29
4
You need to make three things:
- Statement of a task, T.
- Solution of the task in language not typically used for golfing, A.
- Solution of the task in language typically used for golfing, B. Don't try to just bloat up B to pump up the score, instead think as if B was written by your competitor.
Use common sense in defining typically used for golfing
, try to maximize fun for other users.
Other users may propose better B
s (maybe including in other "golfy" languages).
Scoring is (length_in_bytes(B)+5)/(length_in_bytes(A)+5)
, more is better. (Maybe the scoring formula should be changed?..)
The main idea is to invent a task where languages that typically perform well in codegolf meet a problem. It can be sudden strength of a usual language in the given task or sudden weakness of some golflang.
Avoid tasks that mention specific programming languages, like Input a string and execute it as a Scheme code
.
1I suppose that you make this a popularity-contest instead of a code-golf. Otherwise people will complain that it is not a "shortest-code-wins". – Victor Stafusa – 2014-01-17T19:36:49.457
OK, changing to popularity-contest. You can also suggest better title or better scoring. – Vi. – 2014-01-17T19:38:21.793
I assume my previous question qualifies? https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/18633/print-a-sinusoidal-wave-vertically The perl solution is 48 chars while the J solution is 54 chars
– user12205 – 2014-01-17T19:40:47.223Numerator is supposed to be minimum of length_in_bytes for all suitable B's. – Vi. – 2014-01-17T19:41:16.287
@ace, Yes, linking to existing specific problems with specific solutions is OK; can be posted as answer (copied summary of the statement + links to A and B) – Vi. – 2014-01-17T19:42:33.997
1Do we get to specify lang B (as long as it is good at golfing)? Or can anyone say "here is a program in language <insert language name> and it has a very short solution of length <n>:"? – Justin – 2014-01-17T19:49:12.783
@Quincunx, As it currently has "popularity-contest", bending "use common sense to decide what is golf language and what is not" rule is just expected not to be upvoted. – Vi. – 2014-01-17T19:53:51.447
@Vi. Wasn't trying to bend that rule; just wondered if anyone can say "here is a shorter version in MY language" and wreck the score. – Justin – 2014-01-17T19:57:25.943
@Quincunx, If the task is based on "A suprising strength of some A" then yes; if on "A suprising weakness of some language for B" then no. The alternative solution can be posted in comments in any case, so others can calculate alternative score. – Vi. – 2014-01-17T20:00:18.847
1BTW some languages like Perl can be both on A side and on B side, depending on context. – Vi. – 2014-01-17T20:02:44.997
What if it's extremely difficult to do on B? I have
– user80551 – 2014-01-26T18:22:36.503perform OCR
in mind which mathematica can do as shown here http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/17094/8766 but would be very difficult in languages not specifically built for it@user80551, Then provide a proof that B 1. there exists implementation of the task in B; 2. each implementation of the task in B must take not less than N characters. – Vi. – 2014-01-26T18:25:38.757
@Vi. See the edit – user80551 – 2014-01-26T18:26:40.193
@user80551, OCR? There can't be short and golfable OCR algorithms? Actually you may write something like
I believe it can't be done in less than 5000 bytes on languages B1, B2 or B3
. If other savvy user disagrees, he/she may provide a counterexample (shorter working solution in B). This is less funny although... – Vi. – 2014-01-26T18:29:15.537Why was this closed as off-topic? It seems to have an objective winning criterion to me? – pppery – 2019-04-14T16:19:24.120