The Nineteenth Byte

8:03 PM

@EriktheOutgolfer I'm not preventing anyone from participating!

well, if the solution you have posted is hard to beat, then they're still allowed to post, but it would be largely pointless

Anonymous

@flawr It's typically discouraged to answer your own challenge so shortly after posting it

Erik the Outgolfer

and also you kind of gain an unfair advantage there, golfing your own solution before others even know such a challenge exists at all

flawr

@EriktheOutgolfer I didn't even consider writing an own answer before I posted it

Erik the Outgolfer

well, you may have not, but how do we know? also my first point would still apply in that case

Mr. Xcoder

8:06 PM

Anyways, it is not recommended to post it straight away

Because others won't even try to beat it

Poke

i don't think that should warrant downvotes

lulz

flawr

@EriktheOutgolfer you could ask?

Mr. Xcoder

Well we (me at least) didn't downvoted

wait for Erik to say "How do we know you're telling the truth?"

Poke

s/he has like the third highest bytecount too, so it's possibly not even optimal

gonna upvote on principal here

flawr

I mean really, many people post answers to their own challenge even if just for a reference

Erik the Outgolfer

8:09 PM

usually you wait a couple of days or more before posting it in this case

Mr. Xcoder

Yeah ^

flawr

@EriktheOutgolfer if you post it as a reference???

caird coinheringaahing

@Mr.Xcoder Well, I didn't downvote because a) it's not invalid and b) see a)

Erik the Outgolfer

@flawr if it's golfed, that would count as a spoiler...

Poke

i answered my own challenge here codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/93806/mutilating-the-query/…

flawr

8:11 PM

But I stil don't get it, what is wrong with answering your own challenge?

Mr. Xcoder

@Poke Yeah but you have waited a bit(still quite few, erhh)

flawr

If you allready got through the trouble of writing a challenge are you not allowed to also participate in the fun part?

Erik the Outgolfer

it's not invalid, that's why I didn't vote to delete

caird coinheringaahing

@flawr You could be taking the chance from someone who didn't know about the challenge to answer. If you prepare an answer beforehand, then answer quite quickly, then it's unfair to those who have to wait until the challenge is posted to create a submission

flawr

@cairdcoinheringaahing Well there were people who already answered before I posted mine.

Mr. Xcoder

8:12 PM

@flawr It is frowned upon because others might claim that you have an unfair advantage.

Poke

well it's unfair for people who type faster than i do to post an answer if we were writing the same thing

caird coinheringaahing

This may not apply in this case, but it could in other questions. It's akin to preparing an answer for a sandboxed challenge

flawr

Yeah, nothing prevents you from preparing answers for sandboxed challenges

Mr. Xcoder

Yeah, but it is a moral rule not to.

flawr

But really, there were people who already answered the challenge before I did

Mr. Xcoder

8:14 PM

There were 10 minutes, flawr

flawr

right!

Erik the Outgolfer

in MATLAB? there are a few others who use the language too, and they might have not seen the challenge yet

Poke

they might also beat flawr's answer

flawr

@EriktheOutgolfer and why should that prevent me from answering morally?

Poke

because internet points are a source of truth

the more you have, the better you are

caird coinheringaahing

8:15 PM

Although, if you delete it with -3 score, you get a shiny bronze badge :P Because that's what's important, learning to delete your answer. Top job SE, well done :/

Erik the Outgolfer

@flawr well, because you gain an, IMHO, unfair advantage in terms of speed

flawr

@EriktheOutgolfer you mean an advantage in getting rep?

Poke

so do people who type quickly

Mr. Xcoder

^^^

Poke

and people who think quickly

Erik the Outgolfer

8:16 PM

@flawr that's unrelated to what I'm talking about

trichoplax

So do people who type fewer characters, because they can post earlier

flawr

@EriktheOutgolfer but what is unfair then?

Mr. Xcoder

...

Erik the Outgolfer

@trichoplax that's why it's recommended to perceive challenges as per-language competitions

flawr

I really don't understand what you consider unfair

Mr. Xcoder

8:17 PM

@flawr Posting a well-golfed solution straight away and discouraging others from answering

Anonymous

@flawr The difference is, you get to think about an answer from the moment the challenge idea pops in your head, and that can influence how you write the challenge. We only get to see the challenge in the sandbox at the earliest. Challenge authors have a huge advantage when it comes to FGITW'ing their challenges.

