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My friend told me about this program he installed recently. It seems very strange. I don't know how it works, it's just a prompt with a welcome message which shows some messages.

Here are the messages my friend inputted and the outputs he received, can you make sense of this and find out what this program actually does? I also see some error messages...

unx$ node BXQBOLC.XKVQEFKDP
>>>> WELCOME TO BXQBOLC.XKVQEFKDP PLEASE PRESS ABC
ABC
-----------------------
ERRRRRROOOOOR
      XKVQEFKDPKLQCLRKA
ERROR: 666
    at BXQBOLC.XKVQEFKDP(BXQBOLCXKVQEFKDP:666:666)
    at BXQBOLC.XKVQEFKDP(BXQBOLCXKVQEFKDP:666:666)
    at BXQBOLC.XKVQEFKDP(BXQBOLCXKVQEFKDP:666:666)
    at BXQBOLC.XKVQEFKDP(BXQBOLCXKVQEFKDP:666:666)
    at .:-1:-1
    at .j:-1:-1
--------------------------------------------------
>>>> THIS IS VERY UNFORTUNATE. PLEASE TRY TO USE THE PROGRAM NOW
>>>> I AM VERY SORRY IT IS FIXED NOW
uhm...
-----------------------
ERRRRRROOOOOR
      XKVQEFKDPKLQCLRKA
--------------------------------------------------
>>>> THIS IS VERY UNFORTUNATE. PLEASE TRY TO USE THE PROGRAM NOW
>>>> I AM VERY SORRY IT IS FIXED NOW
okay what... this is weird right now
--------------
XQBLKBXKVQEFKD
--------------
uhhm I got this program to plot math functions but I get this
---------------
XQBLKBXKVQEFKD
---------------
what?
-----------------------
ERRRRRROOOOOR
      XKVQEFKDPKLQCLRKA
--------------------------------------------------
>>>> THIS IS VERY UNFORTUNATE. PLEASE TRY TO USE THE PROGRAM NOW
>>>> I AM VERY SORRY IT IS FIXED NOW
I don't even...
--------------
XQBQTLXKVQEFKD
--------------
hello? is anyone behind this thing?
------------------------
====XQBQEOBBXKVQEFKD====
------------------------
>>>> IM HAPPY NOW!

EXIT CODE: "HAPI"

unx$

Really weird... the program seems to be named "BXQBOLC.XKVQEFKDP"

Hint:

Oh o my keyboard is broke could it be that the program ate some keys o it? Might just be somethig else

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  • $\begingroup$ Hi, can you give more hints? $\endgroup$
    – QLAN
    Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 4:24

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Only partial answer:

use ROT3 to decrypt some ciphers to get this:

unx$ node EATEROF.ANYTHINGS
 >>>> WELCOME TO EATEROF.ANYTHINGS PLEASE PRESS ABC
 ABC
 -----------------------
 ERRRRRROOOOOR
       ANYTHINGSNOTFOUND
 ERROR: 666
     at EATEROF.ANYTHINGS(EATEROFANYTHINGS:666:666)
     at EATEROF.ANYTHINGS(EATEROFANYTHINGS:666:666)
     at EATEROF.ANYTHINGS(EATEROFANYTHINGS:666:666)
     at EATEROF.ANYTHINGS(EATEROFANYTHINGS:666:666)
     at .:-1:-1
     at .j:-1:-1
 --------------------------------------------------
 >>>> THIS IS VERY UNFORTUNATE. PLEASE TRY TO USE THE PROGRAM NOW
 >>>> I AM VERY SORRY IT IS FIXED NOW
 uhm...
 -----------------------
 ERRRRRROOOOOR
       ANYTHINGSNOTFOUND
 --------------------------------------------------
 >>>> THIS IS VERY UNFORTUNATE. PLEASE TRY TO USE THE PROGRAM NOW
 >>>> I AM VERY SORRY IT IS FIXED NOW
 okay what... this is weird right now
 --------------
 ATEONEANYTHING
 --------------
 uhhm I got this program to plot math functions but I get this
 ---------------
 ATEONEANYTHING
 ---------------
 what?
 -----------------------
 ERRRRRROOOOOR
       ANYTHINGSNOTFOUND
 --------------------------------------------------
 >>>> THIS IS VERY UNFORTUNATE. PLEASE TRY TO USE THE PROGRAM NOW
 >>>> I AM VERY SORRY IT IS FIXED NOW
 I don't even...
 --------------
 ATETWOANYTHING
 --------------
 hello? is anyone behind this thing?
 ------------------------
 ====ATETHREEANYTHING====
 ------------------------
 >>>> IM HAPPY NOW!

 EXIT CODE: "HAPI"

I think

ANYTHING -> N-THING

so based on @dmihawk's answer and Hint 1, the program counts how many word that contain letter N:

okay what... this is weird right now = ATEONEANYTHING
uhhm I got this program to plot math functions but I get this = ATEONEANYTHING
what? = ANYTHINGSNOTFOUND
I don't even... = ATETWOANYTHING
hello? is anyone behind this thing? = ATETHREEANYTHING

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Using a Caesar cipher (and credit to @QLAN for getting there first), the program is called:

EATEROF.ANYTHINGS (i.e. "eater of anythings"

Specifically,

It only likes to eat the letter 'E'

Inputs "ABC" and "uhm..." yield

"ANYTHINGSNOTFOUND" - as there are no E's

Inputs "okay what... this is weird right now" and "uhhm I got this program to plot math functions but I get this" yield

"ATEONEANYTHING" - as both sentences contain a single 'E'

"I don't even..." yields

"ATETWOANYTHING" - as it contains two E's

"hello? is anyone behind this thing?" yields

"====ATETHREEANYTHING====" - as it contains three E's

IM HAPPY NOW!

Perhaps the program wants to eat three E's in a single go? Or wanted to eat 7 total? (I'm not sure if it's possible to tell)

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  • $\begingroup$ Wow, that was quick. Although, the program does not like the letter E. In fact, it almost threw up with those Es in the sentences. $\endgroup$
    – kepe
    Commented Nov 19, 2018 at 21:10
  • $\begingroup$ @FireCubez was this the correct answer? $\endgroup$
    – Dmihawk
    Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 18:55
  • $\begingroup$ Nope. But close $\endgroup$
    – kepe
    Commented Nov 20, 2018 at 18:55

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