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Cody Boone Ferguson

@xexyl@fosstodon.org
mastodon 4.6.6
  • Open on fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

0 Followers
0 Following
37 Posts
Joined November 30, 2022
Main page:
https://xexyl.net
Winning IOCCC entries:
https://www.ioccc.org/authors.html#Cody_Boone_Ferguson
GitHub:
https://github.com/xexyl
Personal IOCCC website:
https://ioccc.xexyl.net

Posts

Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · 6d ago
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @luc0x61@mastodon.gamedev.place
@luc0x61@mastodon.gamedev.place @jcrabapple@dmv.community please give a link! (It sounds brilliant)
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jul 30, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social I am currently rereading a twelve volume set with 5440 pages total. I am also rereading another book that I read every year usually several times a year. Plenty of people read books too yes. As they should. I have been told that I hoard books. There’s no such thing as hoarding when it comes to books. There’s no such thing as too many books; there’s only too little space to put them!
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jul 29, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @arstechnica@mastodon.social
@arstechnica@mastodon.social I am so utterly shocked. My view of Microsoft is shattered. I thought they had everything in order now! How can this possibly be ? (To the uninitiated this is sarcasm. Of course this is the case. And obviously it’s just a long history of the same thing. If Microsoft Windows had a GC it would have to free itself or else it would also be buggy.)
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jul 23, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @arstechnica@mastodon.social
@arstechnica@mastodon.social good.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jul 14, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @Keldrim@meow.social
@Keldrim@meow.social @nixCraft@mastodon.social Oracle is indeed horrible. On the other hand many people who can only get a job there could easily lose their livelihood. All because of recklessness that they can’t control. So I don’t know.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jul 04, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @famousringo@mstdn.ca
@famousringo@mstdn.ca @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social with your ‘name’ I really hope that is a reference to Imagine. Is it? (If so it’s quite clever.)
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jun 09, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @nixCraft@mastodon.social
@nixCraft@mastodon.social assuming they use debian based distress ...
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Mar 14, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@earsmeardius @david_chisnall it MIGHT be this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6S3e2oj0m6o Obviously total rubbish.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Mar 14, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @earsmeardius@mastodon.social
@earsmeardius @david_chisnall ah yes. The absurd Babylon Brotherhood conspiracy theory. I can’t check now but there’s a hilarious video on YouTube called something like 7 signs you’re dating a reptile. Some people commenting (when I saw it) were totally taking the absolute piss but iirc some people were dead serious about it. As you would expect the ‘evidence’ can be explained by a lot of things. Obviously. Anyway it’s a hilarious video if you find it.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Feb 25, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @arstechnica__dup_1397@mastodon.social
@arstechnica until earlier this year (!!) in the UK shingles was ‘prevented’ by not vaccinating against chickenpox because somehow not getting vaccinated decreases the chances in adulthood of not getting shingles despite the fact that if you get chickenpox you have it in you. If they were REALLY concerned they could vaccinate both. The fact ‘experts’ were doing the exact opposite of what they claimed to be doing is astonishingly daft.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Feb 24, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@sirwumpus @ioccc and since I mentioned it. My mum’s speciality. And @landonnoll here you can see how my mum does the icing. You can also see how there’s much icing in between the two layers. For next time you make the cake (btw did you enjoy it as I suspect?). Still was sad that you couldn’t share pictures of it during judging of #ioccc27 though.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Feb 24, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @sirwumpus@tilde.zone
@sirwumpus best wishes Anthony! But on the plus side you will have more time for the #ioccc! That’s what I have done on my free time (not that you or @ioccc would be surprised there). Well that and had my birthday with the obviously obligatory cake. Also had home made potato soup. Anyway good luck with the issue!
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jan 14, 2026
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @nixCraft__dup_2318@mastodon.social
@nixCraft@mastodon.social well it’s not like it’s really AI anyway. LLM. Hopefully that upsets them even more. The vast majority of them (at least) are horrible in really bad ways: deadly even. They should be condemned. The things I personally saw google’s stupid LLM say. It’s astonishingly bad. Like petrol can be used as s spice. Eating stones is healthy. Eating arse is healthy. And worse of all is it repeated something that encouraged suicide. So he can sod off.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Nov 19, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@davidrevoy thanks for the fun cartoon anyway.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Nov 19, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @davidrevoy__dup_3654@framapiaf.org
@davidrevoy #Siri is an idiot but it depends on what you say to her whether or not she will engage. But the not engaging idea is ‘I won’t respond to that’ (which is responding). In the past I once said to sod off and she said ‘goodbye would be more polite’ but not now. If you ask her if she’s an ignorant moron she says she doesn’t understand. Even so I usually say please to requests it’s just that sometimes she is so stupid I am rude to her. Especially when she won’t go away.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Nov 17, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @9to5Mac__dup_496@mastodon.online