Poke

but flawr waited until others already fgitw'ed the challenge

trichoplax

@flawr I thought designing the challenge was the fun part?

Mr. Xcoder

@Poke It doesn't matter! Flawr waited for no more than 10 minutes and not all users are online 24/7

Anonymous

It's less of a matter of fairness and more of a matter of being considerate

Erik the Outgolfer

8:18 PM

@flawr well, it's not only "fast-typing", it's 1) how often do they check for new challenges 2) their internet speed 3) the hostility that might be felt by others 4) the possibility of making your own answer before clicking the ask button

dzaima

@Poke nobody had answered it in MATLAB though

flawr

Well then even if you wait a year, how can you be sure if every user saw the challenge???

Poke

it sounds like we just need to be considerate of how delicate folks can be

you never know when you might trigger someone

flawr

Many users even write in the language they invented themselves!!

Anonymous

@flawr Now you're exaggerating. The usual advice is to wait a week.

Anonymous

8:20 PM

@Poke That's not at all what this is about. You're derailing the discussion.

Erik the Outgolfer

@flawr what Mego said ^^ also how long you wait depends on the general activity of the site IMO

Poke

this is a dumb discussion

Anonymous

@Poke Then you're not required to participate, but please don't try to derail it. That's rude.

dzaima

@flawr from the 4 challenges I've made, I've only answered one, and that was 2 months after posting.

flawr

@Mego In this case some people (I assume @EriktheOutgolfer ) started to downvote when my answer had 0 votes and was the last one in the list!

Poke

8:21 PM

i was not attempting to derail it. i was demonstrating that this is a silly unwritten rule

and not a reason to downvote an answer

Anonymous

@flawr I can't speak for the downvotes - without comments, there's no way to know why people downvoted it. Maybe the downvoters just didn't like your answer? Try giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Anonymous

The downvotes aren't necessarily related to the fact that the answer was written by the author

flawr

I'm pretty sure they are.

Mr. Xcoder

It doesn't constitute a reason to either downvote or upvote, but if the user who voted felt that way...

Anonymous

@flawr You're making an assumption with no real evidence to back it up

flawr

8:23 PM

that is why I'm saying that I assume it.

Poke

@Mego out of all the answers on that challenge, two of them have downvotes. 1 of them has comment about why and it's because of the use of builtins.

Mr. Xcoder

I am pretty sure that is the reason too, @Mego...

Anonymous

You can assume all you want, but keep in mind that there are other perfectly reasonable explanations

flawr

@Mego then lets ask

Poke

can you provide one

flawr

8:24 PM

@EriktheOutgolfer did you downvote my answer?

Anonymous

2 mins ago, by Mego

@flawr I can't speak for the downvotes - without comments, there's no way to know why people downvoted it. Maybe the downvoters just didn't like your answer? Try giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Poke

what would a reasonable explanation be

Anonymous

@flawr Calling out people and asking if they downvoted an answer is not productive in the slightest.

Poke

you don't need to speak for them

Anonymous

@Poke Are you serious? I just gave an explanation, and then linked back to it when you asked again.

Poke

8:25 PM

"didn't like it"

is not reasonable

there's a voting guide somewhere

and i bet that's not on it

Anonymous

It's just as reasonable as "this was written by the challenge author so I'm going to downvote it" :P

Poke

i agree

i also don't agree that is a reasonable explanation

flawr

But seriously: When did that start? As far back as I remember there were always people answering their own challenges and nobody seemed to mind!

Mr. Xcoder

Unrelated (ignore this if you want to focus on the ongoing discussion): This type of situation appears because SE is not an ideal place to host code golf :P

flawr

And if that is so discouraged do we have that on meta? It seems a majority really dosn't like it.

Anonymous

8:27 PM

Or maybe somebody sneezed, which triggered their cat to jump on their mouse and click the downvote button, and then walk on their keyboard, closing the tab, without the user ever noticing that the vote was made.

Poke

where the heck is the site tour anyway

@Mego 3 times?

Anonymous

@Poke Lots of cats

Poke

i once lived with a lady who owned 10 cats

that was an experience

Anonymous

The point is - getting a few downvotes is not a good reason to go on a witch hunt

flawr

Again, do we have that somewhere on Meta?

Mr. Xcoder

8:28 PM

18

A: Can I compete in my own challenge?

