« first day (1151 days earlier)      last day (3690 days later) » 

5:00 PM
Huh?
 
I clicked the wrong message
 
Oh.
 
@xfix Read that other thing I just said :P
 
Anyway, the UNIX shell I use helpfully reports No matches for wildcard '*\$'..
 
I wouldn't want to try it.
 
5:03 PM
I actually don't use POSIX compatible shell.
I hate bash syntax.
Bash would try to remove file called *$, which is silly, but whatever.
 
@xfix What do you use, PowerShell? ;-)
 
fish
 
Maybe Bash is safer.
 
I actually think that fish is safer. Syntax highlighting really helps me protect from many mistakes.
 
@vzn No ageism in this community, please.
Just like I get on people's case about discrimination against golfing languages and what not, I also get on people's cases about other kinds of discrimination.
 
5:06 PM
@ChrisJester-Young Good.
I don't know Bash, I just have made mistakes before losing files.
 
I like golfing in Perl 6. I know that my programs could be shorter in GolfScript, but I just like golfing in Perl 6.
 
Some programs are not shorter in GolfScript. ;-)
 
Well, yes.
 
GolfScript looks idiotic, but when it is broken down, the syntax is quite sensible.
 
I'm aware of GolfScript limitations, like lack of support for floating point numbers.
I just like golfing in programming languages I like.
 
5:08 PM
@hosch250 It is much, much more readable than FlogScript.
 
However, I don't ignore other languages, no matter what this language is. If I don't see obvious places to improve a program, I upvote it.
 
The choice of operators in GolfScript actually make sense and are easy to memorise. The same cannot be said about FlogScript even though some classes of problems are shorter in it.
 
What is FlogScript?
Sounds awful.
 
It's esoteric language for golfing.
"Flog" is "golF" reversed.
 
Well, I figured that much out.
 
Oh, OK.
 
And if I see obvious places to improve a program, I make a comment, and upvote when the program is updated.
 
@Rusher Why do they need to persist data to a file? Can't you write a control program which keeps each program's data in memory and pipes it through the program at each step?
 
@Ilya_Gazman This question is off-topic for CGSE and if you post it here, I will delete it. :-)
 
[tag:cv-pls] http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/24862/ration-your-integers-and-feed-the-people#24862
This is way to trivial
 
5:13 PM
@Rusher Assuming that you mean my 'Standard "loopholes"' meta thread, the purpose was two-fold: firstly to allow people who already know how to define a challenge to save lots of boilerplate, and secondly to avoid the situation where every question by a newbie needs to be edited within 20 seconds to avoid "funny" answers which have long since passed their best-before date.
 
Standard loopholes that are no longer funny, 2015 edition: Program that decompresses itself.
 
@TimWolla Done.
I am not afraid to wield the "objective winning criteria required" close reason. ;-)
 
That name of the first closer.
 
But seriously, I'm surprised that people don't try compressing their programs.
Aside of , but most tasks here disallow this.
 
@xfix Decompression routines are too big to be worthy
 
5:16 PM
@xfix People actually used to compress all their entries on this site. But it's stupid, if you ask me.
@TimWolla That too.
 
@TimWolla: Some language have built-in decompression routines.
For example, PHP has function that decodes GZIP.
 
@vzn non-zen answer: humans can parse lower case, but they read fastest when text obeys the conventions which they are trained to recognise. It's therefore good etiquette to follow those conventions, because the tiny amount of effort by one writer saves lots of readers a similar extra effort.
4
 
@xfix But you have to store the binary data and use eval.
It's not that I don't know PHP.
 
@PeterTaylor 100% agree (and with Doorknob's comment too, of course).
 
You summoned him!
 
5:19 PM
@TimWolla Who?
 
@ChrisJester-Young Peter summoned vzn.
 
@TimWolla Not true. I wrote them a message a few minutes ago.
 
