# xkcd Published articles for xkcd. This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## More whimsical OEIS sequences DevFeed: [More whimsical OEIS sequences]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-05-22T22:28:34Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Jeremy Kun]() Topics: [Sequences]() Tags: [depths-of-oeis](), [doom](), [oeis](), [sequences](), [shortform](), [xkcd]() ### AI overview An informal survey of whimsical OEIS sequences, including sequences inspired by XKCD, non-reduced fractions, hexadecimal patterns, James Bond primes, random tables, and references to the number 666. ### Source excerpt Here are some more whimsical OEIS sequences I came across. XKCD 2016 joked that "OEIS keeps rejecting my submissions," including one that gives "Integers in increasing order of width when printed in Helvetica." Well, two days after that comic was published (2018-07-09), Hugo Pfoertner published A316600, with a very precise definition. Then he did Arial. Randall Munroe missed a huge opportunity to commit to his bit and actually try to submit some of his sequences before publishing the comic. ## xkcd 1970: Name Dominoes DevFeed: [xkcd 1970: Name Dominoes]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Norvig Published: 2018-03-21T00:00:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Peter Norvig]() Topics: [Python]() Tags: [python](), [xkcd]() ### AI overview A Python program explores how to lay out dominoes legally when the dominoes contain people's names instead of numbers. ### Source excerpt Lay out dominoes legally; the dominoes have people names, not numbers. ## Running Ubuntu Snappy inside Docker DevFeed: [Running Ubuntu Snappy inside Docker]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: andreacorbellini Published: 2015-03-25T20:46:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Andrea Corbellini]() Topics: [Docker](), [Ubuntu](), [Package manager](), [mount](), [qemu]() Tags: [apparmor](), [container](), [docker](), [mount](), [qemu](), [snappy](), [ubuntu](), [ubuntu-core](), [xkcd]() ### AI overview A tutorial showing how to create and run an Ubuntu Core Docker image by downloading an Ubuntu Core image, accessing its filesystem with qemu-nbd, mounting the relevant partition, and creating a base Docker image. It also demonstrates installing and running a snappy package inside the container and discusses warnings related to AppArmor, DBus, and logind. ### Source excerpt Many of you may have already heard of Ubuntu Core. For those who haven't, it's a minimal Ubuntu version, running only a few essential services and ships with a new package manager (snappy) that provides transactional updates. Ubuntu Core provides a lightweight base operating system which is fast to deploy and easy to maintain up to date. It also uses a nice ... ## Prime numbers and universe factories DevFeed: [Prime numbers and universe factories]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: andreacorbellini Published: 2015-02-15T16:54:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Andrea Corbellini]() Topics: [ASCII]() Tags: [ascii](), [encoding](), [fun](), [math](), [numbers](), [xkcd]() ### AI overview The article explores how prime numbers can encode ASCII text, inspired by an XKCD comic. The author searches prime numbers for English messages and discusses the possibility of finding longer texts or software encoded this way, while noting uncertainty about some primality results. ### Source excerpt I'm a XKCD fan, and I look it up regularly. There's a comic that I particularly enjoyed: Pi Equals. The comic Pi Equals, from XKCD.com (CC-BY-NC 2.5). Well, it appears that Randall was right in that there's a help message hidden somewhere. And I just found it in a prime number: 245178888024581899558766786108789912235672909204719666025638877624752119760547413887830514281649480308707369249 That number corresponds to the ASCII encoding ... ## xkcd 1313: Regex Golf DevFeed: [xkcd 1313: Regex Golf]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2014-02-20T00:00:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Peter Norvig]() Topics: [Python](), [Regular expression](), [Algorithm](), [Code]() Tags: [algorithm](), [code](), [implement](), [program](), [python](), [regex](), [strategy](), [xkcd]() ### AI overview Peter Norvig examines the regex-golf challenge from xkcd 1313 and develops a Python approach for finding a regular expression that matches presidential election winners while excluding losers. The article also investigates an apparent inconsistency in the original xkcd example. ### Source excerpt Code to implement a meta-regex-golf program based on xkcd comic #1313. The code is "a program that plays regex golf with arbitrary lists..." ## xkcd 1313: Regex Golf (Part 2: Infinite Problems) DevFeed: [xkcd 1313: Regex Golf (Part 2: Infinite Problems)]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2014-02-20T00:00:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Peter Norvig]() Topics: [Code](), [Programming](), [Algorithm](), [benchmarking]() Tags: [algorithm](), [benchmarking](), [function](), [profiling](), [programming](), [regex](), [test](), [xkcd]() ### AI overview Peter Norvig's second Regex Golf article explores improvements to a program that searches for short regular expressions separating arbitrary lists. It uses profiling, speedups, benchmarking, search strategies, pruning, added search components, and randomized exploration to test ideas and analyze results. ### Source excerpt Newly updated and improved version of my code to implement a meta-regex-golf program based on xkcd comic #1313. The code is "a program that plays regex golf with arbitrary lists..."