Yes, particpating in your own challenge is allowed, no matter of which challenge type. The Help Center says: It’s also OK to participate in your own puzzles. But if you participate in your own challenge, it is recommended to wait some time before posting an answer to give others a chance to...

But if you participate in your own challenge, it is recommended to wait some time before posting an answer to give others a chance to participate

Anonymous

12

A: Presolving Golf Questions

I don't particularly have a problem with giving tasks where the poster already has a solution. I have done so myself. However, I agree with others that if you had several days to golf your own solution then you should wait a while before posting it. At least for me golfing often involves first s...

Anonymous

> However, I agree with others that if you had several days to golf your own solution then you should wait a while before posting it.

New Sandboxed Posts

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

Decode Factor Trees code-golf number primes In case you missed Encode Factor Trees, here is the definition of a Factor Tree: The empty string is 1. Concatenation represents multiplication. A number n enclosed in parentheses (or any paired characters) represents the nth prime number...

flawr

Well then.

I still don't understand why you should let others take away the fun of your own challenges.

Mr. Xcoder

Other's shouldn't take away the fun... You can have joy by helping them golf their answers

flawr

8:31 PM

well they did right now...

Poke

is this customizable per SE codegolf.stackexchange.com/help/why-vote

i guess the help center in general

not just that one

Mr. Xcoder

@flawr If that's what you think, then, I believe that having this discussion is completely pointless now

Anonymous

@flawr You seem to be in the minority here. I don't see a problem with asking challenge authors to wait a bit before posting an answer, to give others a chance to participate. And based on the meta answers, that's a well-supported position.

flawr

@Mr.Xcoder you think downvotes are not discouraging?

Anonymous

@Poke Yes. We got this one customized, but it took ages.

Mr. Xcoder

8:35 PM

@flawr Downvotes are very annoying when you don't know their cause. Even when you know their cause (as in this situation), they can be rather annoying. That's why I chose not to downvote and still don't understand why others did. However, I think a comment explaining why they chose to vote that way is reasonable, since they just expressed their opinion about the situation. Anyway, don't be discouraged by a few downvotes (especially when you know you didn't do anything wrong)!

Anonymous

Some people are just going to be curmudgeonly. That's life. At least here isn't as bad as some subreddits, where posts and comments instantly get multiple downvotes by bots and trolls.

Mr. Xcoder

^

flawr

Well I usually write challenges that I find intersting and that I like solving, but this discussion shows that many people think you should only provide an answer when nobody is gonna read it anymore anyway, so I don't see the point of continuing writing challenges under this perspective.

trichoplax

That seems to be taking the suggestion to the extreme

Anonymous

@flawr That's not at all what we were saying. If you're going to twist our words, then there's no point in even having a discussion.

caird coinheringaahing

8:39 PM

@flawr Provide an answer, and please continue posting challenges, but wait 48 hours, so that others can attempt it before you. You can also add a reference implementation in the body of the challenge, so that your programming work isn't wasted

flawr

@Mego that is not what I'm trying to do, I mean that sincerely: If you wait so long then the chance of anyone reading your answer is really low.

Anonymous

Interpreting "wait a bit before posting an answer on your own challenge" as "you should only provide an answer when nobody is gonna read it anymore anyway" is overly dramatic and doesn't solve anything.

flawr

And then you can ask yourself why you'd want to write an answer anyway

Erik the Outgolfer

actually it's much higher than what you might think, answers are bumped to the front page for exactly that reason

caird coinheringaahing

@flawr That depends on the quality of the answer. The Necromancer badge is all about reading (and upvoting) new answers to old questions. If you post a genius answer that no-one got in the 48 hours, you'd get plenty of attention

Anonymous

8:42 PM

@flawr 2 days isn't that long. People still read and participate in 2-day-old challenges. A week can be pushing it, but if the challenge is interesting, people will keep coming back to it.

flawr

In my experience this is rarely the case

Mr. Xcoder

This is one of the best examples.

Poke

I posted this answer 4 hours after the previous java answer was posted. I'm beating it by 37 bytes and no one has seen it

caird coinheringaahing

CMP: How many Necromancer badges do you have?