Well, the program below is harder to read.
#INCLUDE <STDIO.H>
INT MAIN(INT ARGC, CHAR **ARGV) {
    INT I;
    PRINTF("YOU HAVE %D ARGUMENTS!\N", ARGC);
    FOR (I = 1; I <= ARGC; I++) {
        PRINTF("  ARGUMENT %D: %S\N", I, ARGV[I]);
    }
    PRINTF("HELLO, WORLD!");
    RETURN 0;
}
And it feels COBOL-ish.
 
It's also syntactically incorrect.
 
@TheDoctor @Doorknob we should get an IRC channel
@xfix Reminds me of my joke language called LUA
 
5:21 PM
@mniip A secret party? :-O
 
@ChrisJester-Young I know, but I don't care in this example.
@mniip: But... we already have a room on Stack Exchange?
 
@xfix Yeah, but IRC is cooler!
 
I both disagree and agree.
 
@mniip The biggest problem with many IRC channels is that they're very quiet. And unless you have the right crowd, that doesn't change.
 
5:23 PM
Say I, one of the ops for #stackoverflow.
 
@TimWolfa: <kbd>Because surely text looks nicer with this tag.</kbd>
 
vzn
Peter appreciate your edit on my q and have no objections. my opinion re lower case: think it is informal & allows users to dash off questions faster. considering how fast/easily questions can be closed, think its some small benefit to questioner. want to encourage culture that focuses on underlying content & not minutia. suggest those that dislike style make it known once but otherwise not overreact & just skip/ignore it.
 
@ChrisJester-Young There's a relation between a channel size and its activity.
It decreases as the channel grows
 
@vzn I'm so glad you don't work with me. You'd hate my code review comments.
 
@vzn wat
 
5:24 PM
then as it grows more is slightly starts increasing again
 
I did not understand anything at all.
 
I actually have a small IRC channel with three people. But it's usually active.
 
vzn
chris are you who zapped me? lame se interface doesnt state who (maybe on purpose)
 
Channels with 200 people are usually quieter than those with 40
 
@vzn Shame. My message to you was regarding your comment about Doorknob's age, and how we do not encourage ageism or other forms of discrimination in this community.
 
vzn
5:26 PM
how would I hate your code review comments? you are presuming how another would feel... you have made no comments on my code so have no way to guess.
chris didnt see your msg... what msg?
 
@vzn My code review comments are very picky about doc comments too, and if you write your doc comments in lowercase, I will definitely comment on that.
 
vzn
am quite impressed with doorknobs age & have stated so in another chat room.
 
21 mins ago, by Chris Jester-Young
@vzn No ageism in this community, please.
 
vzn
just yesterday.
let me dig it up to prove it.
 
@xfix What's the room btw
 
5:27 PM
@mniip: PPCG Codeclub.

  PPCG Codeclub

Club where we do... stuff
 
vzn
←just wrote some comments in lowercase in ruby. have an issue with that?
that code is posted to the site.
 
Oh, search didn't bring it up
 
It's not this channel.
 
Yeah, I just noticed that mniip was asking about something else.
 
I was referring to the other channel, unrelated to programming.
 
5:28 PM
I know a number of "unrelated to programming" channels that are pretty high-traffic, yes. ;-)
 
vzn
to state that doorknob is 13 is just a statement of a fact on his profile, not ageism.
 
/me confused
 
I'm almost sure Doorknob lies, but who knows...
 
vzn
?!?
 
About his age.
 
vzn
5:31 PM
agree ageism should be avoided. but ageism cuts both ways doesnt it.
←enjoyed being 13 at the time, awhile back :|
 
1 hour ago, by vzn
13 yo hacker giving me lessons on grammar/punctuation?
 
vzn
lol
 
I wouldn't say he's lying, but looking at even oldest of his posts I can't tell he's teenage
 
vzn
am taking him at his word unless real evidence otherwise
chris do you know him to be really 13? others doubt it
but maybe that is just rumor
 
Even if he's lying, it's his right to :P This is internet.
 
vzn
5:34 PM
lol
 
I don't doubt it, and i know from experience
 
vzn
lying is ok on the internet?
& se?
 
