Write a program with the smallest width

Question

Print or return the following text:

Hello world! The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.

However, your submission will not be scored in bytes. Instead, primarily it will be scored by the width in pixels of the program when written in Arial in a 12pt font. In particular, the score is:

$$ (\text{visual width in px}) + \frac{1}{1000}(\text{length in characters})$$

Since there might be slight differences based on platform, OS etc the following program will be used to judge your score:

Try it online!

Rules

Standard I/O rules apply.
A single trailing newline is optionally permitted in the output. No other variation is permitted.
Lowest score as calculated by the above program wins.
Note that the measure of visual width used ignores newlines. As far as I can tell, you can never reduce the score of your program by adding characters.

(So sad that Mongolian script is rendered left to right but not top to bottom.) — tsh, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 3:54
"As far as I can tell, you can never reduce the score of your program by adding characters". If you try A, the width is 10. Now try A\u200b (append a zero-width space), strangely it becomes 9. — dingledooper, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 5:56
Note that the measure of visual width used ignores newlines You sure about that? It seems like a newline has a width of 9 — DJMcMayhem, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 16:55
Based on @DJMcMayhem's comment, I think you probably meant to use getsize_multiline instead. — FryAmTheEggman, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 17:54

Bubbler · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-02 06:24:42Z

Zalgo, score 5.221 0.222

̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̝̐̈̄̐̅̆̐̌̆̐̌̆̐̏̆̐̀̂̐̇̇̐̏̆̐̂̇̐̌̆̐̄̆̐́̂̐̀̂̐̄̅̐̈̆̐̅̆̐̀̂̐́̇̐̅̇̐̉̆̐̃̆̐̋̆̐̀̂̐̂̆̐̂̇̐̏̆̐̇̇̐̎̆̐̀̂̐̆̆̐̏̆̐̈̇̐̀̂̐̊̆̐̅̇̐̍̆̐̀̇̐̃̇̐̀̂̐̏̆̐̆̇̐̅̆̐̂̇̐̀̂̐́̆̐̀̂̐̌̆̐́̆̐̊̇̐̉̇̐̀̂̐̄̆̐̏̆̐̇̆̐̎̂

Score this online!

I think I found the ~~perfect~~ uberperfect language! Tested with the official interpreter locally. Now also uses dingledooper's observation that zalgo surrounded by two \u200bs has width zero. Luckily (and surprisingly) \u200b is not considered as a whitespace in the interpreter (which uses Rust's char.is_whitespace).

Script to generate the source:

s = 'Hello world! The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.'
ans = '\u200b'
ans += '\u031d' * len(s)
for c in s:
    d = ord(c)
    ans += '\u0310' + chr(0x300 + d % 16) + chr(0x300 + d // 16)
print(ans + '\u200b', end='')

Try it online!

print(ans, end='\u200b') saves ... sorry, I couldn't help myself there. — Neil, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 20:24

dingledooper · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-03 22:40:09Z

Python, 125.833 score

ᵉᵛªˡ(ᵇʸᵗᵉſ(ᵐªᵖ(ˡᵉⁿ,'‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌'.ſᵖˡᵢᵗ('‌'))))

Attempt This Online! or Score this online!

Explanation

Through some experimentation, I found that \u200a (zero width space) takes up zero pixels. In addition, as kindly pointed out by Mukundan314, \u200c seems to use up zero pixels as well, though only when surrounded by \u200a. Using this fact, I created an algorithm to encode any string using only the characters \u200c and \u200a. The algorithm works by encoding each character as a string of \u200cs whose size is the value of its unicode codepoint. Then, they are joined together by \u200a.

Then, decoding it is simply a matter of splitting the string by the \u200c delimiter, mapping each element to its length, and converting it back into a string using the bytes builtin:

bytes(map(len,'...'.split('\u200c')))

In the implementation, the strange-looking unicode characters are converted to ASCII due to Python's implicit NFKC normalization of identifiers, which help slightly shorten the pixel width.

Python, 139.097 score

-0.002 score thanks to @Neil, who noticed that the \u200bs are apparently unnecessary here.

ᵉᵛªˡ(ᵇʸᵗᵉſ(ºʳᵈ(ˡ)%126for ˡ in'⁮ّۘ⁬ֲٍ֑ۚ︠⁪⁪⁭᷿̔⁭ۘ⁪ٌٍِ͈̔̔̕⁯ًّۛٓ̔ﱢۘ⁭᷿⁬َ̔⁭ْͬ̔ۛ⁫⁮ۙ̔⁭ٍ᷾ۘ̔ﱡ̔⁪ﱡٌ۠۟̔⁭ُ‬֑︡'))

Attempt This Online!