Poke

imagine if i had waited 2 days

yikes

Anonymous

8:43 PM

@Poke Or maybe people saw it, but didn't care to vote one way or the other

caird coinheringaahing

@cairdcoinheringaahing 2 (but one is on a tips question)

Mr. Xcoder

@cairdcoinheringaahing 1

Anonymous

@cairdcoinheringaahing 2

Poke

@Mego the other java answer has 5 votes

flawr

@Mego common sense tells me otherwise

Erik the Outgolfer

8:44 PM

@cairdcoinheringaahing 2

Anonymous

My 2 necromancer badges are from the language showcase and Tetris :P

Poke

i have even modified that answer since

Mr. Xcoder

Yeah, Tetris :)

caird coinheringaahing

Mine are from the quine challenge and the Jelly tips page :P

Poke

but iirc it didn't bump it on the main page

Mr. Xcoder

8:45 PM

Impossible ^

Poke

hey man i never saw it

Mr. Xcoder

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anonymous

More fun: how many Necromancer badges do you have on Meta?

Erik the Outgolfer

@Mego mine are from the showcase (MiniStringF***) and this

Anonymous

(probably a lot more because of the Sandbox)

Mr. Xcoder

8:47 PM

Lol 42 7

Erik the Outgolfer

@Mego um I actually think that necromancer badges are only for when a question hasn't received an answer for a long time

Anonymous

I have 10/21 Meta necromancer badges that aren't from the Sandbox

Mr. Xcoder

@Mego 2

caird coinheringaahing

@Mego 1 (for the Sandbox :P)

Anonymous

@EriktheOutgolfer Nope. The requirement is that at least 60 days have passed since the question was posted, and the answer received a score of 5 or more.

caird coinheringaahing

8:48 PM

@EriktheOutgolfer Nope. A +5 answer that's answered 60 days after the question is posted

ಠ_ಠ Ninja'd

Erik the Outgolfer

@Mego duh, then the badge is kinda pointless

Anonymous

How many answers that have been posted and how recently they were posted are completely irrelevant to Necromancer

Erik the Outgolfer

an active question shouldn't be considered "necro" imo

caird coinheringaahing

@EriktheOutgolfer Most questions on SE aren't like PPCG questions :P

Anonymous

Most SE badges are pointless, especially in the context of PPCG

Mr. Xcoder

8:49 PM

inb4 one OEIS after another

caird coinheringaahing

You don't really get an answer 60 days after an IPS question is posted, for example

flawr

@Mego Maybe I'm overreacting, but it is just very frustrating. I did a lot of work that lead up to this challenge because I tried to create a better foundadtion for challenges that require functional input, because I wanted to *contribute* something to this site. I did have a lot of discussions over the past few months regarding this and this challenge was intended as a kickstarter for this. But when I get such a reaction on something that was just an example that should have explained the challenge a little bit better it is very discouraging.

Erik the Outgolfer

@Mego and the most buggy badge was Analytic (now retired, but in 2016 I tried to earn it, and I did read (well, visit, but whatever) all FAQ pages to no avail)

Anonymous

My 21 meta necromancer badges: Sandbox x11, Loopholes x4, I/O, closing old challenges as dupes of new ones, things to avoid, online testing environment (for TIO), and programming languages by PPCG users

Anonymous

@flawr I do understand your frustration, but your reaction to a comment and a few anonymous downvotes was completely blown out of proportion.

Anonymous

8:52 PM

@EriktheOutgolfer It's been retired since 2013

Erik the Outgolfer

@Mego then blame whoever was responsible for updating the badge text :p

huh

Anonymous

It's said retired since when I joined in 2015 - presumably it was changed in 2013 when the badge was retired

Erik the Outgolfer

@Mego it looks like it has been replaced with the Informed badge

codegolf.stackexchange.com/faq

you can see this redirects to the tour

caird coinheringaahing

@EriktheOutgolfer :O TIL that the example question in the tour is an actual challenge

trichoplax

Did anyone else beat 7 for level 4 of the Google Doodle rabbit game?

Anonymous

8:57 PM

@EriktheOutgolfer Yep, it was replaced when the tour was created

flawr

@Mego Well it seems people do think it is a bad thing to post answers early but it is something I was not aware of, and that I still cannot follow.

@trichoplax yes

What did you get?

6

Me too :)

Mine takes quite a while to get them all but it works eventually

Erik the Outgolfer

9:00 PM

O(2){O(8){F F R} L} is mine

trichoplax

Is that O for a loop?

