Disguising computer code

[AlanMiller]

There are lots of techniques to make computer source code difficult for somebody else to figure out or plagiarize. This is the most obscure example I've seen. It is standard C source code, designed to run as a Windows console program. Anybody care to hazard a guess at what it does?

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_(__,___,____,_____){___/__<=_____?_(__,___+_____,____,_____):!(___%__)?_(__,___+_____,___%__,_____):___%__==___/
__&&!____?(printf("%d\t",___/__),_(__,___+_____,____,_____)):(___%__>_____&&___%__<___/__)?_(__,___+_____,
____+!(___/__%(___%__)),_____):___<__*__?_(__,___+_____,____,_____):0;}main(void){_(100, 0, 0, 1);}

Alan

You could always run it and see of course!

[John Gray]

I always liked the (necessarily short) Assembly language programs which were composed only in printable ASCII characters, 0x20-0x7F (or so). Fiendishly difficult to write, but made somewhat easier since you could achieve the same result by different mechanisms. Probably the best-known example is the 68-byte EICAR AV Test File (in the form of a .com file):

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X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

As to Alan's query...

Spoiler

It prints the answer "42" ?

[AlanMiller]

As to Alan's query...

Spoiler

It prints the answer "42" ?

Well, I guess that would have to be correct, since your answer is a superset of the solution set ... of everything.

Alan