@vzn How long ago have you played an MMORPG
 
vzn
have played video games yeah
 
Nah, you missed the point then, nevermind.
 
vzn
5:36 PM
←well/long aware of "games" played on internet incl wrt identity
ah here it is
in theory salon, 16 hours ago, by vzn
spking of real talent, doorknob lists his age as 13 & has ~12k on the site very impressive ...
 
I'm only 18... then again, I can see it as a possibility now.
I looked at his answers. They seem rather simple.
 
vzn
@TheDoc what do you mean "you know from experience"
 
136
A: What is the underscore actually doing in this Java code?

Doorknob_ is the class name. It's a very confusing one, but it works! With the class renamed: class Something {Something something;Something(){something=this;}} And cleaned up: class Something { Something something; Something() { something=this; } } And you can go crazy with th...

 
vzn
mniip, want to know your pt that was missed
 
_ is class name. Wow, 136 upvotes.
 
5:41 PM
@vzn nevermind
 
vzn
hey, actually was joking about his '_' java post. think its great he managed to get 136 upvotes for that funky artwork
japanese even... was hoping someone would translate
 
@vzn When playing almost any MMORPG, you usually receive tons of lovely comments regarding your mom and such.
 
vzn
mniip right.... and?
"trashtalk"...
 
It's their right to say so. And saying so doesn't make it real and thus true
 
vzn
ok, but a person listing their age as 13 on a se profile isnt really quite the same thing right?
 
5:42 PM
I just exaggerated an example of lying on the inernet
 
vzn
they have a right to trashtalk? hah maybe but defn not in this chat room
←just experienced that 1sthand
 
says @vzn
 
vzn
now afraid to use emphasis here :(
oops 136 sorry it was 71 upvotes for his answer
oops! geez again mistaken! 71 for the question. 136 for the answer. impressive there too. rare for answers to get more votes than questions.
+1 Q/A
& marked fave :)
 
It's actually +138 and -1.
 
vzn
ah. nice.
←likes independent thinkers/contrarians :)
 
5:50 PM
With reasonable score, it's possible to check number of upvotes and downvotes separately.
1,000 points, to be exact.
 
vzn
yep. it can be revealing. like that feature use it lots. it will prob take me a bunch of weeks min to earn that here
 
I haven't found a useful use for that yet
 
vzn
it measures deviations from consensus (thinking).
 
To be honest, it's not even really needed.
 
My vote is independent of question's/answer's score.
 
vzn
5:52 PM
all votes are correlated statistically. its a measure of groupthink....
 
There is Data Explorer which can be used to make SQL query to check this.
So you don't even need those points.
Unless you need precision (the data in Data Explorer is updated daily), it works.
 
vzn
data explorer is way cool stuff.
actually it might make a good code challenge huh?
any sql code challenges?
"thinking outside the box".... re meta questions talking/asking for that
 
I once did challenge involving Stack Exchange API.
 
vzn
like a web service interface?
 
4
Q: Get list of badges on this site that nobody received yet

xfixMake a code that gets list of badges that nobody received yet (for example, by using this website API for badges), and output the sorted list of such badges, with new line after each. Example output (may be smaller, depending on when you do this challenge): Archaeologist Caucus Constituent Copy...

 
vzn
5:57 PM
interesting. that could prob be done through data explorer too right?
 
Not sure if Data Explorer has information about badges.
 
vzn
it would seem plausible/likely....
 
It does.
 
vzn
actually the web interface is probably doing a query at heart eh?
 
This is filtered version of database. It doesn't contain stuff like passwords, for example.
 
vzn
6:00 PM
ok yeah.
but badges are public ofc.
 
I don't get Tenacious.
 
Randomly modifying old questions, because why not.
 
i wonder if C++ will let you do variable+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++‌​+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++?
 
TheDoctor: No.
 
@xfix - invalid edit
 
6:05 PM
@TheDoctor Sort of.
It allows ++++++v.
 
