m3ph1st0s's programming puzzle 1 (C++)
We can get rid of a=1 by moving it into another scope:

#include &lt;iostream&gt;
main() 
{
int a=0;if(0)
    const int a=1;
    const int b=2;
    const float c=0.5;
    std::cout &lt;&lt; a/b-a*c;
}


This is I think 13 characters. Or better yet get a new a that also results in 0:

#include &lt;iostream&gt;
int main() 
{
   const int a=1;
   const int b=2;
   const float c=0.5;
if(int a=2)
   std::cout &lt;&lt; a/b-a*c;
}


That's 11 characters