---

That one made me laugh out loud.

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

http://www.nyx.net/~gthompso/quine.htm

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jari:
Those code's in the sites which CPUFreak linked are cleverly simple.
Mine is originally bloated.

---

I don't really understand them cause of being in C
Oh well, if I make one I'll be more prepared for the Compute Science course in College that i want to major in.

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

package org.vanbeveren.quine; public class Quine { private static final int[] data = { 0x70, 0x61, 0x63, 0x6b, 0x61, 0x67, 0x65, 0x20, 0x6f, 0x72, 0x67, 0x2e, 0x76, 0x61, 0x6e, 0x62, 0x65, 0x76, 0x65, 0x72, 0x65, 0x6e, 0x2e, 0x71, 0x75, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x65, 0x3b, 0xa, 0xa, 0x70, 0x75, 0x62, 0x6c, 0x69, 0x63, 0x20, 0x63, 0x6c, 0x61, 0x73, 0x73, 0x20, 0x51, 0x75, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x65, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0xa, 0x9, 0x70, 0x72, 0x69, 0x76, 0x61, 0x74, 0x65, 0x20, 0x73, 0x74, 0x61, 0x74, 0x69, 0x63, 0x20, 0x66, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x61, 0x6c, 0x20, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x5b, 0x5d, 0x20, 0x64, 0x61, 0x74, 0x61, 0x20, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x0, 0x9, 0x7d, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0xa, 0x9, 0x70, 0x75, 0x62, 0x6c, 0x69, 0x63, 0x20, 0x73, 0x74, 0x61, 0x74, 0x69, 0x63, 0x20, 0x76, 0x6f, 0x69, 0x64, 0x20, 0x6d, 0x61, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x28, 0x53, 0x74, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x67, 0x5b, 0x5d, 0x20, 0x61, 0x72, 0x67, 0x73, 0x29, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x66, 0x6f, 0x72, 0x20, 0x28, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x20, 0x69, 0x20, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x30, 0x3b, 0x20, 0x69, 0x20, 0x3c, 0x20, 0x64, 0x61, 0x74, 0x61, 0x2e, 0x6c, 0x65, 0x6e, 0x67, 0x74, 0x68, 0x3b, 0x20, 0x69, 0x2b, 0x2b, 0x29, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x63, 0x68, 0x61, 0x72, 0x20, 0x64, 0x20, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x28, 0x63, 0x68, 0x61, 0x72, 0x29, 0x64, 0x61, 0x74, 0x61, 0x5b, 0x69, 0x5d, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x69, 0x66, 0x20, 0x28, 0x64, 0x20, 0x3d, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x30, 0x29, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x66, 0x6f, 0x72, 0x20, 0x28, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x20, 0x6a, 0x20, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x30, 0x3b, 0x20, 0x6a, 0x20, 0x3c, 0x20, 0x64, 0x61, 0x74, 0x61, 0x2e, 0x6c, 0x65, 0x6e, 0x67, 0x74, 0x68, 0x3b, 0x20, 0x6a, 0x2b, 0x2b, 0x29, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x69, 0x66, 0x20, 0x28, 0x6a, 0x20, 0x25, 0x20, 0x31, 0x30, 0x20, 0x3d, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x30, 0x29, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x53, 0x79, 0x73, 0x74, 0x65, 0x6d, 0x2e, 0x6f, 0x75, 0x74, 0x2e, 0x70, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x28, 0x22, 0x5c, 0x74, 0x5c, 0x74, 0x22, 0x29, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x7d, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x53, 0x79, 0x73, 0x74, 0x65, 0x6d, 0x2e, 0x6f, 0x75, 0x74, 0x2e, 0x70, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x28, 0x22, 0x30, 0x78, 0x22, 0x20, 0x2b, 0x20, 0x49, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x65, 0x67, 0x65, 0x72, 0x2e, 0x74, 0x6f, 0x48, 0x65, 0x78, 0x53, 0x74, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x67, 0x28, 0x64, 0x61, 0x74, 0x61, 0x5b, 0x6a, 0x5d, 0x29, 0x29, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x69, 0x66, 0x20, 0x28, 0x6a, 0x20, 0x2b, 0x20, 0x31, 0x20, 0x21, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x64, 0x61, 0x74, 0x61, 0x2e, 0x6c, 0x65, 0x6e, 0x67, 0x74, 0x68, 0x29, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x53, 0x79, 0x73, 0x74, 0x65, 0x6d, 0x2e, 0x6f, 0x75, 0x74, 0x2e, 0x70, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x28, 0x22, 0x2c, 0x20, 0x22, 0x29, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x7d, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x69, 0x66, 0x20, 0x28, 0x6a, 0x20, 0x25, 0x20, 0x31, 0x30, 0x20, 0x3d, 0x3d, 0x20, 0x39, 0x29, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x53, 0x79, 0x73, 0x74, 0x65, 0x6d, 0x2e, 0x6f, 0x75, 0x74, 0x2e, 0x70, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x6c, 0x6e, 0x28, 0x29, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x7d, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x7d, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x53, 0x79, 0x73, 0x74, 0x65, 0x6d, 0x2e, 0x6f, 0x75, 0x74, 0x2e, 0x70, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x6c, 0x6e, 0x28, 0x29, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x7d, 0x20, 0x65, 0x6c, 0x73, 0x65, 0x20, 0x7b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x53, 0x79, 0x73, 0x74, 0x65, 0x6d, 0x2e, 0x6f, 0x75, 0x74, 0x2e, 0x70, 0x72, 0x69, 0x6e, 0x74, 0x28, 0x64, 0x29, 0x3b, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x9, 0x7d, 0xa, 0x9, 0x9, 0x7d, 0xa, 0x9, 0x7d, 0xa, 0x9, 0xa, 0x7d, 0xa }; public static void main(String[] args) { for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) { char d = (char)data[i]; if (d == 0) { for (int j = 0; j < data.length; j++) { if (j % 10 == 0) { System.out.print("\t\t"); } System.out.print("0x" + Integer.toHexString(data[j])); if (j + 1 != data.length) { System.out.print(", "); } if (j % 10 == 9) { System.out.println(); } } System.out.println(); } else { System.out.print(d); } } } }