Erik the Outgolfer

yes, it stands for Orange

trichoplax

Ah I see

Erik the Outgolfer

what was yours?

trichoplax

Then mine's O(4){O(44){F R} L F} (I think - I didn't write it down)

(I don't think the 44 is necessary, but it's sufficient)

caird coinheringaahing

9:05 PM

Q: Are there any users that are elected (not pro-tem) mods on more than one site?

Erik the Outgolfer

btw @trichoplax still trying to find out that 7-block solution

trichoplax

@cairdcoinheringaahing I know a few who are one of each but I can't think of an example who is elected on two sites off hand. I think there are some

caird coinheringaahing

@trichoplax I can't remember who, but I know someone who is mod of 3 or 4 sites

Erik the Outgolfer

@trichoplax @cairdcoinheringaahing well there's one you may already know about - Rory Alsop

trichoplax

@EriktheOutgolfer That's a good point. I haven't found a 7 yet either

caird coinheringaahing

9:08 PM

Wow. Monica Cellio is a mod on 3 graduated sites, and 2 beta sites.

Erik the Outgolfer

well, Rory Alsop is a mod on 2 graduated sites and 5 beta

caird coinheringaahing

@EriktheOutgolfer Are you sure? I don't find him anywhere in here

Never mind, found him

Erik the Outgolfer

oh, btw he's "Dr Mayhem" on 2 of those sites

caird coinheringaahing

> Moderator of the Security, Music, Parenting, Outdoors, Video Production, Sound Design and Personal Productivity Stack Exchange sites

That is too many :P

MetaEd

Geez. One's enough.

Erik the Outgolfer

9:13 PM

he seems to handle it way better than what you may think at first though, afaict

caird coinheringaahing

Ok, ChrisF wins

Mod of 4 sites, all of them graduated

trichoplax

I'm lucky, I just have one quiet beta - trouble is rare

Erik the Outgolfer

@trichoplax ...quiet? that's something you should shiver in fear for, there is a danger the site gets closed

caird coinheringaahing

@trichoplax Wow, the highest voted question on your site is at 39 upvotes. You must be bored out of your mind

trichoplax

@EriktheOutgolfer It doesn't have high activity, but it has steady activity, so I don't think there's any danger of it dying

Zacharý

9:17 PM

What is this site?

trichoplax

Computer Graphics

caird coinheringaahing

TFW The latest question on your site wasn't even asked this month

trichoplax

Ouch

Erik the Outgolfer

@cairdcoinheringaahing that's not his site...

caird coinheringaahing

@EriktheOutgolfer Yeah, I know. I'm looking at inactive sites

> 466 questions

That's got to hurt :/

Erik the Outgolfer

9:21 PM

but at least it has better stats :p

1.4 questions per day? ouch

flawr

regarding betas: do we have any news about the graduation?

caird coinheringaahing

> 205 questions, 232 answers

That's the worst site in terms of questions :/

Erik the Outgolfer

@flawr we're not a beta anymore ;)

caird coinheringaahing

@flawr We graduated a while ago, we just don't have a design

flawr

maybe this is the actual design

they just golfed it:)

dylnan

9:23 PM

It's the design with the fewest bytes

Erik the Outgolfer

keep your golfing in your code please :p

flawr

right, some of my friends even try to golf their text messages

caird coinheringaahing

From our site stats: 4.4 questions/day. That really isn't as good as it should be

Zacharý

They aren't questions here.

trichoplax

@flawr I'm replying for no apparent reason... :P

caird coinheringaahing

9:25 PM

@Zacharý The same principle applies. We should have a lot more challenges per day (yes I know this has been talked about on meta)

flawr

@trichoplax would it be correct if I had one friend? :D

Zacharý

@trichoplax You're editing for no apparent reason.

trichoplax

@Zacharý I'm editing because the context has been lost

@flawr I'm not sure how to interpret the "some of" in that case...

caird coinheringaahing

@trichoplax Chop his friend into pieces :P

flawr

please no!

trichoplax

9:28 PM

Please no golfing of friends!

Erik the Outgolfer

@flawr regarding real life, one close friend is way better than zero, just think how many friends you actually have, but let's keep our golfing in our code and not golf our friends in pieces ;p

Zacharý

FORE!

caird coinheringaahing

@Zacharý Huh?

flawr

another linguistic question: when using the singular they, do you say "They asks me if .... " or "They ask me if ..."?

caird coinheringaahing

Oh right, golf reference

trichoplax

9:29 PM

@cairdcoinheringaahing Reference to the wrong golf...

caird coinheringaahing

@flawr They ask me...

