12 ms·
The Toughest Developer Puzzle Ever
- zaph0d 17y agoStuck at level #13
- itodd 17y agoMe too. I tried both words and numbers.
- intregus 17y agoSame. It's really tough. I think the 3rd one is all that I'm missing, and I have no ideas for it.
- sharkbrainguy 17y agoThis one annoyed me so here's a hint to what I was doing "wrong". http://pastie.org/531585 http://pastie.org/531585
- devangthakkar 17y agoI am stuck at #13. I tried using 6 & 9 for G ...but it does not work. I am sure I have all 4 answers (1) G...(2)B* (3)B* (4)L*, but it seems it is not accepting.
- Raphael 17y agoDid you put them upside down?
- devangthakkar 17y agoYes I did that too. if the answer is 1069 ..i tried entering 1069 and 9601 ...it does not pass. Am I missing something?
- finnw 17y agoSimilarly beware of using the wrong digit for "L".
- chaosprophet 17y agoJeez finally got through after about 20 tries... HINT: Try plurals... And the fourth is a bit unfair cuz it's not exclusively a geeks childhood toy...
- gt7570b 17y agoIm at #16, cause I don't know php
- gt7570b 17y agoWhat is the answer to this: Enter the command to show the server variables in php: It's got to be some short text cause $_SERVER, phpinfo, getenv, and other variants don;t work.
- gt7570b 17y agothe transition from 24 to 25 is tricky.
- gt7570b 17y agoOfficially stuck at trying to get from 24 to 25. They tell you to go a url for 25 but it doesn't exist.... This is mind boggling.
- profquail 17y agoI'm stuck on the last one (which I think is the hardest), but 24-25 is a tricky one as well. The answer is in there though ;) EDIT: I think I may actually have figured it out just now...turns out my original method was just a little off. Now to wait and see if I won!
- gt7570b 17y agoWhat number is the last one - I'm now down to level 27.
- profquail 17y agoThere are 30 levels.
- collide 17y agoany hints on #29?
- js1 17y agoI'm stuck at #27 too. 2 7, 27 @puzzlehints Twenty Seven: Take the first one each time. They'll get you the distance. This is not the hint. Seriously stop checking.
- js1 17y agoThe answer is a PHP function name or algorithm to calculate the distance between two words. If you take the distance of both pages you get 8, which is the number of words in the "This is not the hint. Seriously stop checking." I guess the hint is way too difficult: "word distance algorithm" would have been easier.
- gt7570b 17y agoI'm on ping pong, which appears to be level 29... So you're on the one after that?
- gt7570b 17y agoOkay now I just got to figure out the email thing and I'll win.
- dalaeth 17y agoMe too.. Completely lost.
- Raphael 17y agoArgh. I see the clue; it just makes no sense. I see the at-sign and the dot, and I suppose the riddle tells you how to decode the rest.
- gt7570b 17y agoIt's some type of cipher. The pi and chunks of two are some clue that i've yet to figure out since I'm busy at work...
- sharkbrainguy 17y agoyeah, work is getting in the way of my solution too...
- saulkyut 17y agostucked on the last one.. could you give me a hint please?
- Raphael 17y agoWhy does VanillaIceCream (question 22) call it's parent class's constructor?
- zaph0d 17y agoSomebody help me with #21 What're those round numbers?
- sharkbrainguy 17y agovar round = function(number){ var binary = number.toString(2); var hex = number.toString(16); var R = function(str){ return /^10*$/.test(str); }; return R(binary) && R(hex); }; That I wrote this just shows how special class I am... If a number is "round" in base-n that just means it's a power of n, and obviously all powers of 16 are also powers of 2.
- anonymouswrites 17y agoI am struck at #14
- finnw 17y agoDon't waste your time on this stupid puzzle. #13 is just completely unfair. There are too many combinations (if the answer ends with '0' do add a '5' to form a plural or use a decimal point? Do you use '9' or '8' to represent 'b'?) Trying out all the possibilities is just not fun. And the 4th question is too much of a guessing game.
