Ruby was initially designed to be a successor of the Perl programming language, which also means that it inherited a lot of Perl's expressiveness. To celebrate this, the TRIC¹ contest was invented:

Write the most Transcendental, Imbroglio Ruby program!

Illustrate some of the subtleties (and design issues) of Ruby!

Show the robustness and portability of Ruby interpreters!

Stabilize the spec of Ruby by the presence of valuable but unmaintainable code!

The best submissions were awarded at the Japanese Ruby Kaigi conference and also included in the Ruby source, for educational purpose. The winning submissions² of 2015 were:

¹ Transcendental Ruby Imbroglio Contest

² All code is MIT licensed, Copyright (c) 2015, TRICK Winners and Judges

1st Place: "Best piphilology"

By kinaba (remarks)

big, temp = Array 100000000**0x04e2 srand big alias $curTerm $initTerm Numeric Interrupt big += big printout _pi_ finish if $never init ||= big $counter ||= 02 private @mainloop while 0x00012345 >= $counter Rational aprx = 3.141592r numbase = 0o0000 @justonce def increment $initTerm ||= Integer srand * 0x00000002 srand $counter += 0x00000001 $noaction Integer rand $noaction rand rand alias $line_cnt $. end @lets_just @assume diameter = 100000 @you @then_have permtr |= +3_14159 return if $nomeaning @onlyuse increment beautiful computer action if $nothing $sigmaTerm ||= init $curTerm /= srand and init pi, = Integer $sigmaTerm unless $nomean iterator? $counter += 1 atan real_one multiplied by__four unless srand +big && $counter >> 0b1 Enumerable Fixnum Bignum Math Complex Comparable TrueClass Dir Encoding Data Hash Method Enumerator Exception Fiber Errno FalseClass Mutex NilClass IO GC num = numbase |= srand ENV Float MatchData Proc TracePoint KeyError p or FileTest File EOFError p p p Binding Time Class $sigmaTerm += $curTerm puts a HelloWorld if $nomean SystemExit !LoadError 31i 3.1415e0 Array 14 + 3 IndexError Range false 55555 NameError Object @ori @ent RubyVM pi += 3_3_1_3_8 @use @lots_of @keywords begin self $noaction not $important nil __FILE__.object_id rescue next redo if __LINE__ defined? +$nomeaning $noaction $nomean break $never ensure class PiCompute end end This code cannot _ be executed with typical style unless true $curTerm *= num end @ll_set @re_U_ok $Enjoy $Superb $TRICK15 and a number print pi

All valid syntax! Run it and it will output the first 1000 digits of Pi:

31415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676694051320005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219608640344181598136297747713099605187072113499999983729780499510597317328160963185950244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881710100031378387528865875332083814206171776691473035982534904287554687311595628638823537875937519577818577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989380952572010654858632788659361533818279682303019520353018529689957736225994138912497217752834791315155748572424541506959508295331168617278558890750983817546374649393192550604009277016711390098488240128583616035637076601047101819429555961989467678374494482553797747268471040475346462080466842590694912933136770289891521047521620569660240580381501935112533824300355876402474964732639141992726042699227967823547816360093417216412199245863150302861829745557067498385054945885869269956909272107975093029553211653449872027559602364806654991198818347977535663698074265425278625518184175746728909777727938000816470600161452491921732172147723501414419735685481613611573525521334757418494684385233239073941433345477624168625189835694855620992192221842725502542568876717904946016534668049886272327917860857843838279679766814541009538837863609506800642251252051173929848960841284886269456042419652850222106611863067442786220391949450471237137869609563643719172874677646575739624138908658326459958133904780275900994657640789512694683983525957098258226205224894077267194782684826014769909026401363944374553050682034962524517493996514314298091906592509372216964615157098583874105978859597729754989301617539284681382686838689427741559918559252459539594310499725246808459872736446958486538367362226260991246080512438843904512441365497627807977156914359977001296160894416948685558484063534220722258284886481584560285060168427394522674676788952521385225499546667278239864565961163548862305774564980355936345681743241125150760694794510965960940252288797108931456691368672287489405601015033086179286809208747609178249385890097149096759852613655497818931297848216829989487226588048575640142704775551323796414515237462343645428584447952658678210511413547357395231134271661021359695362314429524849371871101457654035902799344037420073105785390621983874478084784896833214457138687519435064302184531910484810053706146806749192781911979399520614196634287544406437451237181921799983910159195618146751426912397489409071864942319615679452080951465502252316038819301420937621378559566389377870830390697920773467221825625996615014215030680384477345492026054146659252014974428507325186660021324340881907104863317346496514539057962685610055081066587969981635747363840525714591028970641401109712062804390397595156771577004203378699360072305587631763594218731251471205329281918261861258673215791984148488291644706095752706957220917567116722910981690915280173506712748583222871835209353965725121083579151369882091444210067510334671103141267111369908658516398315019701651511685171437657618351556508849099898599823873455283316355076479185358932261854896321329330898570642046752590709154814165498594616371802709819943099244889575712828905923233260972997120844335732654893823911932597463667305836041428138830320382490375898524374417029132765618093773444030707469211201913020330380197621101100449293215160842444859637669838952286847831235526582131449576857262433441893039686426243410773226978028073189154411010446823252716201052652272111660396665573092547110557853763466820653109896526918620564769312570586356620185581007293606598764861179104533488503461136576867532494416680396265797877185560845529654126654085306143444318586769751456614068007002378776591344017127494704205622305389945613140711270004078547332699390814546646458807972708266830634328587856983052358089330657574067954571637752542021149557615814002501262285941302164715509792592309907965473761255176567513575178296664547791745011299614890304639947132962107340437518957359614589019389713111790429782856475032031986915140287080859904801094121472213179476477726224142548545403321571853061422881375850430633217518297986622371721591607716692547487389866549494501146540628433663937900397692656721463853067360965712091807638327166416274888800786925602902284721040317211860820419000422966171196377921337575114959501566049631862947265473642523081770367515906735023507283540567040386743513622224771589150495309844489333096340878076932599397805419341447377441842631298608099888687413260472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8