Leaky Nun

@flawr what's the difference?

Erik the Outgolfer

@flawr the latter

flawr

@LeakyNun the s

trichoplax

@flawr Personally I think I always speak it as plural even when using with singular they

Leaky Nun

9:30 PM

where? I must be blind

Zacharý

"golf our friends in pieces" is what I was saying "FORE!" fore.

Leaky Nun

oh, you edited

Erik the Outgolfer

just how you say "you are" instead of "you ares" or "you is"

flawr

@LeakyNun I had to edit it, it is asks vs ask

Erik the Outgolfer

@LeakyNun slow internet duh?

Leaky Nun

9:30 PM

maybe

flawr

@trichoplax Ok then my intuition was correct, but I just was unsure right now:)

trichoplax

I also use "ask" with singular "you"

Which looks correct, if you ask me

flawr

what If I asks you?

caird coinheringaahing

@flawr Definitely not correct

Erik the Outgolfer

looks like a failed attempt at some pun or something

Zacharý

9:34 PM

@flawr Then you can haz cheezburger.

trichoplax

@flawr Then I look at you askew

flawr

@Zacharý yay. actually I've never had one:)

@trichoplax haha :D

caird coinheringaahing

TIL that some SE sites don't have twitter bot accounts (mainly because they've never got on the HNQ, RIP)

dylnan

Does ppcg have a twitter bot?

caird coinheringaahing

@dylnan Yes

Zacharý

9:36 PM

PPCG is a group of people, so ... I got edit ninja'd

caird coinheringaahing

CodeGolf SE

@StackCodeGolf, The Stack Exchange network

A Q&A site for programming puzzle enthusiasts and code golfers

7.5k tweets, 240 followers, following 0 users

dylnan

@Zacharý nice try...

Zacharý

@trichoplax Dare I say a few do?

caird coinheringaahing

ಠ_ಠ There is Computational Science.SE and Computer Science.SE What's the difference?

> Computational Science Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for scientists using computers to solve scientific problems

Zacharý

One is using computers within science, the other is using computers as a science.

caird coinheringaahing

9:39 PM

Really, that merits a whole new site?

Zacharý

Now ... there's also theoretical computer science v. computer science SE, IIRC

Leaky Nun

is computer science originated from maths? is computer science still maths?

caird coinheringaahing

The quickest VTC ever (if I could) :P

dylnan

@cairdcoinheringaahing computational methods for simulations in the sciences are a pretty big topic

trichoplax

Computer Science doesn't involve using a computer. Computational Science relies heavily on computers

Zacharý

9:42 PM

@trichoplax Well, in theory it doesn't, but in practice, it's ... pretty much only computers (unless you take a time machine back to when you had to punch stuff in before hand, or take the AP Computer Science A exam)

trichoplax

OK. They're still very different. Computer Science is about computation, whereas Computational Science is about researching things other than computers or computation, just using computers

Leaky Nun

I mean, the halting problem was proved before any computer was ever built, right

including the incompleteness theorem

that's very amazing to me, the amount of foresight that the people had

turing / godel / hilbert

trichoplax

Good point.

Zacharý

Game of Life for the not so serious side, since computers were only just getting started when Conway created it.

trichoplax

Computational Science also predates computers...

(at least, the non-human kind)

dylnan

9:46 PM

@trichoplax what do you mean?

Zacharý

@trichoplax Technically, no, because there also ... I GOT NINJA'D ON THAT?!

trichoplax

@Zacharý Sorry for the ninja bait...

caird coinheringaahing

I actually hate the way that my school teaches us about Turing. Basically what we learn is: "Alan Turing invented the computer. He was persecuted for being gay. He may or may not have killed himself (it may have been murder)"

Erik the Outgolfer

@trichoplax computational science comes from computing, not computer I think

trichoplax

@dylnan Before the invention of electronic ones, the word "computer" meant a person who carries out computations

Pavel

9:47 PM

Me using Python:

true = True
false = False

Leaky Nun

@cairdcoinheringaahing well I'd imagine your course isn't about turing... what was your course?

dylnan

@Pavel Do

caird coinheringaahing

@Pavel Me using JS: HOW DOES THIS WORK?!?!?

dylnan

True = False

False = not True

caird coinheringaahing

@LeakyNun CS/PSHE

Leaky Nun

9:48 PM

why would you need to learn about turing in depth though

Zacharý

PSHE? WTF is that?

