The hidden picture is a rocket!
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 = [
"0001000",
"0011100",
"0022200",
"0223220",
"0233320",
"0223220",
"0222220",
"0222220",
"1222221",
"1104011",
"0004000",
"0045400",
]
symbols = " #@*o+"
for row in picture:
line = ""
for number in row:
line = line + symbols[int(number)]
print(line)When you run it, it prints:
# ### @@@ @@*@@ @***@ @@*@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ #@@@@@# ## o ## o o+o
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: 3 × white, 1 × red, 3 × white
- Row 2: 2 × white, 3 × red, 2 × white
- Row 3: 2 × white, 3 × white, 2 × white
- Row 4: 1 × white, 2 × white, 1 × blue, 2 × white, 1 × white
- Row 5: 1 × white, 1 × white, 3 × blue, 1 × white, 1 × white
- Row 6: 1 × white, 2 × white, 1 × blue, 2 × white, 1 × white
- Row 7: 1 × white, 5 × white, 1 × white
- Row 8: 1 × white, 5 × white, 1 × white
- Row 9: 1 × red, 5 × white, 1 × red
- Row 10: 2 × red, 1 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × white, 2 × red
- Row 11: 3 × white, 1 × orange, 3 × white
- Row 12: 2 × white, 1 × orange, 1 × yellow, 1 × orange, 2 × white