- dan_the_man 17y agoWell you're entitled to your opinion of course, but #4 is not a guessing game - the answer is given to you, you just have to work out how to find it. #17 has me totally stumped though, anyone offer any clues? I've tried naming the computer, the institute, the museum... no luck :-(
- finnw 17y agoI don't mean the 4th task, I mean the 4th question in task #13
- dan_the_man 17y agoOh, my mistake; #13 certainly is a pain, although as it happens, my first guess for part 4 was correct because I happen to fit that stereotype :-)
- anonymouswrites 17y agoany hints for #14
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- anonymouswrites 17y agoany hints for #14
- chaosprophet 17y agothe username is the computers name and the password is the year it was completed. Wikipedia's not really accurate on that last count, so try google.
- finnw 17y agoI'm surprised no-one has yet pointed out that #15 does not work in FireFox 3 (I happen to know the answer and was confused that there seemed to be no way to enter it - until I switched to Safari.)
- js1 17y agoLevel #13: google, bsod, bios, lego is not working, I also tried "gijoe" and plural and inverted...
- js1 17y agoMicrosoft BOB works though (in caps) and 4th is plural, reverse the words with 6 for g, 7 for L and 8 for B
- sircmpwn 17y agoCan anyone who solved #13 just put the darn answer down!
- js1 17y ago#13: gOOgLE, BOB, BIOS, LEGOS (flip it, reverse on a calc) You have enough hints now...
- andyshader 17y agois there any other trick here? I have tried all possible combinations (reverse , read right to left), still does not work. tx
- andyshader 17y agonevermind. i did it. Conclusion: it has nothing to do with development. If you're lucky enough you might figure out that some of the letter are capitalized, some not, reverse them... Lame!
- js1 17y agoNo just use Wikipedia table to translate these answers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet
- lancet 17y agoDoes anyone have additional hints for #27?
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- suprafarq 17y agoThe important hint is "Take the first one each time"... Ask yourself why there is a period in the first column all by itself. The "distance" comment has something to do with a word formula.
- js1 17y agoA word formula damn... I found the answer on that page, but I still don't get it, between what you say and the relationship with that algorithm. http://php.net/manual/en/function.similar-text.php http://php.net/manual/en/function.similar-text.php
- supergost 17y agoAlso looking for hint on #27
- mandy 17y agostill looking for 27....any furhter hints??
- elmos 17y agoWhats the answer for 16!!!! is annoying
- suprafarq 17y agoAny hints on #30?
- hems 17y agoStuck @29 :(
- mandy 17y agosame here can;t go beyond 29
- hems 17y agoufhooo @30.. need to break the email..
- mandy 17y agowhat did you do at 29?
- collide 17y agolook at the image and it tells you what to do
- mandy 17y agogot it...stuck @30 now
- dz03 17y agoit's 100 symbols without spaces, so email shouldn't be that long, so may be: a) several cipher symbols mean 1 clear text symbol or b) you must skip some symbols my interpretation of "if you throw a pi at the wall, does it break into chunks of two" - take pi value in binary like 11.00100100001111110110... and assume, that 1 means keep symbol, 0 means discard it, but that didn't produce meaningfull email :( Such interpratation just shows, that hint is not clear enough, too much variations.
- mc_mc 17y ago
- chaosprophet 17y agoCan't seem to find a way into level 27, stuck at 26. Din't find anything in the source. Tried following addresses "ponandzi.aspx", "ponzi.aspx", "jefthomas.aspx", "azuzephre.aspx"... nothing seems to get me into level 27... Any hints???
- js1 17y agoFor #26, just check the cookie headers... The cat is telling you that the cookie were eaten/written... Very easy.
- duhhh 17y agoany hints on level 6? I am not a developer. But I made it this far!
- lucia 17y agoHey all, I've been at number 30 for a few days and is still stuck. Does anyone have pointers for this?
