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replaced http://meta.codegolf.stackexchange.com/ with https://codegolf.meta.stackexchange.com/
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We should allow computational challenges of all sorts

tl;dr: This site is about puzzles based on programming, not puzzles whose solutions are programs. This challenge qualifies.

We currently accept a variety of challenges that are not based directly on code. For instance, we accept algorithm-only challenges. The accepted answer for why we should accept such challenges is that algorithms are part of the programming processalgorithms are part of the programming process. The exact same argument applies here.

Programming doesn't end when the code is written. Testing code is an essential part of the programming process, and finding inputs to a program that have interesting behavior is a key part of testing. In this challenge, we are asked to find an input to a program which has unusual behavior for that program. Sure, the submission isn't a piece of code, but that doesn't mean it's unrelated from programming entirely.

In addition, this is not a challenge that can realistically be solved without writing computer programs. It's possible that someone will come up with a good solution by hand, but the best solutions are going to be found by a computer program, with very high probability.

Moreover, imagine the the challenge was slightly modified from "Find a JPEG that Lepton can't compress" to "Write some code that outputs a JPEG that Lepton can't compress", where the scoring metric, in either case, was the compression ratio of the resultant JPEG. Would that change anything about the merits of the question? Of course not.

Let's not let an arbitrary rule like "Solutions must be code" hold us back from good challenges such as the one in question.

We should allow computational challenges of all sorts

tl;dr: This site is about puzzles based on programming, not puzzles whose solutions are programs. This challenge qualifies.

We currently accept a variety of challenges that are not based directly on code. For instance, we accept algorithm-only challenges. The accepted answer for why we should accept such challenges is that algorithms are part of the programming process. The exact same argument applies here.

Programming doesn't end when the code is written. Testing code is an essential part of the programming process, and finding inputs to a program that have interesting behavior is a key part of testing. In this challenge, we are asked to find an input to a program which has unusual behavior for that program. Sure, the submission isn't a piece of code, but that doesn't mean it's unrelated from programming entirely.

In addition, this is not a challenge that can realistically be solved without writing computer programs. It's possible that someone will come up with a good solution by hand, but the best solutions are going to be found by a computer program, with very high probability.

Moreover, imagine the the challenge was slightly modified from "Find a JPEG that Lepton can't compress" to "Write some code that outputs a JPEG that Lepton can't compress", where the scoring metric, in either case, was the compression ratio of the resultant JPEG. Would that change anything about the merits of the question? Of course not.

Let's not let an arbitrary rule like "Solutions must be code" hold us back from good challenges such as the one in question.

We should allow computational challenges of all sorts

tl;dr: This site is about puzzles based on programming, not puzzles whose solutions are programs. This challenge qualifies.

We currently accept a variety of challenges that are not based directly on code. For instance, we accept algorithm-only challenges. The accepted answer for why we should accept such challenges is that algorithms are part of the programming process. The exact same argument applies here.

Programming doesn't end when the code is written. Testing code is an essential part of the programming process, and finding inputs to a program that have interesting behavior is a key part of testing. In this challenge, we are asked to find an input to a program which has unusual behavior for that program. Sure, the submission isn't a piece of code, but that doesn't mean it's unrelated from programming entirely.

In addition, this is not a challenge that can realistically be solved without writing computer programs. It's possible that someone will come up with a good solution by hand, but the best solutions are going to be found by a computer program, with very high probability.

Moreover, imagine the the challenge was slightly modified from "Find a JPEG that Lepton can't compress" to "Write some code that outputs a JPEG that Lepton can't compress", where the scoring metric, in either case, was the compression ratio of the resultant JPEG. Would that change anything about the merits of the question? Of course not.

Let's not let an arbitrary rule like "Solutions must be code" hold us back from good challenges such as the one in question.

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We should allow computational challenges of all sorts

tl;dr: This site is about puzzles based on programming, not puzzles whose solutions are programs. This challenge qualifies.

We currently accept a variety of challenges that are not based directly on code. For instance, we accept algorithm-only challenges. The accepted answer for why we should accept such challenges is that algorithms are part of the programming process. The exact same argument applies here.

Programming doesn't end when the code is written. Testing code is an essential part of the programming process, and finding inputs to a program that have interesting behavior is a key part of testing. In this challenge, we are asked to find an input to a program which has unusual behavior for that program. Sure, the submission isn't a piece of code, but that doesn't mean it's unrelated from programming entirely.

In addition, this is not a challenge that can realistically be solved without writing computer programs. It's possible that someone will come up with a good solution by hand, but the best solutions are going to be found by a computer program, with very high probability.

Moreover, imagine the the challenge was slightly modified from "Find a JPEG that Lepton can't compress" to "Write some code that outputs a JPEG that Lepton can't compress", where the scoring metric, in either case, was the compression ratio of the resultant JPEG. Would that change anything about the merits of the question? Of course not.

Let's not let an arbitrary rule like "Solutions must be code" hold us back from good challenges such as the one in question.