@9to5Mac@mastodon.online ‘Last week, Apple introduced a new Edge Light effect on macOS Tahoe 26.2 beta 2, which adds a virtual light around the edges of the display during video calls.’ Good to know #Apple doesn’t give a toss about bricking devices. Clearly visual effects are more important.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 21, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @madeindex@mastodon.social
@madeindex@mastodon.social it's things like this that make me really want it to happen. I mean I wanted it to happen before your comment but... Even so I would not put it past some company to do this. The IoT has the craziest ideas too. A skateboard connected to the Internet I believe? And a rifle I also think I saw once? I mean what could go wrong there? Maybe the IoT/'AI' toilet would decide to flush when it is getting full even when it's clogged and then overflow with ...? I could see that happening!
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 17, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social anyway I am waiting for a spoon with ‘#AI’. Or hell why not the bog? It might even be relevant to the product then! Honestly I would not be surprised if some of these things happen. It seems every company is in on the ‘AI’ craze. Unfortunately this prevents them from actually creating something useful since they are so focused on something they don’t even understand (if we’re to go by those in the ecosystem so far). Although a toilet with it might still be useful…?
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 17, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social oh well. Hopefully it’s not as bad as 18 (macOS is also buggy but perhaps not as bad except in Photos - actually I take that back for I have filed many bug reports for it too) but rather than redesigning everything again (I thought they just did that?) they should release a major release that fixes all the problems they have unleashed on everyone the past couple years. Apple ‘Intelligence’ should just be axed but they’ve built newer products on it so it’s not leaving.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 17, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social I guess some basic users don’t mind it that much but I have filed so many bug reports and very few have even been addressed. And I read (not confirmed but) that the reason they are naming the next one is the year release. So why is it 26? Do they have a time machine besides Time Machine? When last I checked we’re in 2025. Unless they are skipping a year (like they should have recently) it should be 25! And every successive release will be off by one year. Amazing.
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Open post
Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 17, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social something that companies believe is that they have to release SOMETHING to remain relevant. The irony is that they do indeed remain relevant but for the worst reason. iOS18 photos is horrible. I checked google for ‘iOS photos 18’ and top searches: ‘app sucks’, ‘terrible’ and even more some people wanted to revert to the previous version! Not surprised. It’s a mare. They are proud of this. I can’t comprehend it. I am not sure how it even got to alpha!
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 17, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @madeindex@mastodon.social
@madeindex@mastodon.social well in this case it wasn’t Apple but yeah Google too. Neither should ever have been released. Both are appallingly bad. The hilarious part about the Apple one though is because they were trying to be clever with the name (despite being not AI) when it goes wrong (and it does spectacularly) it makes THEM look bad because it’s named after them! #iOS 17/18 are astonishingly bad. I will comment in another reply as I am running out of space here.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 14, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social I took these screenshots. 22 December 2024 for the 2023 one; it claimed the year was 2023. The other one is it claiming Apple 'Intelligence' is available in British English - if you change your device to US English. I wish I had a screenshot but I saw it say you could see Northern Lights - on Fridays, as if it was tied to that. The problem is it scrubs data and it seems to have no filters in place, worse than some of the others. LLM has no oversight but it seems to be the worst.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 14, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social as for google more generally. I do not buy into the good versus evil but they certainly have serious ethical problems. And yes chrome is a serious one. They even let ad customers make their website look like OTHER websites. There was a malicious website that looked strangely like GIMP. I read somewhere on that that google allows that - for some awful reason. Aren't IDN homograph attacks bad enough without google? (Screenshot was posted on reddit and then I looked too - confirmed it).
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 14, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @madeindex@mastodon.social
@madeindex@mastodon.social oh do not get me started on 'AI' in medicine! The same with self driving cars - think of emergency vehicles. As someone with a lot of medical problems those are the last things I want in the way. Yes it's hype and it's embellishment. Which says the product is not as good as you think. Now I'm not saying that Apple is not quality but iOS17/18, macOS14/15 .... those are another story. Siri has always been an idiot. At least she's somewhat contained unlike google, like you say.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 13, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social I have seen a lot of hilarious things too. But only funny because it’s so utterly stupid or ridiculous. It’s the tech Frankenstein. And they have opened Pandora’s box. Time will tell I suppose.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 13, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @madeindex@mastodon.social