- mc_mc 17y agoI got the email, but puzzle isn't complete. Don't understand whats missing. Maybe correct email subject?
- lucia 17y agoI see. I still haven't been able to decipher it to get the email address, how were you able to?
- mc_mc 17y agoMaybe this can help Tip #1 : 100 letters all numbered from 1 to 100 when reading from left to right then top to bottom. Tip #2: Take pi and split into pieces of 2. At what position is the @ sign?
- lucia 17y agoHm well it's the 53rd letter, and the pi number is "48". I've tried adding them up and the ASCII of the letter to try to get the actual decrypted letter but that doesn't seem to work so well. :C
- lonjay4 17y agoim stuck in level 2..what do i need to do to go to level 3...thanks
- js1 17y agoJust go straight to level 3...
- puroy 17y agoWhat's the hint on level 30?
- eina 17y agoI can't find how to get to level 25... :(
- eina 17y agowhew! done.. can sleep peacefully now... hehehe
- eina 17y agoI got email confirmation but it says I didn't solve the puzzle exactly.. I guess I got the correct mail address but there's something missing. any hints?
- lolipopsarap 17y agostuck on debuging javascripts. im not sure if its #5
- js1 17y agoAnswers: 1) http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level1.aspx http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level1.aspx Click on the knob 2) http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level2.aspx http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level2.aspx Read sentence and type this: 3) http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level3.aspx http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level3.aspx View page source and type this: 4) http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/jeff.aspx http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/jeff.aspx View source, copy-paste to calc in bin mode, convert to hex, pair of 2 hex: U: 69,68,65,61,72,74 and P: 73,6F,66,74,77,61,72,65 open an ASCII hex chart table and translate (61-79 is a-z lowercase): Type Username: iheart Password: software and Proceed 5) http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/thatisnotenglish.aspx http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/thatisnotenglish.aspx View source, image is called wingdings.png, open WordPad, type a-z in lowercase in wingding font match the image symbols, convert to arial, copy-paste. Type Username: wheelof Password: jeopardy and Proceed 6) http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/yesthatisjavascript.aspx http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/yesthatisjavascript.aspx #cns Read the script, copy/paste in an HTML dummy page, fix bugs, it should be: regexp.exec() (c missing) checkNonInteger() (n missing) primes[] (s missing) Type solution: cns and Proceed 7) http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/algebra.aspx http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/algebra.aspx Substitute downward until you get: 1+x+x+x+x=89 x=(89-1)/4 Type x=22 and Proceed 8) http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/sudoku.aspx http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/sudoku.aspx By simple deduction, it cannot be 2,3,5,6,7 so you are left with 1,4,8,9 Either solve the puzzle or just try them all four, one by one. Type x=9 and Proceed. 9) http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/BOSSLEVEL.aspx http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/BOSSLEVEL.aspx Two different ways: Open the JavaScript code translate into keys and do it. Search on Google: "Contra 30 lives" Open IE for this one, it is broken in Firefox 3. Press: UP,UP,DOWN,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT,LEFT,RIGHT,B,A 10) http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/notourprincess.aspx http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/tdpe/notourprincess.aspx View source, click the image... 11) http://codinggeekette.com/tdpe/mybff.aspx http://codinggeekette.com/tdpe/mybff.aspx View source, look for that sentence in Google. Type: http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/mybff.aspx?user=software&pw=change http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/mybff.aspx?user=software&... 12) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/monumental.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/monumental.aspx Does not work anymore... Type: http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/sequencename.aspx?rnd=fibonacci http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/sequencename.aspx?rnd=fib... 13) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/calcwords.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/calcwords.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob (Hint: Melinda Gates was the project manager) gOOgLE, BOB, BIOS, LEgOS (reverse with digits, if not convince try with a real calculator) Type: 376006, 808, 5018, 50637 and Proceed 14) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/notasnake.