What are the winning criteria I can use for my challenge?

Question

I'm writing a challenge, and I'm not sure what possible winning criteria exist. I know about code-golf, but what else is there to use, and how do I score answers with those criteria?

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Answer 1

• answer-chaining: Each answer influences how newer answers work. Often ends when there are no new answers in a specific time and the last one wins. See What answer-chaining scoring criteria promote collaboration? for more.

• atomic-code-golf: Challenge with limited amounts of commands available, where the answer that uses the fewest wins.

• busy-beaver: The answer who gets the largest value of a certain computation model property wins, subject to the constraint that it must halt.

• code-bowling: Answer with the highest score (typically length) wins. Answers usually have to follow some form of constraint to prevent them from being infinitely larger.

• code-challenge: Challenge with a specific scoring system, that isn't covered by any other tag.

• code-golf: The shortest code, typically in each language, wins.

• code-shuffleboard: The aim is to get a score, usually length, closest to a specific value.

• cops-and-robbers: Challenge covering 2 sub-challenges, where one's target is to solve a problem, and the second's is to find a hole in the first.

• fastest-algorithm: The winner is the answer with the smallest asymptotic time complexity. Related to, but not the same as, fastest-code.

• fastest-code: The winner is determined by the runtime performance of the code, normally all timed on the same computer, such as the challenge author's. This often requires answers to be in freely available languages. Sometimes scored by the ratio of speed to a reference program (example). This allows the answerers to run the code themselves.

• fewest-operations: Challenge where answers are scored on the number of operations executed when running the program. The available operations are defined in the challenge. fewest-operations is to fastest-code what atomic-code-golf is to code-golf.

• king-of-the-hill: Challenge where submissions interact with and compete against each other in a form of a game, with the winner decided by the submission that does the best in the competition.

• metagolf: Metagolf challenges are scored on the length of the output of a metaprogram. Metaprograms produce a program that, when run, completes a specified challenge.

• popularity-contest: The answer with the highest net score (upvotes minus downvotes) is the winner. Popularity contests are generally discouraged, due to the subjective nature of voting.

• programming-puzzle (ex. When is a giraffe not a giraffe?): A program snippet is given and submissions have to edit it to make it solve a specified problem or meet a specified behaviour. Generally, the first correct answer is the winner.

• proof-golf: Answers aim to prove a provided statement in the fewest number of steps, using only the axioms included in the challenge.

• rosetta-stone: The submission that uses the most languages to complete a task (often in a polyglot) wins.

• self-scoring: A scoring criterion where the scoring mechanism and the task required are the same. This means that if you pass your program to itself as input it should give you its score.

• test-battery: Submissions run their program through a large number of test cases, and score based on the number of "successful" outputs for these test case. Typically, scores are percentages of correct outputs. Note that, by default, answers are not allowed to optimise their scores for the specific provided test cases.

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Tags for non-challenge questions:

• tips: Question asking for tips on a specific piece of code, to make it a better answer to a programming challenge, or general "Tips for golfing in <language>" questions.

• challenge-writing: Question about writing programming related challenges, not necessarily for CGCC.

• showcase: This question. Please do not create additional showcase questions.