@madeindex@mastodon.social well I think that’s a far too generous view. One thing Google’s so called AI Overview did was repeat that something you can do if you’re depressed is jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. I have seen it say petrol can be a spice. That you can eat stones (it was from a ridiculous satirical article). The first one is obviously the most appalling one. There’s absolutely no excuse for that. Ever. As someone who’s been there and barely made it: that could be enough.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 12, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @xexyl@fosstodon.org
@madeindex@mastodon.social … and the fact that they even released beta code in a major release should horrify all programmers (it does me). It’s been over a year. Now it’s just in fine print. They don’t care. They don’t have a good way to report problems (Siri has no way and Siri is astoundingly stupid). After a certain time it’s just an excuse for releasing shitware. Perhaps it’s also vapourware. Still: some #LLM output can be quite hilarious. Because it’s so utterly stupid and baffling.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 12, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @madeindex@mastodon.social
@madeindex@mastodon.social the fact a blocker of ‘#AI ‘ exists shows just how rampant the scam is and it is astonishing how bad. Companies now think if you add AI to something it is somehow better even though at best it’s a mediocre #LLM (and often much worse and even deadly like Google’s AI Overview). The truth is if you have to embellish your product it’s not as good as you think. #AppleIntelligence is incredibly bad but #Apple has built products on it. Probably its beta won’t even leave.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 11, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @Ruhrnalist@mastodon.social
@Ruhrnalist@mastodon.social @peterritchie@mastodon.social I'm too tired to make a further mod: but the close button should be cropped out. Since often it doesn't even exist. Or it takes you to where they want. I have no sympathy for ads. It's not my fault people have failing business models. Throw in malvertisements and resource wastage and it's even worse. I have a rather large DNSBL and ad blockers. They can piss off. Google ads even allows people to spoof their websites, last I knew, to trick unsuspecting visitors.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jul 29, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @krautdragon@mastodon.social
@krautdragon@mastodon.social their so called AI is one of the worst LLMs I have seen. Large language model if you don’t know. I wouldn’t trust them to add 1 + 1 correctly. And neither should anyone else. Unfortunately the AI craze is on us. It’s a giant scam. Almost all if not all of it isn’t even AI! It’s non deterministic. Exactly like LLM. They don’t even know this. Snopes asked them about something and they tried to duplicate it. It’s the tech Frankenstein. It’s done far worse things.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Jun 08, 2025
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @catsalad__dup_5@infosec.exchange
@catsalad@infosec.exchange I have a shirt of the usual needs but the bottom says Internet. Which I agree with. I am not a fan of teams either though. Just for one friend. It's worse than Skype. By a lot.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Dec 29, 2024
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @Hyperlynx@aus.social
@Hyperlynx@aus.social @gedeonm@mastodon.social would be even better if it was Mel Blanc.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Dec 29, 2024
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @gedeonm@mastodon.social
@gedeonm@mastodon.social @RedStateExile@mastodon.social once you enable it I could swear that it’s even worse! I might be wrong. It’s hard to be sure because every update is worse but soon as iOS 18.2 came out (as in as soon as British English was allowed) I enabled it and I have had additional problems. I guess my initial reply might’ve missed something but anyway you’re not missing much with ‘Apple "Intelligence"’ anyway. Except more ways to be amused maybe.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Nov 11, 2024
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @evacide@hachyderm.io
@evacide@hachyderm.io on the subject of dealing with issues, for instance internal demons: as a child I learnt in therapy that one should pick the easiest thing to take care of first. Doing this will make the next easiest thing slightly easier even if it’s hard. Another thing I learnt is to always be kind to yourself. Always take care of yourself. If you can’t take care of yourself you can’t take care of others. These are things that I have had to do since I was a child and I am almost 43.
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Sep 02, 2024
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @Natasha_Jay__dup_31065@tech.lgbt

@Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt

A nurse motivated by spite

Tied her infantine charge to a kite;

She launched it with ease

On the afternoon breeze,

And watched till it flew out of sight.

  • Edward Gorey
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Cody Boone Ferguson @xexyl@fosstodon.org · Aug 07, 2024
Cody Boone Ferguson
@xexyl@fosstodon.org

I have the honour that I have written several tools (txzchk, others) for the International Obfuscated C Code Contest [IOCCC] judges and co-developing several other tools (e.g. jparse, a JSON parser in C) with Landon Curt Noll, a founder and judge of the IOCCC . I'm also a six time winner of the IOCCC. I love dinosaurs, volcanoes (and all other natural disasters fascinate me as well) and space. I'm an avid reader, Tolkienist and a Second World War buff. I've loved bears since I was a baby.

fosstodon.org
Replying to @WedaleBooks@mastodon.scot
@WedaleBooks I am not near the bookshop (but I wish I was as I would want to go there). Bibliophile and bibliomane. But I also am an ailurophile so I wonder if I would share an actual photo of the kitty? I would love to see it (him? her?).
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