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/notasnake.aspx Search on Google: "Zen of python" Type: import this and Proceed 15) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/idclipdoom.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/idclipdoom.aspx Search on Google: "Doom I" cheat code next level Type: IDSPISPOPD 16) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/showmethevariables.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/showmethevariables.aspx Try the common server config display http://php.net/phpinfo http://php.net/phpinfo Type: phpinfo(); 17) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/oldschool.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/oldschool.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC, wikipedia says 1946... try 1945. Type Username: eniac Password: 1945 and Proceed 18) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/chinchillas.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/chinchillas.aspx Search on Google: smalltalk chinchillas implementation http://www.squeak.org/ http://www.squeak.org/ Type: squeak and Proceed 19) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/icanhazcode.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/icanhazcode.aspx Search on Google: "CAN HAS STDIO?" Example ends with: KTHXBYE Type: KTHXBYE and Proceed 20) http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/kthxbye.aspx http://www.codinggeekette.com/tdpe/kthxbye.aspx View source, click the image 21) http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/untitled.aspx http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/untitled.aspx Use code above to find the correct number. Type: 1162564096 and Proceed 22) http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/icecream.aspx http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/icecream.aspx Call ancestor class first in order (implicit super() being called) Type: 134124 and Proceed, then click on the link 23) http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/threelawsofrobotics.aspx?x=RobotWithIceCream http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/threelawsofrobotics.aspx?x=Ro... Search on Google: "robot laws" Answer also in view source Type: http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/threelawsofrobotics.aspx?x=Asimov http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/threelawsofrobotics.aspx?x=As... 24) http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/level24.aspx?x=superSecretExtraPart http://brendan.enrick.com/tdpe/level24.aspx?x=superSecretExt... Open level24.js or secret.js Type: thisistheanswer and Proceed, then type URL: 25) http://toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level25.aspx http://toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/level25.aspx Read 404 message, compare to a real one, it says in suffix: ", but it's more likely you're being fooled." View source, read stack trace: "at System.Web.UI.ThisIsAFakeErrorPage.YouCanGetPastIt.GetToNextPuzzle(ToughestDeveloper puzzleEver, DotCom slash, TdpeSlash level, TwentySix dotAspx)" 26) http://toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/Tdpe/levelTwentySix.aspx http://toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/Tdpe/levelTwentySix.a... View source, either use show cookie, Firebug or HTTP Live headers: Cookie header says: nextLevel=--> http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/twoseven.aspx http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/twoseven.asp... <--; 27) http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/twoseven.aspx http://www.toughestdeveloperpuzzleever.com/tdpe/twoseven.asp... and http://jexed.com/tdpe/twentyseventext.aspx http://jexed.com/tdpe/twentyseventext.aspx "Take the first one each time. They'll get you the distance." The author means take each page name and plug it into the leveinstein function, you will get the word distance of 8, which is the number of words in: "This is not the hint. Seriously stop checking." Search on Google: distance algorithm http://php.net/manual/en/function.levenshtein.php http://php.net/manual/en/function.levenshtein.php 28) http://jexed.com/tdpe/levenshtein.aspx http://jexed.com/tdpe/levenshtein.aspx <?php echo levenshtein("killer","bunnies"); // output 6 Type 6 and Proceed 29) http://jexed.com/tdpe/pingpong.aspx http://jexed.com/tdpe/pingpong.aspx Now, compare those two images: http://jexed.com/tdpe/assets/images/pingpong.png http://jexed.com/tdpe/assets/images/pingpong.png Search on Google Images: ping pong tournament http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1121/1098453615_f41fb895bd.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1121/1098453615_f41fb895bd.jp... The title is different, now read the sentence: "There's a command in that image. Maybe you should start following instructions." open a command prompt, type: "ping pong.com", you get: "Pinging pong.com [68.178.232.99] with 32 bytes of data:" Type one number in each box "68 178 232 99" and Proceed 30) http://jexed.com/tdpe/congratulations.aspx http://jexed.com/tdpe/congratulations.aspx View page source and figure it out yourself :D