But that is not all, Pi is encoded a second time! The program is a Piphilology: Each token's length represents the next digit (and 0 is represented by a token length of 10)! Save the program as entry.rb and run the following one-liner to verify:

$ ruby -r ripper -e \ 'puts Ripper.tokenize(STDIN).grep(/\S/).map{|t|t.size%10}.join' < entry.rb

Output:

31415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652

2nd Place: "Most unreadable ALU"

By Keisuke Nakano (remarks)

If the number is even, divide it by two, otherwise, multiply it by three and add one. …and eventually the number becomes 1. This is known as the Collatz conjecture. The following one-liner calculates this series, without using any conditionals or arithmetic operations:

%%%while eval '_=%%r%%(.)...\1=%%=~[%%%%,,,,,%%%s ?=]*%%%%%%#"]*%%%%3x+1?%%'.% %%",%*p(_||=eval($**%%%))

To try it out, save the code to entry.rb and called it with a number! Example of $ ruby entry.rb 42 :

42 21 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

3rd Place: "Doubling amphisbaena award"

By monae (remarks)

;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;;eval$s =%q[i=1# eval(%q[ xxxxxxxx xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xx xx xxxxxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxx j, t, p=0,[?;]," ev al$s=%qx [#$s]".split*"";i,j,t=i-j,i+j,(x [b=?\s]*j.abs+t).map{|s|r=t.shix ft ||b;r.gsub!(?;){p.slice!0}if $x f| |=p>p=p.center(i*i+j*j,?;);r ,x s=[s,r]if(i*j<0);(b*i.abs+s).ljx ust(r.size).gsub(b){r[$`.size]|x |b}}unti l$ f;puts(t)# xx xx xxxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxx xx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx xxxxxxxx x].gsub\ /x.*|\s/ ,"")#];; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;; ;;

Save this program as entry.rb and run it with:

$ ruby entry.rb | ruby | ruby | ruby # ...

Then watch it duplicating!

4th Place: "Least general solver"

By Benoit Daloze (remarks)

What is your visual impression when looking at the following code?

class String;def[]*a;$*<<a;b;end;end; _=0;z="C=Fiber;s=$*;a=*0..8;l=C.new{e xit},*a.product(a).select{|r,c|s[r][c ]==0}."[1,9,_, _,_,8, _,_,5]+"map{|r, c|C.ne"[_,_,2, _,5,_, _,8,9]+"w{o=s[r ][c];l"[8,_,6, 7,4,_, _,_,_]+"oop{(1. .9).map{|n|C.yield(s[r][c]=n)if a.non e?{|k|"[_,_,_, _,_,4, _,9,2]+"s[r][k] ==n||s"[_,2,3, _,7,_, 8,1,_]+"[k][c]= =n||s["[5,6,_, 8,_,_, _,_,_]+"r-r%3+k %3][c-c%3+k/3]==n}};s[r][c]=o;C.yield }}},C."[_,_,_, _,2,7, 9,_,3]+"new{loo p{puts"[9,3,_, _,8,_, 1,_,_]+" s.map{ |r|r*'"[2,_,_, 5,_,_, _,4,8]+" '}<<'' ;C.yield}};c=l[i=1];loop{c=l[i+=c.res ume ? 1:-1]}";eval z.tr ?

,''

There is a Sudoku embedded! Run the code to solve it!

5th Place: "Most general solver"

By Keisuke Nakano (remarks)

This handy one-liner is a SAT solver based on Ruby's regex engine:

_='s %sSATISFIABLE';puts eval$<.read.gsub(/.*p.*?(\d+).*?$|\d+/m){$1?%w[?-* +'=-'=~/#{'(-?)'* }-*=(?=]*$1:$&>?0?"\\#$&$|":'$)(?='}+')/x?[_%p%i=0,[*$~].map{|x|x>?-?:v:eval(x+?1)*i-=1}*" "]:_%:UN'

See the description for more info! Sample files to pipe in:

Other Awarded Submissions

Also See

More Idiosyncratic Ruby