Visit the Full Analysis on the Pentomino Solving Quine, only if you aren't trying to deconstructing it yourself.

Or check the Full Pretty Source Code if still you're trying to read the Perl code in the blocky form.

As far as obfuscation goes, this program isn't very obscured, but the methods and algorithm may be hard to work out if you're not familiar with the problem.

Even if you're not into quines, or obfuscation, I hope the program is an entertaining plaything... it was fun for me to put it together. My first version was in Turbo Pascal in the mid-80's, and it took four solid MONTHS to collect all the solutions on an IBM PC-AT, with similar heuristics.

--
[ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]