The hidden picture is a pixel creature!
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 = [
"0000000000",
"0011001100",
"0121111210",
"0013113100",
"0014114100",
"0011111100",
"0111111110",
"0121111210",
"0022002200",
"0000000000",
]
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# ###### ######## #@####@# @@ @@
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: 10 × white
- Row 2: 2 × white, 2 × red, 2 × white, 2 × red, 2 × white
- Row 3: 1 × white, 1 × red, 1 × pink, 4 × red, 1 × pink, 1 × red, 1 × white
- Row 4: 2 × white, 1 × red, 1 × white, 2 × red, 1 × white, 1 × red, 2 × white
- Row 5: 2 × white, 1 × red, 1 × navy, 2 × red, 1 × navy, 1 × red, 2 × white
- Row 6: 2 × white, 6 × red, 2 × white
- Row 7: 1 × white, 8 × red, 1 × white
- Row 8: 1 × white, 1 × red, 1 × pink, 4 × red, 1 × pink, 1 × red, 1 × white
- Row 9: 2 × white, 2 × pink, 2 × white, 2 × pink, 2 × white
- Row 10: 10 × white