12
\$\begingroup\$

Is is acceptable to bunch together multiple answers in a CW post just because the challenge is trivial?

See e.g. https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/151280/43319.

\$\endgroup\$
15
  • \$\begingroup\$ @user202729 Yes. I've put in my vote. \$\endgroup\$
    – Adám
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ I feel like I should explain my decision of CWing that answer: At the time I posted it my answer literally was "maxBy length" (2 chars) (I had to change it later since OP changed the rules). I agree that trivial challenges have trivial answers and that's ok, but that felt like cheating. I do think that the other answers (except the Jelly one) are substantially different and would be better off in a separate answer. Maybe it was a mistake to create that CW answer, but probably that whole challenge is (that's another issue though). \$\endgroup\$
    – ბიმო
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:24
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @BruceForte I personally see no reason to ever CW trivial answers together. It just makes it harder to participate, gain rep, receive comments, and it breaks the leaderboard too. \$\endgroup\$
    – Adám
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ @BruceForte The K answer is certainly not trivial, and K is not a golfing language. \$\endgroup\$
    – Adám
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ 1. Leaderboard can be fixed. 2. It's the poster's opinion to include it into the CW answer. 3. If it's indeed trivial, it can't be improved, and no comment is necessary. \$\endgroup\$
    – DELETE_ME
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't consider this a duplicate. This particular answer doesn't seem to fit xnor's criterion for combined answers. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dennis
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Dennis: Certainly the answers ►L↔ (Husk) and LÐṀḢ (Jelly) do fit xnor's criterion. No? \$\endgroup\$
    – ბიმო
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ @BruceForte They do not. All answers on PPCG are composed of built-ins, but xnor talks about just-a-built-in answers. L, ÐṀ, and Ḣ are three built-ins, not one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dennis
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Dennis: Well I'm sorry I created that answer and (as I said before) I can't control what others put into that answer. As for my initial submission (for which I created the CW), it was just-a-built-in. \$\endgroup\$
    – ბიმო
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:47
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @BruceForte Isn't ► and L two different things? \$\endgroup\$
    – DELETE_ME
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ @user202729: ► is only a combinator and wouldn't be a valid program/function. \$\endgroup\$
    – ბიმო
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:50
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ But it's a built-in combinator. ...... \$\endgroup\$
    – DELETE_ME
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:50
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @BruceForte It's still two tokens and, therefore, two built-ins. The a in just a built-in means one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dennis
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Dennis: I understand now, sorry for initiating that answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – ბიმო
    Dec 20, 2017 at 14:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ So is the definition of trivial "a solution with a single operator"? \$\endgroup\$
    – mkst
    Dec 20, 2017 at 14:34

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
32
\$\begingroup\$

No, this is not acceptable

xnor's proposal to combine equivalent trivial answers talks about solutions that are just a built-in. None of the answers in the post you mention are just rather; they all consist of at least three tokens. Furthermore, although the differences may be subtle, they certainly aren't all equivalent.

Aside from the fact that a single answer is now hogging the challenge for an arbitrary number of languages (the Python answer isn't less trivial than the answer in the CW post), the answers aren't explained as well as they could be, there's a huge potential for editing conflicts as the post grows larger, votes cannot discriminate between good and bad solutions, and we've pinned a vertically large post to the top, furthermore decreasing the attention less trivial answers will get.

Personally, I can't see any upsides to making a huge CW posts for anything but one-step answers (the fact that there are two Jelly answers lumped in there shows that answers aren't as trivial as they're supposed to be). I propose to delete this answer and repost the solutions as separate answers, as they should have been posted in the first place.

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ I think it's clear from the discussions about "trivial solutions" in the last month that we need clear guidelines about what constitutes a trivial solution... \$\endgroup\$
    – Giuseppe
    Dec 20, 2017 at 13:57

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .