How Many Iconic Computing Numbers can you Recognize?
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TL;DR: Here is the challenge https://numbers.arhan.sh/
Two years ago, I applied to college. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a harrowing process, but like all other phases in life it passed.
During that time, one of my friends sent me a meme on Reddit about a list acronyms that only college applicants could understand. The author coined it as “the only place on the internet where you can say something like this and it makes total sense”. And you know what, they’re not wrong. The post reads like absolute nonsense to the ordinary person. Through a sense of shared adversity, students applying to college have created a digital subculture, and I found this concept fascinating to think about.
Reddit posts don’t usually deserve this much attention, but it inspired me to create something similar for computer nerds with my own creative twist. As programmers, we’re often told to avoid so called “magic numbers” for good reason, as they can make programs harder to understand. Let’s flip this idea on its head.
My close friend Adrian and I spent three weeks curating a secret message, a string of 31 iconic magic numbers in various fields of computing that only true programming hobbyists can decipher. If you think you’re into computers, I challenge you to fully decipher my secret message in under 40 guesses: https://numbers.arhan.sh/
On an unrelated note, this was my first time properly using Tailwindcss! I’m enamored by its simplicity, and love everything about it so far. Check out this project’s associated GitHub repository.
Comments about how many guesses and how long it took you to finish the challenge are welcomed and appreciated, have fun! Until next time!