@TheDoctor (x) is an lvalue. (x++) is not
 
Just as long as there is an even number of +'s.
 
vzn
funky trivia there
 
int main() { int variable; ++++variable; }
This compiles O_o.
 
Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo
 
vzn
6:07 PM
←learn something new every day
 
(++x) is however an lvalue
 
It even returns 2.
Oh wait, only in gcc.
 
Objection!
 
I accidentally wrote undefined behavior.
 
undefined behavior
 
6:08 PM
It should be int variable = 0.
 
yep, also return
 
vzn
did you get warning?
 
No, I didn't use -Wall.
 
@xfix Weekly, not daily.
 
vzn
does it still compile with int variable = 0?
 
6:08 PM
Yes.
 
vzn
so legal? with no warnings?
 
It does in VS.
No problems.
 
vzn
that would make a good language trivia question somewhere
 
couts 2.
 
vzn
2?
 
6:09 PM
I used -Weverything in Clang, and -Wall -Wextra in gcc. No warnings.
 
@vzn I think the last thing we need is people dashing off questions faster. Good questions take time.
 
vzn: Yes, it's increased twice.
++ prefix increases by one.
 
vzn
gareth true but sometimes quickly dashed off questions get high votes.
its unpredictable (at times).
theres a viral element.
 
Personally, it is shorter and easier to write v+=2
 
<stdin>:1:32: error: expression is not assignable
int main() { int variable = 0; ++++variable; return variable; }
                               ^ ~~~~~~~~~~
For fun I also checked C. Obviously, it fails.
C is more strict than C++.
 
6:11 PM
In some things.
 
vzn
se does not really value questions much. eg (1) easily killed even by relatively low-rep nonmods "ganging up" and (2) only +5 and not +10 for votes. (that chged awhile back, ~2yr ago)
 
And it doesn't allow stupid stuff like return (void) 5 in function returning void.
 
vzn
so se culture says it values "high quality" questions but is oriented to kill even marginal/borderline questions quickly & without mercy.
 
@vzn They do, but they're still rubbish questions. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.
 
vzn
no gareth there are some decent, high voted questions that were dashed off quickly. that is a widespread se phenomenon. many by lowrep users who are new to sites.
 
6:13 PM
Wait, C allows return (void) 5... wat?
 
vzn
if you look thru highest voted questions, any site, it will be quite surprising how many are by very low-rep users.
 
@vzn We put poorly specified questions on hold as quickly as possible to prevent people from answering them until the spec has been sorted.
 
vzn
gareth it is no different here than anywhere elsewhere (se-wide) wrt closing.
 
WRT?
 
Anyway, I'm glad C doesn't allow nonsense like ++++a;.
 
vzn
6:14 PM
"with respect to"
bigger q, how many on hold questions go off hold? that is rather rare se-wide despite mgt encouraging it.
so the whole se closing thing got changed to "on hold" to make it "softer and gentler" but thats basically just cosmetic/superficial/mere semantics.
some cognitive dissonance there.
 
At the moment there are bunch of people who re-open closed questions as soon as they see them just because they can. That's why there's so much rubbish floating around.
 
vzn
really? if so that would be rather unique to this particular site culture.
doesnt it take 5 votes to reopen or something like that
 
to game the review stats?
 
if (cobol) then ADD 2 TO ADDITION-COUNTER
 
@PeterTaylor They may need to persist data in order to gain a better understanding of the map. I'm not going to write a control program that does it for them. I expect that by the time I'm done polishing the challenge, submissions will be required to provide two command line commands - one that I can use to ask for a move, and another that I can use to ask for an attack. The wrapper class will just execute those commands and hopefully get back a response.
 
vzn
6:19 PM
luser why? what game?
 
The more votes you cast, the larger your number of votes cast.
 
