My internet friend had an interesting assignment for his programming midterm, so I thought I'd share it with you guys and see how creative we can get with our solutions.
Use whatever language you like; cookies for participants. 
The Problem
Assume the user gives you a numeric input ranging from 1 to 7.
When the input is 1, print the following:
***********
*********
*******
*****
***
*Values greater than one should generate multiples of the pattern, ending with the one above, but always stacked symmetrically.
For example, 3 should print the following:
*********** *********** ***********
********* ********* *********
******* ******* *******
***** ***** *****
*** *** ***
* * *
*********** ***********
********* *********
******* *******
***** *****
*** ***
* *
***********
*********
*******
*****
***
* For bonus points, also print the reverse:
*********** *********** ***********
********* ********* *********
******* ******* *******
***** ***** *****
*** *** ***
* * *
*********** ***********
********* *********
******* *******
***** *****
*** ***
* *
***********
*********
*******
*****
***
*
*
***
*****
*******
*********
***********
* *
*** ***
***** *****
******* *******
********* *********
*********** ***********
* * *
*** *** ***
***** ***** *****
******* ******* *******
********* ********* *********
*********** *********** ***********My Solution
I used C#. I wrote the tests first, as I do with most programming tasks, especially those with detailed data manipulation. The first pass was completely imperative, with a ton of loops and counters all shoving stuff into a buffer, but once I had something working I boiled it down to its essence and LINQified it.
Source code below.
1using System;
2using System.Collections.Generic;
3using System.Linq;
4using System.Text;
5
6namespace ConsoleApplication1
7{
8 class Program
9 {
10 static void Main(string[] args)
11 {
12 Console.WriteLine("Welcome, Hero of Time");
13 Console.WriteLine("How many triforces?");
14 var iterations = Int32.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
15 Console.WriteLine("Do you want to reverse them as well?");
16 var reverse = Boolean.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
17 Console.WriteLine(Triforce.MakeTriforce(iterations, reverse));
18 Console.ReadKey(true);
19 }
20 }
21}
1using System;
2using System.Collections.Generic;
3using System.Linq;
4using System.Text;
5
6namespace ConsoleApplication1
7{
8 public static class Triforce
9 {
10 private static IEnumerable<string> makeTriforceIteration(int buffer, int iteration)
11 {
12 var triforce = @"***********
13 *********
14 *******
15 *****
16 ***
17 * ";
18 var bufferString = String.Join("", Enumerable.Repeat(" ", buffer));
19 return from line in triforce.Split(new string[] { Environment.NewLine }, StringSplitOptions.None)
20 select bufferString + String.Join(" ", Enumerable.Repeat(line, iteration));
21 }
22
23 public static string MakeTriforce(int iterations, bool reverse)
24 {
25 var result = (from buffer in Enumerable.Range(0, iterations)
26 let iteration = iterations - buffer
27 select makeTriforceIteration(buffer, iteration)).SelectMany(s => s);
28 if (reverse)
29 {
30 result = result.Concat(result.Reverse());
31 }
32 return String.Join(Environment.NewLine, result);
33 }
34 }
35}
1using System;
2using System.Collections.Generic;
3using System.Linq;
4using System.Text;
5using NUnit.Framework;
6
7namespace ConsoleApplication1
8{
9 [TestFixture]
10 public class TriforceTest
11 {
12 [Test]
13 public void ProducesASingleTriforceWhenInputIs1()
14 {
15 var singleTriforce = @"***********
16 *********
17 *******
18 *****
19 ***
20 * ";
21 Assert.That(Triforce.MakeTriforce(1, false), Is.EqualTo(singleTriforce));
22 }
23
24 [Test]
25 public void ProducesTwoTrifocesWhenInputIs2()
26 {
27 var doubleTriforce = @"*********** ***********
28 ********* *********
29 ******* *******
30 ***** *****
31 *** ***
32 * *
33 ***********
34 *********
35 *******
36 *****
37 ***
38 * ";
39 Assert.That(Triforce.MakeTriforce(2, false), Is.EqualTo(doubleTriforce));
40 }
41
42 [Test]
43 public void ProducesThreeTrifocesWhenInputIs3()
44 {
45 var tripleTriforce = @"*********** *********** ***********
46 ********* ********* *********
47 ******* ******* *******
48 ***** ***** *****
49 *** *** ***
50 * * *
51 *********** ***********
52 ********* *********
53 ******* *******
54 ***** *****
55 *** ***
56 * *
57 ***********
58 *********
59 *******
60 *****
61 ***
62 * ";
63 Assert.That(Triforce.MakeTriforce(3, false), Is.EqualTo(tripleTriforce));
64 }
65
66 [Test]
67 public void ProducesReverse()
68 {
69 var reverseTriforce = @"*********** *********** ***********
70 ********* ********* *********
71 ******* ******* *******
72 ***** ***** *****
73 *** *** ***
74 * * *
75 *********** ***********
76 ********* *********
77 ******* *******
78 ***** *****
79 *** ***
80 * *
81 ***********
82 *********
83 *******
84 *****
85 ***
86 *
87 *
88 ***
89 *****
90 *******
91 *********
92 ***********
93 * *
94 *** ***
95 ***** *****
96 ******* *******
97 ********* *********
98 *********** ***********
99 * * *
100 *** *** ***
101 ***** ***** *****
102 ******* ******* *******
103 ********* ********* *********
104*********** *********** ***********";
105 Assert.That(Triforce.MakeTriforce(3, true), Is.EqualTo(reverseTriforce));
106 }
107 }
108}
]]>
. Other subjects and areas of interest notwithstanding of course...
It would be easier to use 
Both 