#include <iostream> #include <list> #include <string> using namespace std; struct hmm { string s;int l; hmm(string s,int l):s(s),l(l){} }; list<hmm> codeList; #define h(str,l) cout<<str<<flush; for(int i=0;i<l;i++) cout<<endl; codeList.push_back(hmm(str,l)); #define h2() for(list<hmm>::iterator iter = codeList.begin(); iter != codeList.end(); iter++) {cout<<'h'<<'('<<(char)34<<iter->s<<(char)34<<','<<iter->l<<')'<<flush; for(int i=0;i<iter->l;i++) cout<<endl; } cout<<'h'<<'2'<<'('<<')'<<endl; #define h3(str) cout<<'h'<<'3'<<'('<<(char)34<<str<<(char)34<<')'<<endl<<endl; cout<<str<<flush; int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { h("",1) h("#include <iostream>",1) h("#include <list>",1) h("#include <string>",1) h("using namespace std;",2) h("struct hmm { string s;int l; hmm(string s,int l):s(s),l(l){} };",1) h("list<hmm> codeList;",2) h("#define h(str,l) cout<<str<<flush; for(int i=0;i<l;i++) cout<<endl; codeList.push_back(hmm(str,l));",1) h("#define h2() for(list<hmm>::iterator iter = codeList.begin(); iter != codeList.end(); iter++) {cout<<'h'<<'('<<(char)34<<iter->s<<(char)34<<','<<iter->l<<')'<<flush; for(int i=0;i<iter->l;i++) cout<<endl; } cout<<'p'<<'('<<')'<<endl;",1) h("#define h3(str) cout<<'h'<<'3'<<'('<<(char)34<<str<<(char)34<<')'<<endl<<endl; cout<<str<<flush;",2) h("int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {",2) h2() h3("return EXIT_SUCCESS; }") return EXIT_SUCCESS; }

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jari:
That's cool Vincent!
Heh we posted almost at the same time.