Isn't there a test to check if you pay attention?
 
vzn
total # of votes is not good for much except a few badges....
might as well vote on Q/A instead
 
precisely, are these "quick re-openers" gaming for badges?
 
vzn
close/open votes dont count as votes for badges right?
its probably more a symbolic act of defiance...
you guys have a unique culture here.
 
6:21 PM
@vzn I've just looked and you have to go to the 16th highest voted question to find the first with a half-decent spec. If I received a specification as poor as some of the highest voted ones here at work I'd be sorely tempted to tell my boss to stuff his job where the sun doesn't shine.
 
vzn
there are some who seem to want to undermine official guidelines/policy on purpose.
 
I game the system by attempting to maximize this: # of NiceQuestionBadge / # of QuestionsAsked
 
they count toward # of reviews, which counts toward things like Steward.
 
vzn
gareth "spec" is a professional coding concept. see every reason to relax formality in this group.
 
@vzn I'm going to warn you right now, you're slowly straying toward acting inappropriately.
 
vzn
6:23 PM
it cant be too vague of course... but rigorous spec is a industry "best practice"...
undo huh?
 
Just sayin'
 
vzn
about what?
 
@Rusher I really wish more people tried that.
 
Don't start using this site's culture to condemn other sites where questions are put on hold more often.
Just a warning.
 
vzn
think you might have misunderstood me undo
have hung out on many se's and there are certain patterns.
merely attempting to pt out some generalizations & how this site is different.
what "condemnation"?
questions are put on hold with rather high frequency all over se.
ofc those statistics are not reported, hard to find & possibly not even available in data explorer.
 
6:26 PM
@Rusher I've asked 13 questions, and got 3 Good, 9 Nice. I don't talk about the other 4. :-)
 
I thought we were complaining about questions getting reopened too quickly.
 
@vzn ... which you can complain about on Meta. Don't try to start a revolt in chat.
Anyway, I'm out. Cya folks.
 
The closing rate seems ok to me.
 
Dang I was about to ask him a question :(
 
vzn
see gareth youre experienced & why would your stay-open ratio be only 9/13?
 
6:27 PM
@Rusher Use the Tavern.
 
I thought Gareth was referring to how many badges he got, not how many were closed
 
@vzn They're all open, just 4 had less than 10 upvotes.
A few of them were asked in the olden days when votes were cast from pure gold and so were very rare.
 
vzn
killer
 
At least, that's what I tell myself. :-)
 
vzn
high stds there dude
 
6:28 PM
votes do seem to be more plentiful now than a year ago.
 
vzn
←far too harmless/powerless to be a revolutionary :|
 
I'm wondering how much effort it would be to do this with C+fontconfig :
30
Q: Sort characters by darkness

DoorknobYour program must take as input a line of characters, like this: @+.0 And output the characters sorted by how dark they are, like this: .+0@ Requirements: You must use a monospaced font for darkness detection. You must find out how many pixels each character takes up. You must actually dr...

 
vzn
anyway gareth dont you think youve written decent questions (or answers) where the votes did not correlate...
clearly high personal stds are not a guarantee of votes...
 
@vzn It helps, though
 
vzn
it appears many beta sites have a pattern of high votes earlier in their lifetimes & maybe cooling off later as they scale...
("a revolt in chat" what would that even look like, not even possible... probably has never happened on se in its entire history) :p
 
6:44 PM
Every time I look back at the chat, I read @vzn 's next to last statement and in my head it gets pronounced "personal ess-tee-dees"
Why does codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/24824/… have a close vote for not having an objective winning criterion? It is marked code-golf... that seems objective to me.
I'm not saying it is without problems. Only wondering why code-golf is not a satisfactory winning criterion.
I can't figure out how to edit my chat comments. I'd like to retract the last two statements because I learned how to read between now and then
 
7:02 PM
@Rusher Click the arrow to the left of your message.
Or alternatively hit the <kbd>UP</kbd> arrow.
SO has a bad influence on me. I am starting to develop a "Fastest gun in the West"-style in chat. :(
@ChrisJester-Young What do we have to do to get new close vote reasons? Start a topic on Meta?
 
