A signature program is a short block of uncompiled source code attached to an email or other communication. It is often written in an abbreviated and non-standard way to make the code hard to read. The output is usually less than four lines and can be formatted to form an image or spell words. Macros can also be used to make the program shorter and more difficult to read.
A signature program in computer programming is a short block of uncompiled source code that is attached to the end of an email or other communication. The signature in an electronic communication is a block of text that is automatically attached to outgoing messages, sometimes to identify the user. When a block of code is included in this area, it is known as a signing program. Most signing programs perform trivial functions that output data or information surprisingly short of the actual code. The limitations mean that a signing program doesn’t compile, requiring a curious viewer to compile it to see the results – a task that requires some programming knowledge – which means that most signing programs are mainly viewed by those within the programming community.
One of the elements of a signature program is the way it’s written. Instead of looking like ordinary computer programming code, it is often written in a very non-standard abbreviated way through the use of functions, operators and language features not often seen. Part of the reason for this is to make the code hard to read so that the program’s output isn’t immediately apparent, although it can also be done to provide a look that is somewhat unique. The name of code that has been written to be intentionally hard to read is obfuscated code.
The common output for a signing program might be the name of the person who wrote the code or the name of the person sending the message it is attached to. Graphical or textual representations of mathematical formulas and recursive operations are also popular. While nearly any output is possible, source code is usually kept to less than four lines, the traditional maximum length of a signature file.
The actual formatting of the source code can be part of the signing program as it hints at the output that might be produced. This can sometimes be done by organizing the source code to form an image related to the output or by using the letters and symbols in the code to spell words. This is possible because most programming compilers ignore multiple spaces and line breaks, instead looking only at the actual characters in a line of code.
An additional method used to influence the length, behavior, and sometimes the appearance of code in a signing program is the use of macros. Macros are a way of assigning a piece of valid computer code to a shorter or alternate sequence of characters or symbols. When the macro is later placed in the source code, it is replaced by the compiler with the code it represents. Not only does this make a signature program shorter, but by using misleadingly named macros or that embed other macros, the program can become incredibly difficult to read.
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