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In code golfing questions it is tedious to copy-paste everyone's solution to see how long it is. Should having character counts for each submission be mandatory?

There are various examples of this all over the site, so I don't want to single anyone out.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I think one thing needs to be clarified - they should be mandatory iff code size is one of the criteria, we've got some anti-golfs on here as well... \$\endgroup\$
    – tobyodavies
    Jan 28, 2011 at 15:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @tobyodavies: I agree, it would be stupid if it was not a shortness contest. \$\endgroup\$
    – JPvdMerwe
    Jan 28, 2011 at 19:45

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It would be nice if we could get automated character count added as a feature. Then all code blocks could have a character count next to them and it would be irrefutable. It would also allow us to say for example later decide we don't want to consider whitespace in the count.

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    \$\begingroup\$ This would be much appreciated. \$\endgroup\$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Jan 28, 2011 at 0:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ whitespace should always be considered in the count, otherwise compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace would have an unfair advantage. \$\endgroup\$
    – ninjalj
    Feb 5, 2011 at 10:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ninjaij That was just an example, one that could work if applied to a language such as C++. That aside, this question has said whitespace is ignored. Which as I commented there I don't believe will work. \$\endgroup\$
    – moinudin
    Feb 5, 2011 at 18:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ I made a script for this (/cc @dmckee) \$\endgroup\$
    – Doorknob
    Sep 25, 2013 at 21:18
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I think they should be mandatory, because in the process of writing a shorter program you are constantly checking its size, so passing this information to the reader is not a big issue.

Additionally, I think a template for submissions could be in order, eg:

$LANGUAGE - $CHARS characters

$rest_of_post

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This would make my UserScript work better. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nathan Osman
    Feb 6, 2011 at 23:09
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I think it's really important to include a character count. There have been many occasions with tight races between perl/python/ruby etc. And it's nice to be able to quickly check if you are still in the lead

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