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In several different questions some people answer with keystrokes. Will a official stance be taken on this? Some users say that it is not OK others disagree. What should be done about this?

Here is an example, for clarification.

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    \$\begingroup\$ 2 things: First, the mods don't form the consensus single-handedly. 2. "I different question some people answer with keystrokes." ??? what's that mean? \$\endgroup\$
    – Riker
    Feb 17, 2017 at 16:54

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What is a programming language?:

A purported programming language should be accepted as such if and only if it is capable of addition of natural numbers and primality testing of natural numbers.

If it can add and check for primality, then it's okay.

Can Windows add with keystrokes? Win+R and type "calc". Then type the expression. It can do all arithmetic like that.

Can Windows check for primes? Theoretically, yes. The windows calculator is capable of binary arithmetic, and it has both AND and NOT. An infinite string of them is turing complete, and we don't have any limits on how long a submission can be.

Therefore, Windows keystrokes is programming language, if only in the sense that's it's capable of utilizing a turing complete shell (the calculator).

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    \$\begingroup\$ I do not think that what you have provided is a proof of Turing completeness. I also don't know why you are bothering with the calculator when windows has a command prompt which is probably Turing complete. \$\endgroup\$
    – Wheat Wizard Mod
    Feb 17, 2017 at 17:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ @WheatWizard ... I am a dumbass. Oh well, it still counts IMO. \$\endgroup\$
    – Riker
    Feb 17, 2017 at 17:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm not convinced that it's possible to interpret my answer to that other meta question as saying that "Windows keystrokes" are a programming language, but I'm quite certain that it wasn't my intent to include any system which requires a human to form part of the interpreter, and without a human you cannot implement a primality tester with calc.exe because you won't know when to stop execution. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peter Taylor
    Feb 18, 2017 at 22:25
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No, unless a programming language is used.

There are several programming languages that can be used to encapsulate keyboard input. VBA is one, and Ducky Script is another. Solutions written in these languages can be compared objectively to solutions written in other languages, whilst retaining the skill of finding key combinations. In addition, Ducky Script programs can be deployed on an actual USB "keyboard".

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    \$\begingroup\$ Please don't post answers you don't agree with. (you've posted 2 inherently conflicting answers) Let the people who actually choose that side make an arguement for it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Riker
    Feb 17, 2017 at 17:08
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Yes, but no special treatment.

This means that (for example) if your solution displays a pop-up box saying "Are you sure that you want to delete this file?" and the challenge asks for deletion without output, your solution will be invalid. It also means that if three files, a folder and a symbolic link are required for your solution to run it's not valid for challenges where this won't be the case.

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