Leaky Nun

I mean, it's not anyone's fault that your school doesn't go deep into turing

caird coinheringaahing

@Zacharý Hold on, let me google it :P

New Sandboxed Posts

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

Minimum Number of Iterations of φ(n) to Reach 2 code-golf Euler's totient function φ(n) will always return a positive integer less than the n for all n > 1, so one can prove by induction that recursively passing a value through the function will always eventually reach two. The Task Given a...

caird coinheringaahing

@Zacharý There you go

trichoplax

9:49 PM

@EriktheOutgolfer Computing is what either type of computer does :)

Pavel

What I really do is much more evil, I do # define true True and run my code through the C preprocessor.

Zacharý

Our high school's CS program is crap ... the teacher is so incompetent.

Erik the Outgolfer

@trichoplax that's why it's called a computer ;)

Zacharý

@Pavel I've done that with D to allow it to have Macros, but that was just a pointless hack

caird coinheringaahing

@Pavel A better one to do is:

true = False
false = True

The perfect way to confuse people :P

Zacharý

9:51 PM

This is best python code: from __future__ import braces

trichoplax

@EriktheOutgolfer I meant that computational science was done with human computers too. For example:

books.google.co.uk/…

dylnan

@Zacharý is that a reference to something?

Zacharý

Try it.

And then there were mechanical computers as well.

dylnan

Abacus

Zacharý

@dylnan not a chance

dylnan

9:53 PM

@Zacharý I saw that but why "braces"?

Zacharý

The output is actually SyntaxError: not a chance

trichoplax

@Zacharý Fair point. Perhaps "predates" was the wrong word. Computational Science was done with human computers, but there were other, non-human computers around before that

caird coinheringaahing

@dylnan Its a reference to the lack of {} around statements in Python

Zacharý

Yep, I guess I did make a pretty fair ℝ²

New Sandboxed Posts

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

GPA Calculator You are a stressed out college student during finals week. Instead of studying for your exams coming up, you decide it is best to determine what GPA you will have at the end of the semester. This way you have data to back up your decision of staying up all night to get that A in C...

dylnan

10:06 PM

@cairdcoinheringaahing What is the future module?

Zacharý

Stuff from the future, literally.

caird coinheringaahing

@dylnan Its a module used in Python 2 so that code works in both Py2 and Py3. import __future__ is a no-op in Python 3, but allows print() and default float division in Python 2

Zacharý

I thought there were some features that you needed to import __future__ to use in Python 3

caird coinheringaahing

@Zacharý Only for the latest dev version (e.g. "generator_stop in 3.5.0b1 for version 3.7"

)

Zacharý

Still though ... :)

caird coinheringaahing

10:11 PM

Q: Should I make answers handle unicode rather than just ASCII in my string compression challenge?

Zacharý

No.

dzaima

@cairdcoinheringaahing do you have a reason to use unicode?

caird coinheringaahing

@dzaima Well, it'd allow non-english strings to be compressed

Or even words such as naïve

Zacharý

Okay, how about only the block that contains áéí and the like (in addition to ASCII)?

dzaima

@cairdcoinheringaahing hm, good point. But it would add unicode boilerplate on some languages and outright stop some from competing

caird coinheringaahing

10:15 PM

I mean, there's nothing wrong with just handling ASCII, just seeing people's opinions

dzaima

@cairdcoinheringaahing IMO it's pointless to require unicode support. But it's hard to say without the rest of the challenge

caird coinheringaahing

10:35 PM

@dzaima Well, when NSP wakes up, you'll see the rest of the challenge :P

New Sandboxed Posts

1

A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

Build Santa a present compressor This is most likely going to be posting on the 24th Decemeber simply because that time fits best with the "story" It's Christmas Eve and, while loading his sleigh full of gifts for the PPCG community, he realised that he didn't have enough space for all the long...

caird coinheringaahing

@NewSandboxedPosts Ah good. Hope it doesn't stay on +1 like 90% of my Sandboxed posts :/

DJMcMayhem

10:50 PM

Anyone want to play some contact?

New Sandboxed Posts

11:45 PM

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Challenges

Generalized FiveThirtyEight Sequences Background Adapted from this FiveThirtyEight riddle. Examine the following infinite sequence: 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 ... Let's say the sequence is 1-indexed. The ith number in the sequence determines how many 3s there are before the ith ...

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