---

Ya Java doesn't have a define... could have been handy... I just wrote a program that encoded the source into hex numbers, except for the content of the array.. then it just a matter of reconstruction.

quote:

---

Originally posted by vincent:
here is mine, in Java:

---

Hey! I might be able to work off of this! As I understand Java much better than C.
I hope to write a python one (with an explanation of what something in python means).

Still though... back to studying Quines.

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

quote:

---

Originally posted by jari:
Well here's my so called quine code which probably doesn't fit in any standards:

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jari:
Well here's my so called quine code which probably doesn't fit in any standards

---

I don't mean to discourage you, but...

h("",1) h("#include <iostream>",1) h("#include <list>",1) h("#include <string>",1) h("using namespace std;",2) h("struct hmm { string s;int l; hmm(string s,int l):s(s),l(l){} };",1) h("list<hmm> codeList;",2) h("#define h(str,l) cout<<str<<flush; for(int i=0;i<l;i++) cout<<endl; codeList.push_back(hmm(str,l));",1) h("#define h2() for(list<hmm>::iterator iter = codeList.begin(); iter != codeList.end(); iter++) {cout<<'h'<<'('<<(char)34<<iter->s<<(char)34<<','<<iter->l<<')'<<flush; for(int i=0;i<iter->l;i++) cout<<endl; } cout<<'p'<<'('<<')'<<endl;",1) h("#define h3(str) cout<<'h'<<'3'<<'('<<(char)34<<str<<(char)34<<')'<<endl<<endl; cout<<str<<flush;",2) h("int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {",2) h2() h3("return EXIT_SUCCESS; }")

I think you have to print the

h("#define h3(str) cout<<'h'<<'3'<<'('<<(char)34<<str

Did you see this?

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

Here's my Quine, pardon the mess! Mine's not formatted nearly as nicely as Vincent's is:

public class MyTest { static string MyString="\tstatic void Main() \n\t{ \n\t\tSystem.Console.WriteLine(\"public class MyTest { \\n\" +\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\\tstatic string MyString=\\\"\" + MyString.Replace(\"\\\\\", \"\\\\\\\\\").Replace(\"\\\"\", \"\\\\\\\"\").Replace(\"\\n\", \"\\\\n\").Replace(\"\\t\", \"\\\\t\") + \"\\\";\\n\" + \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMyString);\n\t}\n}"; static void Main() { System.Console.WriteLine("public class MyTest { \n" + "\tstatic string MyString=\"" + MyString.Replace("\\", "\\\\").Replace("\"", "\\\"").Replace("\n", "\\n").Replace("\t", "\\t") + "\";\n" + MyString); } }

A lot of that mess is just to do the formatting for the newlines and the tabs, but when you run it, it comes out looking all tabbed and nice and such.

Again, great job, Vincent and Jari! Way to pull it off quickly!

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

------------------
globalrant.tk

Though it would be fun to have a computer programming competition or two at some point -- that could be neat (I think we should hold off on one of those until after the two-month-game project is done -- I wouldn't want to interfere with that)

--clint

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jari:
CPUFreak91, sorry I don't see what's wrong with it...

---

I don't think you've printed the code for printing the code (like the #include and stuff with the h(...))!

------------------
Linux is best for me and Windows or Mac is best for you. End of age long argument.
--
See The 2 Month Game Blog

Learn How to Use Linux

quote:

---

Originally posted by CPUFreak91:
I don't think you've printed the code for printing the code (like the #include and stuff with the h(...))!

---

Oh it's all there... you can compile and run the code and then copy and paste the output from console and compile it again.
The way it works is just unnecessarily complicated

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by HanClinto:

Here's my Quine, pardon the mess! Mine's not formatted nearly as nicely as Vincent's is:

---

Well done!

