Can I look at code that has been submitted?
Posted by pbx 1872 days ago:
Mr Zing, for an official response you'll have to wait for carldr, but right now there's no mechanism for peeking at code. If you look elsewhere in the forums you can read up on various ideas that have been proposed for closing contests after a period of time so that the entries can be viewed.
For code compression ideas, sometimes discussion in #codegolf yields good hints, and looking around at the results of similar contests is helpful too. Keep in mind that some winning challenges have taken advantage of zlib compression, which is in the process of being outlawed...
For code compression ideas, sometimes discussion in #codegolf yields good hints, and looking around at the results of similar contests is helpful too. Keep in mind that some winning challenges have taken advantage of zlib compression, which is in the process of being outlawed...
Posted by carldr 1868 days ago:
Just to let you know that the zlib entries have now been removed, so the leaderboards should reflect 'legal' entries only.
(And the closing of challenges/post-mortem analysis is coming soon, promise!)
(And the closing of challenges/post-mortem analysis is coming soon, promise!)
Posted by krunkosaurus 1260 days ago:
This is pretty ridiculous that we can't view people's code. I mainly came here as a spectator to learn the ways of efficient code writing in the new languages I'm learning. Is this site strictly for professionals who can learn no more? I thought the whole purpose of these games it to exchange knowledge from each other, learning techniques, and that's thrown right out the window by locking answers.
Additionally, you're missing out on possibly more efficient answers. By learning from each other or combining methods found in multiple answers you can reduce answers down even more leading to THE ULTIMATE ANSWER. If we can only see character lengths of answers without disputing or the chance to improve on them than this site is nothing but vanity.
Additionally, you could do something along the lines of marking winners every two weeks for a problem. That way you can see the initial winners and then 6-8 weeks down the road you can see the ULTIMATE ANSWERS. After a few weeks there would probably be no more answers as the true ultimate one was already found (and to keep it fair, every two weeks, the winners get less points.)
Please consider these changes as this version of code golf is like watching a real golf tournament with blindfolds.
Thanks,
Mauvis
Additionally, you're missing out on possibly more efficient answers. By learning from each other or combining methods found in multiple answers you can reduce answers down even more leading to THE ULTIMATE ANSWER. If we can only see character lengths of answers without disputing or the chance to improve on them than this site is nothing but vanity.
Additionally, you could do something along the lines of marking winners every two weeks for a problem. That way you can see the initial winners and then 6-8 weeks down the road you can see the ULTIMATE ANSWERS. After a few weeks there would probably be no more answers as the true ultimate one was already found (and to keep it fair, every two weeks, the winners get less points.)
Please consider these changes as this version of code golf is like watching a real golf tournament with blindfolds.
Thanks,
Mauvis
Posted by eyepopslikeamosquito 1259 days ago:
I also thought the "ultimate answer" would be found in six weeks or so.
To my surprise, that hasn't proved to be the case. In most of the games I've been
watching, the lowest scores have steadily improved, even after more than a year of play.
Originally, I wanted to see the solutions published after a month or two of play.
After playing in some of the games for a year or more, I've changed my mind.
I'd now prefer to see each game closed and all solutions published after a
period of around one to three years. That may seem too long, but codegolf is
a weird and surprising game, with many twists and turns, and it takes time
for a game to unfold.
My favourite example of this is the "Joy of Ascii Art" game, where 22 complacent
golfers posted a low score of 51 strokes, which stood for about a year, until
along came Aidy and gave them a reality check by posting a 50. And that is a
very simple game. In more complex games, it is much more likely that the
leading solution can be further whittled.
Another example of a surprising twist is when finding the shortest
program perversely transmogrifies into finding the fastest program.
See, for example, http://markmail.org/message/d2ru54xrmejwee5n,
where Ton Hospel, the finest golfer I've ever seen, wrote "the fastest
known existing implementation of full forward crypt" in order to win
this golf game! Sometimes these search programs take months or
years to unearth the shortest solutions.
Not everyone is that competitive, but many golfers enjoy serious
competition, and this site seems to be designed for serious golfers.
If you want a friendlier, less competitive round of golf, where you can view
all the solutions, and give each other hints during play, visit http://golf.shinh.org/.
To my surprise, that hasn't proved to be the case. In most of the games I've been
watching, the lowest scores have steadily improved, even after more than a year of play.
Originally, I wanted to see the solutions published after a month or two of play.
After playing in some of the games for a year or more, I've changed my mind.
I'd now prefer to see each game closed and all solutions published after a
period of around one to three years. That may seem too long, but codegolf is
a weird and surprising game, with many twists and turns, and it takes time
for a game to unfold.
My favourite example of this is the "Joy of Ascii Art" game, where 22 complacent
golfers posted a low score of 51 strokes, which stood for about a year, until
along came Aidy and gave them a reality check by posting a 50. And that is a
very simple game. In more complex games, it is much more likely that the
leading solution can be further whittled.
Another example of a surprising twist is when finding the shortest
program perversely transmogrifies into finding the fastest program.
See, for example, http://markmail.org/message/d2ru54xrmejwee5n,
where Ton Hospel, the finest golfer I've ever seen, wrote "the fastest
known existing implementation of full forward crypt" in order to win
this golf game! Sometimes these search programs take months or
years to unearth the shortest solutions.
Not everyone is that competitive, but many golfers enjoy serious
competition, and this site seems to be designed for serious golfers.
If you want a friendlier, less competitive round of golf, where you can view
all the solutions, and give each other hints during play, visit http://golf.shinh.org/.
Posted by TangQiaoBoy 1254 days ago:
The forum is so cold. Not much useful information to help people who wants to grow up.
I strongly sugguest admin to open source or support hint or related technical article , otherwise no progress can be made.
I strongly sugguest admin to open source or support hint or related technical article , otherwise no progress can be made.
Posted by eyepopslikeamosquito 1254 days ago:
To learn the art of Perl golf, download and study mtve's Great Thome of Golfic Knowledge at http://terje2.frox25.no-ip.org/~golf-info/Book.html.
For the other languages there seems to be less prior art. The best I can suggest is to study all the solutions at http://golf.shinh.org/ -- there are now over 100 prior golf contests to learn from.
For the other languages there seems to be less prior art. The best I can suggest is to study all the solutions at http://golf.shinh.org/ -- there are now over 100 prior golf contests to learn from.
Posted by wendelscardua 902 days ago:
I don't like the "closing challenges" thing because there are few challenges as of now (and look the distance between them).
Maybe only the "not that short" submissions could be shown (like, hide only the top N to keep competitive). I'd use N=3, 5 or 10.
Maybe only the "not that short" submissions could be shown (like, hide only the top N to keep competitive). I'd use N=3, 5 or 10.
Posted by packeteer 876 days ago:
as a beginner, I would also like the be able to see how things are done.
Posted by sambo82 839 days ago:
I don't like the "closing challenges" thing because there are few challenges as of now (and look the distance between them).
Maybe only the "not that short" submissions could be shown (like, hide only the top N to keep competitive). I'd use N=3, 5 or 10.
This sounds like it would please the most people, N could even be much larger. I don't see why we should release the code if games have been going on for years. Why end them ever? Some people enjoy the secrecy aspect of the game.
I take it I won't be able to update my own submission in a particular challenge after I've looked at others, but I really can't cut down my (as far as my knowledge takes me) 'X bottles of beer on a wall' script; I'm stuck at 306 bytes and dying to know how it was done in 170 or so.