Xkcd “Self-Description” solved with python+pygame | Hacker News Reader

Xkcd “Self-Description” solved with python+pygame

philhassey.com

71 pointsbockris14 comments

That xkcd reminded me of this histogram fun: http://www.ironicsans.com/2007/09/idea_the_histogram_as_the_...

I considered expending effort to verify this and the units hobby one. However, I fully trust that Randall does his homework on each and every xkcd. Good netizens like yourself never fail to keep him honest for me. Thanks!

Can someone upload the result for those of us who don't have Python & friends installed?

Especially considering the Pygame site is down.

It runs in an animated fashion, so it'd be difficult to upload. Those without pygame can rest knowing that the comic is very close to accurate (assuming the program is accurate).

Any mirrors for the pygame library?

I was sure there was a pygame-package for Ubuntu. But I can't find it. So it's probably just my bad memory that makes it up.

Pygame is a really nice library for 2d gaming, if a bit low-level. I like their approach to sprites and sprite-groups.

"sudo aptitude install python-pygame" works for me in karmic.

OK, so I just got the name wrong. I just tried `pygame' on its own.

The result is (almost) exactly http://xkcd.com/688/

I loved that one before, but I didn't realise that the panels also described the xkcd logo itself. It's beautiful.

It doesn't describe the logo, that's just an arbitrary starting point for the iteration. You can begin with anything and after enough iterations it'll look pretty much exactly like the original.

[Disclaimer: I am not Phil Hassey.]

Ah, that makes more sense! Thanks.

Here you go. It's a sequence of images:

http://yfrog.com/iyxkcd1p --- http://yfrog.com/iyxkcd2p --- http://yfrog.com/1sxkcd3p --- http://yfrog.com/jkxkcd4p --- http://yfrog.com/jkxkcd5p --- http://yfrog.com/jkxkcd6p --- http://yfrog.com/jqxkcd7p --- http://yfrog.com/jkxkcd8p --- http://yfrog.com/jqxkcd9p

And you can see how quickly it converges. In the actual program it flips back and forth with the real one so you can compare. But that actually makes it harder to see how it progresses.

And try this link: http://img710.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=xkcd9... for a slideshow view.

Thanks!

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