This weirdest thing has been a staple of entries in the IOCCC [1]. It is used not only to obfuscate, but also to save characters. For example, in this 1989 arbi

This weirdest thing has been a staple of entries in the IOCCC [1]. It is used not only to obfuscate, but also to save characters. For example, in this 1989 arbitrary length maze generator submission char*M,A,Z,E=40,J[40],T[40];main(C){for(*J=A=scanf(M="%d",&C); -- E; J[ E] =T [E ]= E) printf("._"); for(;(A-=Z=!Z) || (printf("\n|" ) , A = 39 ,C -- ) ; Z || printf (M ))M[Z]=Z[A-(E =A[J-Z])&&!C & A == T[ A] |6<<27<rand()||!C&!Z?J[T[E]=T[A]]=E,J[T[A]=A-Z]=A,"_.":" |"];} the Z[A-(E ... :" |"] expression spanning the last 3 lines saves 2 characters over the conventional alternative (A-(E ... :" |")[Z]. [1] https://www.ioccc.org/ https://www.ioccc.org/