Code Golf: Ulam Spiral

Answer 1

Golfscript - 92 Characters

~.(:S+,:R{S\-:|;R{S-:$|>' *'1/[|$.|]2/@:d|~)$<!^=~:$;:y.*4*$-y-)2d*$y-*+:$,{)$\%!},,2==}%n}%

97 characters
~.(:S+,:R{S\-:|;R{S-:$|>' *'1/[|$.|]2/@:d|~)$<!^=~:$;:y.*4*$-y-)2d*$y-*+.1=3*+:$,2>{$\%!},!=}%n}%

99 characters
~.(:S+,{S-}%:R{~):|;R{:$|>' *'1/[|$.|]2/@:d|~)$<!^=~:$;:y.*4*$-y-)2d*$y-*+.1=3*+:$,2>{$\%!},!=}%n}%

100 characters
~:S.(+,{S(-}%:R{~):|;R{:$|>' *'1/[|$.|]2/@:d|~)$<!^=~:$;:y.*4*$-y-)2d*$y-*+.1=3*+:$,2>{$\%!},!=}%n}%

101 characters
~:S.(+,{S(-}%:R{~):v;R{:$v>:d;' *'1/[v$.v]2/v~)$<!d^=~:$;:y.*4*$-y-)2d*$y-*+.1=3*+:$,2>{$\%!},!=}%n}%

Answer 2

J solution: 197 173 165 161 bytes (so far)
this does not use the method mentioned in the comments to the OP

p=:j./<.-:$g=:1$~(,])n=:<:+:".1!:1]3
d=:j.r=:1
(m=:3 :'if.y<*:n do.if.0=t=:<:t do.d=:d*0j1[t=:<.r=:r+0.5 end.m>:y[g=:y(<+.p=:p+d)}g end.')t=:2
1!:2&2(1 p:g){' *'

Answer 3

First post! (oh wait, this isn't SlashDot?)

My entry for Team Clojure, 685 528 characters.

(defn ulam[n] (let [z (atom [1 0 0 {[0 0] " "}])
m [[0 1 1 0][2 -1 0 -1][2 0 -1 0][2 0 0 1][2 0 1 0]]
p (fn [x] (if (some #(zero? (rem x %)) (range 2 x)) " " "*"))]
(doseq [r (range 1 (inc n)) q (range (count m)) [a b dx dy] [(m q)]
s (range (+ (* a r) b))]
(let [i (inc (first @z)) x (+ dx (@z 1)) y (+ dy (@z 2))]
(reset! z [i x y (assoc (last @z) [x y] (p i))])))
(doseq [y (range (- n) (inc n))] (doseq [x (range (- n) (inc n))]
(print ((last @z) [x y]))) (println))))
(ulam (dec (.nextInt (java.util.Scanner. System/in))))---

Input:
5
Output:
    * *  
 *     * 
* *   *  
   * * * 
  *  ** *
 * *     
*   *    
 *   *   
*     *  

---

Input:
10
Output:
        *   * *   *
 *     *         * 
  *   * *          
         * *     * 
  * *   *       *  
         * *   *   
*   * *     * * *  
 * * * *   *       
        * * *      
   *   *  ** * * * 
    * * *          
     *   *         
*   * *   *   * *  
 *   *     *     * 
      *           *
 * *     *   *   * 
  *           *    
     *   * *       
    * *   *     *  

Answer 4

Ruby - 158 Characters

Same algorithm as this one, just the prime test is different

p=(v=(w=gets.to_i*2)-1)*w/2-1
a='
'*v*w
d=0
(v*v).times{|i|a[p]="1"*(i+1)!~/^1?$|^(11+?)\1+$/?42:32;d=(a[p+(z=[w,-1,-w,1])[d-1]]<32)?(d-1):d%4;p+=z[d]}
puts a

Answer 5

Python 284 266 256 243 242 240 char

I wanted to try recursion, I'm sure it may be heavily shortened:

r=range
def f(n):
 if n<2:return[[4]]
 s=2*n-1;z=s*s;c=[r(z-2*s+2,z-3*s+2,-1)];e=1
 for i in f(n-1):c+=[[c[0][0]+e]+i+[c[0][-1]-e]];e+=1
 c+=[r(z-s+1,z+1)];return c
for l in f(input()):print''.join(' *'[all(x%f for f in r(2,x))]for x in l)

edited under suggestion in comments

Answer 6

Python 2.x, 220C 213C 207C 204C 201C 198C 196C 188C

Special thanks to gnibbler for some hints in #stackoverflow on Freenode. Output includes a leading and trailing newline.

import math
v=input()*2
w=v-1
a=['\n']*w*v
p=w*v/2
for c in range(1,w*w):a[p]=' *'[(c>1)*all(c%d for d in range(2,c))];x=int(math.sqrt(c-1));p+=(-1)**x*((x*x<c<=x*x+x)*w+1)
print''.join(a)

(Python 3 compatibility would require extra chars; this uses input, the print statement and / for integer division.)