------------------
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. - Ecc 7:5

[VoHW]

// quine.c #include <process.h> int main() { system("type quine.c"); return 0; }

Throw a system("cc quine.c -o quine.exe; quine.exe"); in there, and things could get interesting....

------------------
Brian

Nice try though!

One good one is a completely blank file -- in many languages, that will compile, and it will run, and it will also have no output (which is the same as the output). That is also considered "unfair" and "I'm not going to fall for it again".

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

or is that just demented?

------------------
Brian

That's pretty cool.

------------------
http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

Or how about this: get a back-and-forth quine going. Have program A output the source code to program B, then compile and run it. Program B outputs the source to program A, then compiles and runs it. And every 1,000,000th iteration, have it send your friends an email telling them how much of a geek you are.

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Brian

The 'spirit' of the problem has no solution since its has an inherited
infinite recursive nature to it. ("no solution" here means that the program
will not terminate normally since it reproducing itself in an infinite
time period) Of course you can 'cheat' or mimic the problem, but it doesn’t
solve the basic spirit of the problem, as HanClinto pointed out.

HanClinto hit the nail on the head; it is "ad-infinitum". The very simple
nature of self-replicating code has inherently recursive behavior thus
leading to an infinite loop, as pointed out earlier. The code that I have
seen here, does not address this problem in the classical sense
therefore making any solutions posted here (or elsewhere) invalid.

Of course I am drawing from the fact that HanClinto's proposal is
slightly diffrent from the proposaled question in school addressing
this problem. I don't see anyone addressing the problem I've talked about
above. If I could solve this problem, I'd write my dissertation, hit the
lecture circuit and get that Noble Prize. Anybody want to join me?!

quote:

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...then I woke up on Saturday and continued coding...

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A great and interesting problem HanClinto!!

[This message has been edited by seven7 (edited October 19, 2005).]

I didn't understand everything about the problem that you were proposing -- are you talking about a quine that is not self-referencing? I'm pretty sure that's impossible, in order to make a quine, you have to have some sort of self-referencing statement. Is that what you're talking about, or did I go off in left field?

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

Yea, working into the early mornings with a cup of coffee in one hand and
the mouse in the other with a pencil wedged between the teeth is something
I sometimes still do these days. Its funny how some people get hooked onto
an idea or there 'on a roll' coding to the wee mornings and just cant seem
to break away to get rest. There just is not enough hours in a day is there(?)

Your absolutely right about "[none] self-referencing" code which is clearly
a no-brainer. This is somewhat what I was referencing to when I stated "the spirit of the problem". However your challenge is still not solvable
because of the "ad-infinitum" or its infinite recursive nature. One has to
address this recursive property to prevent one's computer from reaching
crital mass and causing a "China Syndrom". (Poorly thought out joke there!)

j.

quote:

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Originally posted by seven7:

Your absolutely right about "[none] self-referencing" code which is clearly
a no-brainer. This is somewhat what I was referencing to when I stated "the spirit of the problem". However your challenge is still not solvable

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Hi y'all
Here is a piece of code that does not reference itself and has the "potential" to be a Quine.

Print_Random_String_of_Length(33)

[This message has been edited by jachin (edited November 14, 2005).]

What are the odds that would work, anyways?

Cheers!

--clint

quote:

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Originally posted by HanClinto:

What are the odds that would work, anyways?

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It depends on your character-set assuming an extended asci character set with 256 characters.
I think it would be 256 to the 33 power which is a little less than
1 in 29,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Well, I suppose this seems like it would never happen,
But we could massage things a bit so that the function call was just
one or two characters long! Thus increasing our chances to 1 in
281474976710656.
This is "do-able" on most modern processors with this brute force approch.
With a language like lisp it would be pretty smooth.

[This message has been edited by jachin (edited November 14, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by jachin (edited November 15, 2005).]