Summer Rhombus :rhombus: picture competition 2026

Competition: Make an image with Rhombus this summer! Win stickers!

  1. While the rules require the use of Rhombus, they do not exclude using Racket or Racket libraries with Rhombus or the Rhombus FFI

  2. I suggest the Rhombus pict library but you can use whatever you like!

What will you win? I'll send Rhombus stickers to the top 10 winners!

Closing date: Friday 18 September 2026.
Winners will be announced at the (sixteenth RacketCon) 3-4 October 2026.

Rules

  • Entries must use Rhombus (edit: you can use .from_handle() to use Racket from Rhombus)
  • Entries must be include all code and instructions required to generate the picture.
  • Entries may be animated or interactive, but this is not required.
  • Entries must be licenced under the same terms as the Racket and Rhombus open source projects. ("Racket is distributed under the MIT license and the Apache License,
    version 2.0, at your option. ")
  • Incorporating fish into your entry may earn bonus points.
  • Entries must be submitted via email to spdegabrielle+pict@gmail.com (you may attach or provide link to source code)
  • You can enter as many times as you like.
  • Closing date: Friday 18 September 2026.
  • 10 winners will be selected from submissions (Winners will be announced/displayed at RacketCon)
  • Postal address must be included with entry for delivery of prizes(stickers). (In accordance with General Data Protecton Regulations in the United Kingdom, person identifyable information can only be used for the intended purpose. In this case postal addresses will only be used to post stickers to winners via sticker printing services and will be deleted after use)

Notes

There is no entry fee. I am covering the cost of the stickers and postage. If you wish to make a donation please consider sponsoring the Racket Programming Language Foundation. See https://racket-lang.org/rplf.htm

If you have any questions or concerns please contact me. spdegabrielle+pict@gmail.com

Have a good summer holidays!

Stephen

New to Rhombus?

Install Rhombus with raco pkg install rhombus-main[1]
then try this in DrRacket:

#lang rhombus
import:
  rhombus/pict open
let body = ellipse(~width: 100, ~height: 50, ~fill: "salmon")
let tail = triangle(~width: 40, ~height: 5, ~fill: "salmon").rotate(0.5 * math.pi)
let eye = ellipse(~width: 8, ~height: 8, ~fill: "black").pad(~left: -92, ~top: -12)
let fish = overlay(
  beside(body, tail),
  eye
)
fish

[1] or follow the instructions at https://rhombus-lang.org/download.html

Inspired by the Summer Rhombus picture competition including animated entries, and the Rhombus pict library supporting animated picts, I've put up this small package for turning those animated picts into GIF files:

fransans-summer

I couldn't resist using the fabulous fransans_pict.rhm by @SamPhillips to remind you to enter the Summer Rhombus :rhombus: picture competition 2026

I have to share this wonderful entry from Athanasios (Thanos) @aanastasiou

A pictorial representation of the 118 chemical elements via the visual hash of their names using the Rhombus programming language.

https://github.com/aanastasiou/ptvishash

I chose the image with the rhombus-shaped visual hash, but could not resist including (my favourite element) copper to demonstrate the hexagon shape:
copper

periodic table with rhombus shaped visual hash

-- Stephen :beetle:

While the last entry was in pure Rhombus, you can use Racket with Rhombus.

Here is a simple example

First my design for the perfect fish in glorious Racket:
the-fish.rkt

#lang racket/base
(require pict)
(provide perfect_fish)
(define (perfect_fish n) (standard-fish n (/ n 2)))
(module+ test
  (perfect_fish 100))

Lets render this fabulous fish in Rhombus:

programmers-need-fish.rhm

#lang rhombus
import:
  pict open
  "the-fish.rkt" open
  
fun the_perfect_fish(w):
  Pict.from_handle(perfect_fish(w))
  
the_perfect_fish(200)

You may have noticed that I used an underscore _ in the perfect_fish identifier. This is because - is not permitted in shrubbery identifiers:

Identifiers are formed from Unicode alphanumeric characters plus _ and emoji sequences,

https://docs.racket-lang.org/shrubbery/token-parsing.html

I admit I'm not ready to include emoji in identifiers

For more details see Using Racket Tools and Libraries in the Rhombus Guide.

Make an image with Rhombus this summer! Win stickers!

-- Stephen :beetle:

image