Is AutoCompletion Valid

Question

We shall first define AutoCompletion as being the addition of any code segments to the code before either compile or run time as the direct result a keystroke and independent of outside information.

Note that this is not the same as typing or using autoformatting (which has been designated as valid by the community).

To further explain this, consider the following Segment of VBA code which uses AutoCompletion:

Sub H(): Debug.Print "Hello World"

After pasting this code into the VBE (Visual Basic Enviornment) and upon upon pressing Enter, →, ↓ or ↑ (Iff the cursor is not on the first line of editor) this is AutoCompleted to

Sub H(): Debug.Print "Hello World"

End Sub

Of Note, this can and often is combined with autoformatting, for instance, the below shall also AutoFormat and AutoComplete to the above.

Sub H:Debug.?"Hello World

However, in this case, the addition of the terminal " is AutoFormatting whereas the addition of \n\nEnd Sub is AutoCompletion.

So, with this information is AutoCompletion Valid for CodeGolf?

Note that this question has been asked not so that this may be done, but because I have observed it several times in the past.

Answer 1

No, it is not valid.

Code completion is a feature of the IDE which modifies the code before running. The byte count should be the code after modification - the code that is actually run.

Not only does this make sense as it counts the bytes of the actual code being run, but it also prevents a loophole where a user could create an IDE that 'autocompletes' to the extreme, adding several utility functions and other additional code before running, to greatly reduce the byte count.

Answer 2

An IDE can be a perfectly valid language:

There are effectively two ways to do this:

1. The input/output is the file you are operating on, the language is the keystrokes it takes to convert it. We're already doing this.

2. The language is the keystrokes to create the file, and the input/output is done by the execution of the said file. The language in this case is the IDE + Language being executed.

However, in both of these cases we need to be able to measure the bytes of the user interaction.

This means that we should be able to:

1. Save to take your keystrokes to a file
2. Measure the file size (to score the program)
3. Replay the keystrokes on the IDE

Both Vim and Emacs keystrokes can be saved to a .vimrc or .emacs file, which can then be later replayed.

Other notes:

• When I say keystrokes above, other forms of user interaction is acceptable as well (but I suspect that keystrokes will be far more efficient in bytesize)
• Using a 3rd party library (such as Robots or AutoHotkey) to replay the keystrokes is perfectly acceptable. However, your language is now LibraryName + IDE + Language, and your language is measured by the size of the script used.

So, using VBA/VBE as a concrete example:

Can VBE execute keystrokes automatically from a file?

• Yes: Your byte size is the size of the keystroke file, and your language is VBE + VBA.
• No: Do you want to use a scripting program?
  • Yes: Say you use AutoHotkey. Your byte size is the size of the .ahk file, and your language is AutoHotkey + VBE + VBA
  • No: Too bad. This is not a valid programming language.

Answer 3

Yes, AutoCompletion is Valid

AutoCompletion is valid and shall incur a byte count deficit, in bytes, that is exactly equal to the number of key presses that were necessary to make the AutoCompletion occur.

This means that for the first example in the question statement above the byte count shall be 35 Bytes ( 34 Bytes of Code + 1 Byte for a trailing Enter key press)