Questions tagged [asking-questions]
For meta questions pertaining to asking other questions, on main or meta.
82 questions
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How to define a question that will attract "useful" answers?
After some time of programming in Python, I have learned that many tasks, which previously I performed in several lines, could be solved in a much more succinct way by one-liners, e.g. these ones. ...
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Are there specific types of code golf challenges on this site?
I posted a question in hope of starting a shortest code challenge, but it seems to attract lots of downvotes and the only answer tried to help as a programming problem. One comment on the question ...
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Maximum code-golf length
If we have a code-golf question that we have a golfed answer to in, say, Python, how long does that program have to be for it to not be a good idea to ask that question/for that to be code-golf (if ...
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Built-ins or no built-ins; a dilemma in my question
Recently in this question, I had a discussion with ████████████████ whether I should get rid of built-ins.
I'm VTCing this since the built-in ban is particulary subjective here. I'd recommend just ...
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Should I post non-language specific KOTH?
Can I post KOTH challenge, but non-language specific?
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Are parts of challenges allowed to be posted on their own?
Suppose there is a challenge that is rather hard, and has few answers. Is it OK to post a new challenge that is actually a part of the bigger and harder challenge? Of course, attributing the original ...
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New First-Time Asker Dialog
This revision has been submitted to the devs to push the change, so unless there are any critical issues, this is the final version and I will not be modifying it anymore.
(I have cut down the post ...
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Should we update our ask question page?
About ten months ago, we got a new ask question page. This adds a few features:
A custom modal that appears when a user asks their first question:
Custom warnings in the "review" pane of ...
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Why languages encode their SBCS into UTF-8 and vice versa?
I saw that in many golfing programming languages with a SBCS other than UTF-8 there is a converter (encoding and decoding) that converts the code/file from the SBCS defined characters to UTF-8 and ...
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Popularity of questions, based on post time (and the most useless graph ever)
Back when I was new to Code Golf SE (then PPCG), a lot of my questions didn't do too well, and I didn't have the experience to tell whether they were good challenged or not. As such, I would often ...
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How can we clearly define "Must work for theoretically large values"?
This doesn't seem immediately like an issue, but I've encountered it once in a challenge already, and recently again in a Sandboxed challenge, and is getting tiring to find the correct wording. For ...
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Code golf involving GPS?
I planned to ask a code golf involving GPS:
What's the current zodiac?
Objective: Display the emoji of the zodiac of current time, according to your location.
Rules:
1. There's no input....
- 6,609
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Can a question be closed for being too complex (but not necessarily hard)?
This question is sort of a follow-up to this other one I found, which I found quite useful but not fully elaborating on what I wanted to know.
So, my question is this: I am working on a KoTH puzzle ...
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I asked a word question that has run away with me?
Easiest WordSearch
I've asked a crossword related question thats been on my mind for quite a while. I've made various edits from suggestions in the comments. I don't think I can adjust the question ...
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Examples of Questions that don't involve "Fewest bytes in x Language"
I am trying to come up with a workable question but every question I have looked at so far has been one where the winning answer is "fewest bytes in your language".
By "fewest bytes in x language", I ...
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How do I get better at writing questions?
Every time I post a question to the main site, it always seems there is something that I missed when posting it. How do I catch these issues?
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Should I edit a challenge to make it more interesting, if it makes several existing answers no longer optimal?
Specifically this one.
Dennis pointed out that the rule that input cannot be an array of lines makes the challenge worse, and I agree with him now. However, the challenge already has several answers, ...
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Can we encourage more users to post challenges?
Recently, the challenge rate on PPCG has dropped. I haven't looked through the numbers all the way back, but we once had 9.9 questions per day.
The number of questions per day is of course not the ...
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Tips for writing [proof-golf] questions
As you may know a few days ago I asked you guys to prove (-a) × (-a) = a × a in as few steps as possible and it seems to have been more of a success than I had ever imagined. We've had a lot of fun ...
Wheat WizardMod
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What exactly should be the format for the test cases? [closed]
Working on my latest challenge, I realized that I don't know what is the optimal way of providing/formatting the test cases. So the question is, what is the best way for a challenger to provide test ...
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A question about language specific tasks
I made a language called Lost. As a fun programming exercise I tasked myself with making a program that would output the digits 0-9 all with equal probability. This was a difficult task, however I ...
Wheat WizardMod
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Is it wrong to ask for an answer that is not source code?
Consider king-of-the-hill challenges. Significant effort on the part of the challenge presenter goes into collecting the code entries and massaging them into a runnable state (language versions, ...
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Is it OK to post restricted challenges where only some people may participate?
Recently a Friendly Challenge was posted on Code Review Meta where PPCG challenged Code Review.
The post on Code Review Meta says:
I am planning on hosting a King of the Hill challenge Programming ...
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is an entirely cooperative koth on topic?
I'm planning a challenge, in which players submit a bot (one per player), as in a koth. however, none of the submitted bots play against each other, instead they play against an npc force of alien ...
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How long can a challenge specification be?
Recently I had the idea to create a KotH challenge based on a card game (played with regular 52 cards). I then began drafting the rules of the game and the interface method.
The thing is, I was taken ...
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What to do about mathematical concepts with different definitions?
You must be wondering, why is this a so important subject? Well, take the example where a challenge asks you to take a "natural number" as input. What's a natural number? A non-negative integer, or a ...
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Does the OP have to explicitly state the winning criteria?
If a challenge is tagged with code-golf or fastest-code, do you really have to say that that is the winning criteria in the question? It seems pretty obvious, just by looking at the tags, right? After ...
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Challenges that invite non-competing answers
Although we have consensus on the Definitive policy about answers not meeting the challenge specification, it is aimed at answers rather than challenges. I had assumed that would imply that a ...
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Good examples of popularity contest challenges
popularity-contest is a hard tag to create questions for. Its hard balance between vagueness and broadness. What are some good examples that other challenges should seek to emulate?
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Should we repost a challenge because of a changed consensus?
Golf you a quine for great good! is a great example, since it was posted before the quine consensus was made. That means it's cluttered with answers not following it. Should we repost challenges ...
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Can I ask about improving golfing on some code
I have answered a challenge and the code ended up being longer than expected. I'm also pretty sure there is still room for golfing the code but I can't see it at the moment.
Is it okay to ask a ...
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What outputs should I allow for decision problems? [duplicate]
I'm looking for opinions on what outputs to allow as the Yes and No outputs on decision-problem challenges. The goal isn't to make a policy, but to help with a decision I often have to make when ...
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Can I post a challenge that is the same as an existing challenge but with different criteria? [duplicate]
Let's say I find an awesome challenge here, but I can make a different challenge out of it by changing the criteria significantly. Is it poor form to post a new challenge with a completely different ...
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Must a question have an answer?
I have designed some mechanisms that makes private properties in a class to be inaccessible from other contexts using whatever methods. I want to know if it is really inaccessible given any code. Can ...
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Do I ask question to explain the given snippet here?
I am having some code snippets with me. I want clear explanations about that snippets. Shall I ask these kind of questions in this Programming Puzzle community? If not where do I ask such questions?
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The smallest Android app in the world
I am interested in understanding what is the smallest Android app possible that the OS will allow to be installed. It need not have any function or interface (or even any executable code) - it just ...
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What are the guidelines for formulating a Cops and Robbers style challenge?
I've been slowly forming in my head a question for a Cops and Robbers style code challenge, and it occurred to me that I actually don't really know the general details of how they're set out... Is ...
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Question about a quine in a specific language
If I am interested in asking a question about quining in a specific language, would this be allowed?
I am curious as to whether or not its even possible to write such a quine in a certain language.
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How should challenge authors be rewarded for creating exemplary challenges?
Over on Puzzling.SE, the community there has been discussing various ways to reward puzzle authors for creating exemplary puzzles. Given that we're like Puzzling.SE in that we're not a Q&A site, ...
user45941
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Can I set a challenge using Box-256?
Re-edited for further clarify:
http://box-256.com/ is an on-line game in which one codes in a form of assembly to solve the puzzles presented on there.
Can we ask questions on this site which are ...
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On-topic to ask for help with an pre-existing code golf challenge from another site?
There is a code golf challenge on a foreign (not related to Stack Exchange) site with which I have a problem. The challenge is designed for Python 3 and has a length limit of 150 characters.
I ...
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What language should I use for a single language KOTH?
I'm working on a KOTH contest, and it is a little bit more on the complicated side. Each bot is expected to keep track of a lot of state. For example, move history, position in the board, position of ...
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When is the best time to post a challenge for optimal views?
I've posted a few challenges before in PPCG, and, judging by the minimal view counts I've been getting (especially recently), I'd say I've been posting them at the wrong time.
Is there an objectively ...
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Would "Tips for optimization in XXX" be on-topic on main
So we already have questions of the type "Tips for Golfing in XXX" and these are accepted as on-topic.
My question is would any question of the type
"Tips for [time/memory/any]-optimization [in ...
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Rep requirement for asking
There's always some question or another on hold with a few downvotes on main, and they are usually created by users with 1 reputation. So if there was a small reputation requirement (eg 10) for making ...
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Is PP&CG the right place to ask my question?
Is Programming Puzzles & Code Golf the right place to ask my question:
Which programming or description language has the most / least reserved words?
The question will have rules to limit the ...
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Do I have to verify all answers?
I have an idea about a code-golf challenge.
Will I need to verify/test every answer submitted ?
Will I need to run code submitted to be sure that the answer meets the requirements ?
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How can I ask a question scored by complexity?
I want to post a challenge where the scoring is based on complexity but I don't know a) how to define this and b) how well it would be received.
As an example, say the FPU (Floating Point Unit) has ...
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What makes a sequence an interesting golf challenge?
We have lots of challenges tagged sequence. What types of sequences make for interesting golf challenges? How can we assess whether a given sequence is worth writing a challenge about?
I understand ...
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What constitutes programming for the purposes of this site?
According to our Help Center (emphasis mine),
Programming Puzzles & Code Golf is for programming contests and challenges.
Sounds simple enough, and 99 times out of 100 it is. But there are ...
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