In his final lockdown puzzle, David Hunt, PGCE Computer Science Subject Leader in the School of Education, has supplied a computer coding style challenge themed around the text language of Leet.
The solution is now available at the bottom of this post.
We would like to thank David for his contributions and hope staff have enjoyed them.
Text Language of Leet
If hackers were to communicate in an online forum, they could easily avoid simple net searches by disguising the words they type by using an alternative text language. For example, the letter s could be replaced by the number 5.
It is 5till rea5onably ea5y to read the text and under5tand the meaning. This method of disguising simple text is only known by the few who mistakenly consider themselves to be ‘elite’ and so the text language of Leet was born. The actual name, leet could be converted to 1337, so it is also known by this name too. Many individuals communicate in forums, chat rooms and online games and 1337 has been picked up by the masses within the many internet communities. Perhaps the online gamers would like to let their team mates know what strategy they are employing or perhaps they would just like to be able to chat online and exclude others. Over time, this language has evolved and some sophisticated characters have been used as replacements. There are no standards; as long as you can retrieve the meaning of the original message, it is valid leet.
Can you understand the message
(4n ¥0µ µnÐ3r$74nÐ 7h3 m3$$493
Challenges – can you decipher the meaning of these phrases?
Easy
900d 1uck w17h 7h3 57427 0f 7h3 n3w 4c4d3m1c y342
m42y h4d 4 117713 14m8, 17’5 f133c3 w45 wh173 45 5n0w
0nc3 up0n 4 71m3, 7h323 w323 7h233 83425. 7h3y 11v3d 1n 4 f02357 4nd 473 p0221d93 f02 8234kf457 3v32y d4y.
Medium
70(_) \/\/111 |=1|V[) 7|-|3 72345(_)23 1|V 7|-|3 [)(_)|V930|V
1|V 4 |-|013 1|V 7|-|3 920(_)|V[) 7|-|323 11\/3[) 4 |-|08817.
Hard
‘|’#[-/2[-‘$ |\|[] |>|_/-\([- |_!|<[- #[]/\/\[-
/\/\/-\`/ ‘|’#[- |=[]/2([- |3[- \|/!’|’# `/[]|_|
‘|’#!$ !$ ‘|’#[- |=!|\|/-\|_ |_[](|<|)[]\|/|\| (#/-\|_|_[-|\|(_+[-. ! #[]|>[- `/[]|_| #/-\|/[- [-|\|_|[]`/[-|) ‘|’#[-/\/\.
Answers
Easy
Good luck with the start of the new academic year
Mary had a little lamb, it’s fleece was white as snow
Once upon a time, there were three bears. They lived in a forest and ate porridge for breakfast every day.
Medium
You will find the treasure in the dungeon
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Hard
There’s no place like home
May the force be with you
This is the final lockdown challenge. I hope you have enjoyed them.
University of Worcester Staff News 