An alternative solution, which although longer, may port better to other languages. The idea here is that any string of accent characters embedded between two \u200bs has a pixel width of zero.

125.833 by using \u200c (has 0 width if surrounded by chars) instead of \u200a — Mukundan314, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 4:22
@Mukundan314 Wow! I've been assuming that \u200a only occupies one pixel width (which is the case by itself), but doesn't seem to be the case when I used it with \u200a. Thanks again for the substantial byte save :) — dingledooper, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 4:38
Your last solution doesn't need the \u002bs saving 0.002 off the score. — Neil, Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 6:52

Neil · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-17 17:04:33Z

7

Charcoal, score 49.089 27.235 27.107

⍘⍘̔̆́̐̐̑̊̓̇̂̐̇̋̒́̒̎̏̌́̄̐́̉̌̇̀̍̌̌̓̒̊̋̎́̄̎̅̍̃̂̒̃̂̉̏̑̈̋̄̎̋̂̂̃̋̋̍̎̀̈̍̀̆̇̐́̐̒́̑̄̑̎̒̌̎̑̐̔̄¦̀́̂̃̄̅̆̇̈̉̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔γ

Try it online! No verbose version because the deverbosifier extraneously quotes the strings, which is longer than using the ¦ separator. Explanation: Converts a string from base \u0300-\u0314 and then into base -~ (printable ASCII).

  ̔̆́̐̐̑̊̓̇̂̐̇̋̒́̒̎̏̌́̄̐́̉̌̇̀̍̌̌̓̒̊̋̎́̄̎̅̍̃̂̒̃̂̉̏̑̈̋̄̎̋̂̂̃̋̋̍̎̀̈̍̀̆̇̐́̐̒́̑̄̑̎̒̌̎̑̐̔̄      Literal string of \u0300-\u0314 characters
 ⍘      Convert from base
   ̀́̂̃̄̅̆̇̈̉̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔     Literal string `\u0300-\u0314`
⍘       Convert to base
   γ    Predefined variable printable ASCII
        Implicitly print

edited Oct 17, 2022 at 17:04

answered Sep 2, 2022 at 5:49

Neil

174k12 gold badges73 silver badges277 bronze badges

1

\$\begingroup\$ I think you mean \u200b\u200c\u200d? \u002b\u002c\u002d is +,-. \$\endgroup\$
– Bubbler
Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 6:36
\$\begingroup\$ @Bubbler I did, but I'm using different characters now because I was able to shave 0.128 off my score this way. \$\endgroup\$
– Neil
Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 6:49
\$\begingroup\$ Verbose version using the newer version of Charcoal on ATO: Attempt This Online! \$\endgroup\$
– Neil
Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 21:40

Add a comment |

Bubbler · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-02 05:29:04Z

K (ngn/k), score 64.584

`0:`c$#'"‌"\"‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌"

Try it online! or Score this online!

A port of dingledooper's answer to K. Uses \u200b as the "word" character and \u200c as the separator. The only difference is that "length" # counts each "space" character as 3 bytes, so I had to do a little calculation so that (word length in characters) * 3 % 256 == output character.

naffetS · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-02 17:31:43Z

Vyxal `s`, Score 41.09

`‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌`\‌/vLC

Try it Online!

Port of dingledooper's answer.

Fatalize · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-17 12:36:01Z

2

Brachylog, score: 494.078 (78 bytes)

"He
llo
 wo
rld
! T
he 
qui
ck 
bro
wn 
fox
 ju
mps
 ov
er 
a l
azy
 do
g.
"ṇc

Try it online!

Not as competitive as the rest, but the program contains the expected string with no specific encoding.

Explanation

"ṇc ends a string, splits it on linebreaks into a list of strings, and then concatenates it back into a single string with no linebreaks.

We then split the string into chunks of at most 3 chars with linebreaks, as Brachylog supports inline multi-line strings.

answered Oct 17, 2022 at 12:36

Fatalize

39.1k5 gold badges70 silver badges162 bronze badges

2

\$\begingroup\$ The scoring function doesn't quite work like you imagine. \$\endgroup\$
– Bubbler
Commented Oct 18, 2022 at 1:01
1

\$\begingroup\$ @Bubbler Well, this challenge makes no sense whatsoever then. \$\endgroup\$
– Fatalize
Commented Oct 18, 2022 at 7:47

Add a comment |

hakr14 · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-17 22:54:15Z

1

Mathematica, score 261.096

FromCharacterCode[ToCharacterCode@"̨͌͌ͅ͏̀͗͏̴͈͕͉͒͌̈́́̀̀͑̓͋̀͂͒ͅ͏͎͗̀͆͏͕͍͓̀͊͐̀͘͏͖͚͙͒̀́̀͌́̀̈́ͅ͏͇̎"-736]

View it on Wolfram Cloud!

Score it online!

answered Oct 17, 2022 at 22:54

hakr14

4,9941 gold badge11 silver badges18 bronze badges

Add a comment |

Kai Burghardt · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-19 22:50:55Z

1

Pascal, 495.092

program i(output);begin write('Hello world! The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.')end.

answered Feb 19, 2023 at 22:50

Kai Burghardt

1,0121 gold badge6 silver badges12 bronze badges

Add a comment |

Makonede · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-09 16:32:42Z

1

05AB1E, score 40.062

’̨͌͌ͅ͏̀͗͏̴͈͕͉͒͌̈́́̀̀͑̓͋̀͂͒ͅ͏͎͗̀͆͏͕͍͓̀͊͐̀͘͏͖͚͙͒̀́̀͌́̀̈́ͅ͏͇̎’ÇŽ2ã-

Try it online! Outputs as a list of byte values.

answered Jun 9, 2023 at 16:32

Makonede

6,52019 silver badges49 bronze badges

Add a comment |

Shaggy · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-12 10:36:38Z

1

Japt, score 30.062 29.061

"̨͌͌ͅ͏̀͗͏̴͈͕͉͒͌̈́́̀̀͑̓͋̀͂͒ͅ͏͎͗̀͆͏͕͍͓̀͊͐̀͘͏͖͚͙͒̀́̀͌́̀̈́ͅ͏͇̎"c-#ˠ

Test it

edited Jun 12, 2023 at 10:36

answered Jun 12, 2023 at 10:25

Shaggy

42.7k4 gold badges36 silver badges94 bronze badges

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hakr14 · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-17 22:28:01Z

Pyth, score 58.092

smCldc"‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌"\‌

Try it here!

Score it online!

Near literal translation of dingledooper's Python answer.

Europe2048 · Accepted Answer · 2024-07-31 06:29:03Z

Uiua, score 57.067 33.064 33.062

Now returns the correct text!

-736"̨͌͌ͅ͏̷̌̀͏̴͈͕͉͒͌̈́́̀̀͑̓͋̀͂͒ͅ͏͎͗̀͆͏͕͍͓̀͊͐̀͘͏͖͚͙͒̀́̀͌́̀̈́ͅ͏͇̎"

Try it here!

Putting diacritics directly after a quote will now register as a string.

Explanation

-736"̨͌͌ͅ͏̷̌̀͏̴͈͕͉͒͌̈́́̀̀͑̓͋̀͂͒ͅ͏͎͗̀͆͏͕͍͓̀͊͐̀͘͏͖͚͙͒̀́̀͌́̀̈́ͅ͏͇̎"
    "̨͌͌ͅ͏̷̌̀͏̴͈͕͉͒͌̈́́̀̀͑̓͋̀͂͒ͅ͏͎͗̀͆͏͕͍͓̀͊͐̀͘͏͖͚͙͒̀́̀͌́̀̈́ͅ͏͇̎" mish-mash
-736   subtract each codepoint by 736

Stack Exchange Network

Write a program with the smallest width

Rules

12 Answers 12

Zalgo, score 5.221 0.222

Python, 125.833 score

Explanation

Python, 139.097 score

Charcoal, score 49.089 27.235 27.107

K (ngn/k), score 64.584

Vyxal `s`, Score 41.09

Brachylog, score: 494.078 (78 bytes)

Explanation

Mathematica, score 261.096

Pascal, 495.092

05AB1E, score 40.062

Japt, score 30.062 29.061

Pyth, score 58.092

Uiua, score 57.067 33.064 33.062

Explanation

Your Answer

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kolmogorov-complexity
hello-world
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Hot Network Questions

Write a program with the smallest width

Rules

12 Answers 12

Zalgo, score 5.221 0.222

Python, 125.833 score

Explanation

Python, 139.097 score

Charcoal, score 49.089 27.235 27.107

K (ngn/k), score 64.584

Vyxal s, Score 41.09

Brachylog, score: 494.078 (78 bytes)

Explanation

Mathematica, score 261.096

Pascal, 495.092

05AB1E, score 40.062

Japt, score 30.062 29.061

Pyth, score 58.092

Uiua, score 57.067 33.064 33.062

Explanation

Your Answer

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Vyxal `s`, Score 41.09

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