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Results of the Obfuscated SQL Code Contest

Participation in the Obfuscated SQL Code Contest expired on April 1st. The SQL code that was submitted was not only obfuscated but also beautiful and artful.

When the contest started, I thought that we could just vote on the entries and select the most popular as the winner. But after seeing the entries, I believe that all the participants should be declared winners, but this is just my opinion.

Without further ado, here is the list of authors and their scripts:

Rob van Wijk: The script requires version 11.1.0.6 because of the pivot operator.
Shoblock: The script makes use of subquery factoring and generates rows from dual via “connect by level <”. Tested on 10.1.0.2.0
Laurent Schneider: The script requires 10.1.0.5 and cannot be formatted.
Frank Zhou: The script solves 4 different puzzles in a single SQL. Requires version 10.2.0.2.0.
Volder: The script draws an island and a turtle underneath. Requires any 10.2 version.

And here is a bonus script from Laurent (10.2.0.2).

Feel free to vote on your favorite script (or scripts) in your reply below.

Tags: contest, sql

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Laurent Schneider on April 3, 2008 at 7:50am: I vote for Volder script!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Stew Stryker on April 3, 2008 at 1:41pm: I couldn't run Laurent Schneider's script on Oracle 10.2.0.3.0. No access to the table V$RESERVED_WORDS.

I couldn't run Volder's script (though it looks very cute). Error:

ERROR at line 2:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

[sigh]

Shoblock's said it required a bind variable (:YEAR), so that's out. [heavy sigh]

So I'll have to give my vote to Volder for his bonus script, since it was the only one I could run.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Volder on April 8, 2008 at 12:21pm: @Stew, probably the problem is that I forgot to mention - that the query needs predefined scott scheme, namely scott.emp table.

@Chen
Thanks for an idea of this contest, although I had no time to finish the query in the way I planned, I still got a pleasure to participate in such a contest.
Next time, I hope I'll get it finished :))

PS
I liked the Laurent's "fish" query)); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chen Shapira on April 8, 2008 at 2:42pm: Does the PS count as official vote?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Eddie Awad on April 9, 2008 at 12:09pm: I don' t see why not :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chen Shapira on April 9, 2008 at 12:30pm: Which makes the count a tie between Volder's script and Laurent's fish script :-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Volder on April 10, 2008 at 12:26pm: Wanted to write "yep, why not" - and then saw a note about tie...

...just joking - sure, my vote goes to Laurent ;)

PS what is the prize BTW?))); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chen Shapira on April 10, 2008 at 1:25pm: I suggested Stoli Crystal, Eddie thinks that fame but not fortune in the Oracle Community is better :-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Chen Shapira on April 4, 2008 at 7:41pm: I voted on my blog:
http://prodlife.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/obfuscated-sql/

(Yes, a bit long as far as votes go. Maybe there is a prize for obfuscated voting?); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Eddie Awad on April 5, 2008 at 11:52am: That's a well written vote Chen. I enjoyed reading it. You certainly deserve a prize not only for voting, but also for coming up with this contest idea in the first place.

As far as the prize goes, what better prize than fame and fortune in the Oracle Community (OK, maybe not fortune).

By the way, Laurent explained his query on his blog. He also included a nice picture of you Chen.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Laurent Schneider on April 5, 2008 at 1:23pm: This contest was a nice idea, let's see if I can do worst in Spring 2009 :-)
Thanks to Chen and Eddie for the concept and the organization !; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Eddie Awad on April 14, 2008 at 12:16pm: Everyone who submitted a script is now on the featured members list. Fame, fame, fame :); ▶ Reply to This