I counted the number of wins in the code-golf contests. Only questions with more than 2 answers and that have a selected answer (marked green) were counted. Here is the result:
Do you find this unfair?
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7
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4\$\begingroup\$ There is this relevant but deleted answer. (It got deleted due to downvotes and disagreeing comments.) In any case, let's assume you're right and this is unfair. What do you propose to do about it? A rant without an attempt to change things for the better is hardly constructive. (Despite pretty diagrams ;).) \$\endgroup\$– Martin EnderCommented Jun 16, 2014 at 20:48
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2\$\begingroup\$ Are the numbers on your chart scaled, or did you only sample 43 questions? A search shows 850 accepted code-golfs with at least two answers. Just curious, I agree with m.buettner's comment. \$\endgroup\$– GeobitsCommented Jun 16, 2014 at 20:57
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4\$\begingroup\$ If "winning" is what you're after, learn Golfscript or create your own short language. Otherwise, enjoy learning creative ways to abuse your language of choice. \$\endgroup\$– Kyle KanosCommented Jun 16, 2014 at 21:00
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2\$\begingroup\$ Also, you may find the answers here relevant reading. This is not a new complaint. \$\endgroup\$– GeobitsCommented Jun 16, 2014 at 21:02
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1\$\begingroup\$ It just looks like a race between bicycle, car and spaceship... \$\endgroup\$– Tr00rleCommented Jun 16, 2014 at 21:09
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1\$\begingroup\$ Functional programmers are biased towards functional languages; only 5% use C! And imperative programmers are biased towards imperative languages; only 5% use Haskell! And one more interesting fact: driver programmers are biased towards the lowest-level languages; only 1% use Python! Do you find this unfair? \$\endgroup\$– JwostyCommented Jun 17, 2014 at 3:36
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1\$\begingroup\$ I don't think you've counted every question: I personally have no less than 13 accepted answers in Perl for questions which meet the stated criteria (and 3 in PHP, for that matter). I don't think it really matters all that much, though. The shortest answer will be marked as accepted, true, but quite often particularly clever solutions will be voted much, much higher. \$\endgroup\$– primoCommented Jun 17, 2014 at 5:43
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2 Answers
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Welcome to PPCG! What you're saying isn't new, it's been talked about before. The biggest takeaway I can give you is "So What?"
Looking at your answers so far, it seems you're a C# kind of guy. I use Java a lot, even for golfing, so I know how you feel. Does it suck that there are languages that aren't as verbose? Sure! Does it really matter? Personally, I don't think so.
If you really want the green checkmark, you're going to need to learn a more concise language, it's really as simple as that. I've long since stopped caring about it. If/when I submit a golfed answer, I pit it against similar languages. I feel good if mine's the shortest Java answer, and I feel great if it beats Python. Normally that's enough to attract upvotes in itself.
I have no illusions that I'll take the crown, but I just don't care. Golfing something down in Java is a good challenge to me, and a good way to learn non-obvious features of the language. That's why I like it, not for some silly checkmark.
Remember, an accept is only worth 1.5 upvotes. If you do something creative with your language of choice, most likely you'll earn upvotes and the 15 rep ceases to be an issue.
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3\$\begingroup\$ Adding to this.. go try golfscript on some smaller questions. It is both challenging and fun to learn \$\endgroup\$– wronguCommented Jun 18, 2014 at 14:18
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Thank you for making this pie chart.
Some languages are better than code golf than others, so it helps to know which languages win the most code golf contests. If one identifies those languages, one can learn those languages (and become better at code golf), or one can make contests that frustrate those languages.
I often see GolfScript and J, and suspect that those two languages are the best.
This site does not provide a language ranking, but golf.shinh.org does. There, the current language ranking (at 18 June 2014) is:
- GolfScript
- J
- Perl
- Ruby
- Python
I notice that Ruby is 4th and Goruby is 12th, though Goruby is just a golfed variant of Ruby. It seems obvious that Goruby should rank higher than Ruby, if more golfers would try Goruby.
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3\$\begingroup\$ The linked table is rated by total earned score, which is more an indication of a language's popularity than its terseness. Sorted by average score, the ranking is quite different: 1. FlogScript (a PHP-based GolfScript variant), 2. GolfScript, 3. Burlesque, 4. J, 5. Goruby, 6. K, 7. z80, 8. Perl, 9. Vim, 10. dc. \$\endgroup\$– primoCommented Jun 19, 2014 at 6:12