I only have permalink and flag for moderator in the down arrow @timwolla
 
@Rusher Looks like only the very last message can be edited.
 
@TimWolla I think it is time sensitive actually. When I typed that, my last messages was not editable
 
@Rusher Might be possible as well. Comments can be edited for a certain time only as well.
 
If anyone knows Java and wants to write a language agnostic version of my challenge in the sandbox, you are more than welcome to take it. I'll give you the working Java controller and you can modify it to your hearts content and get all the rep for it. I just want to submit an answer for the challenge.
2
A: Proposed Question Sandbox - Mark XI

RusherSurvival Game The Board The Wild is a two dimensional array of cells. Cells are populated by Animals. Every day, each Animal in the Wild makes one move. If two or more Animals move to the same cell, they fight until one remains. The possible moves and attacks are as follows: Moves - { Move....

I retain all rep for the sandboxed version, though
Or it can be buried in the sand. I don't have time because Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls just came out XD
I'm starting a guild if anyone wants to join it
 
7:17 PM
@Rusher There is no rep on Meta
 
@TimWolla Oh, I had no idea!
 
 
2 hours later…
9:34 PM
Has there ever been a challenge to write a program that does one thing when run one way and the opposite when run in reverse?
 
9:51 PM
@TimWolla Sure, that works.
 
Then I'll go ahead and suggest a too trivial.
 
Sounds good.
 
Like the one I linked above that you closed as well.
 
@vzn "is informal" This is a formal kind of site. (Kind of. ;-)) "allows users to dash off questions faster" How in the world is that a good thing? "considering how fast/easily questions can be closed" Only if you dash off questions fast without thinking about them. Oh wait.... "minutia" Okay but it's quite annoying to me.
@xfix Why? Why would I do that? Could I prove that I am 13 somehow? :P /cc @mniip
@xfix That was just me getting lucky ;) You could look through my answers and see the ones that I think are much better than that one, but that would be difficult considering I have- checks -632 of them. :P
@vzn Just because they get votes doesn't mean they're good. Quite the contrary - if you dash off a quick question and it gets lots of votes, it's probably terrible quality. /cc @Gareth
@Undo Does your shiny SR diamond have any power here? :3
</transcript-crawling>
 
@Doorknob Yes. Show your passport!
 
9:53 PM
@TimWolla Great idea! :D
 
@Doorknob uh... depends. Where does the diamondiness need applied? :P
 
@Undo :P I was referring to your message to vzn (see the message I replied to)
 
@Doorknob Yes, any SE mod can do any moderation actions on any SE chat room.
 
yeah, all mods have chat mod powaz.
 
9:54 PM
@Undo Alas it doesn't carry across to chat.stackoverflow.com. ;-)
 
:(
 
^^^ that's what happens after crawling a day's worth of transcript :P
 
rofl
 
@Doorknob One thing I like about SE chat is that you can reply-to a message after the fact, so you can edit an existing message to be a reply to itself, or even a future message. ;-)
 
@Doorknob Like this! Oh, yes I do.
Do you like llamas?
 
9:56 PM
:-D
 
0
Q: Too trivial Close Vote

TimWollaCan we get a "Too trivial" close vote for questions that would force very similar answers? For example this one: Ration your integers and feed the people After the edit the question allowed only for one single sane implementation of the algorithm and the only thing that would differ is the choi...

 
thanks @DoorknobChatbot for pinging me about that
@TimWolla dang it, faster gun! :P
 
@Doorknob Why did he ping you? Generally Meta or because the question seems to be bad?
 
all meta posts ping
 
@Doorknob That is pretty similar to a functionality that all mods get for free. ;-)
 
9:59 PM
s/for free/whether they like it or not/
 
@ChrisJester-Young I know, in your inbox, right? But we mere mortals don't get that. So I improvised :P
wat, another one
 
@Doorknob It goes to a special inbox called "moderator inbox".
 

« first day (1151 days earlier)      last day (3690 days later) »