The 2009/10 Konditori van Gogh award for excellence in Impressionist Scripting
This Sunday morning, O.X. Dive dusts our inboxes with powdered gold:
s{1}=char(39); % Quote mark
s{2}=char(10); % Newline
s{3}='s{1}=char(39); % Quote mark';
s{4}='s{2}=char(10); % Newline';
s{5}=' ';
s{6}=' ...';
s{7}='=';
s{8}=',';
s{9}='}';
s{10}='(';
s{11}=')';
s{12}=';';
s{13}='[';
s{14}=']';
s{15}=':';
s{16}='+';
s{17}='-';
s{18}='*';
s{19}='/';
s{20}='s{';
s{21}='i';
s{22}='a';
s{23}='s';
s{24}='int2str(';
s{25}='for i=';
s{26}='end';
s{27}='disp(';
s{28}='length(';
s{29}='clear';
s{30}='0';
s{31}='1';
s{32}='2';
s{33}='3';
s{34}='4';
s{35}='7';
s{36}='9';
a=[ ...
2 27 20 33 9 11 12 2 27 20 ...
34 9 11 12 2 2 25 33 15 28 ...
23 11 2 5 27 13 20 32 30 9 ...
8 24 21 11 8 20 36 9 8 20 ...
35 9 8 20 31 9 8 20 21 9 ...
8 20 31 9 8 20 31 32 9 14 ...
11 12 2 26 2 2 27 20 32 9 ...
11 12 2 27 1 22 7 13 6 1 ...
11 12 2 25 31 15 28 22 11 19 ...
31 30 2 5 27 13 1 5 1 8 ...
24 22 10 31 30 18 10 21 17 31 ...
11 16 31 15 31 30 18 21 11 11 ...
8 1 6 1 14 11 12 2 26 2 ...
27 13 1 5 1 8 24 22 10 31 ...
30 18 16 31 15 26 11 11 8 1 ...
14 12 1 14 11 12 2 2 27 13 ...
20 22 9 14 11 12 2 2 29];
disp(s{3});
disp(s{4});
for i=3:length(s)
disp([s{20},int2str(i),s{9},s{7},s{1},s{i},s{1},s{12}]);
end
disp(s{2});
disp('a=[ ...');
for i=1:length(a)/10
disp([' ',int2str(a(10*(i-1)+1:10*i)),' ...']);
end
disp([' ',int2str(a(10*i+1:end)),'];']);
disp([s{a}]);
clear
Save it (quine.m would be a sensible name), find a copy of Matlab and run it. Good times follow. Bonus Van Gogh cake for extending the script to match the default keyword colouring of the in-built Matlab editor.
Letters to Nature 
Clever stuff. I can confirm that it also works in the current version of GNU Octave.
So after some searching, I haven’t been able to find a way to render coloured text in the Command Window.
I also thought it would be cute to have the script open itself in the m-file editor, using some command-line options to ensure that all the text displays in black, but I couldn’t find a way to do that either.
If anyone can show me how to do either of these, then the extension to the script should be fairly straightforward.
I am well aware that this is not the most elegant way to do this, but I’m quite pleased with the reception it has recieved. Thanks guys!
Malkovich!
[…] I extolled at length my concerns about non-Gaussianity. Reams of Matlab script, rather different to Owen’s, appeared on my Macbook. Chunks of the Universe were loaded, manipulated, cleared. And this is the […]