The hidden picture is a planet with a ring!
The picture as Python
Here is the same picture stored as numbers in a Python list. The program reads each number and prints a symbol for it, so you can see the picture appear in the Python shell.
picture = [
"1000000000",
"0000000000",
"0002223000",
"0023332200",
"1112222111",
"1112222111",
"0022223301",
"0003332000",
"0000000000",
"0000000000",
]
symbols = " #@*"
for row in picture:
line = ""
for number in row:
line = line + symbols[int(number)]
print(line)When you run it, it prints:
# @@@* @***@@ ###@@@@### ###@@@@### @@@@** # ***@
Squashing the picture smaller
Computers often save space with a trick called run-length encoding. Instead of storing every pixel, they count how many of the same colour are in a row. Here’s this picture written that way:
Show the run-length code
- Row 1: 1 × yellow, 9 × white
- Row 2: 10 × white
- Row 3: 3 × white, 3 × green, 1 × pink, 3 × white
- Row 4: 2 × white, 1 × green, 3 × pink, 2 × green, 2 × white
- Row 5: 3 × yellow, 4 × green, 3 × yellow
- Row 6: 3 × yellow, 4 × green, 3 × yellow
- Row 7: 2 × white, 4 × green, 2 × pink, 1 × white, 1 × yellow
- Row 8: 3 × white, 3 × pink, 1 × green, 3 × white
- Row 9: 10 × white
- Row 10: 10 × white