Questions tagged [defaults]

For clarification of rules that apply to challenges if not mentioned by the author

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Can the binary representations of argv[n] be used for numeric input?

TL;DR: Is int d = *(int*)argv[1]; allowed to obtain a integer input? A special case of this question: Can numeric input/output be in the form of byte values? This ...
12431234123412341234123's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
214 views

Should we refresh our standard loopholes?

We have a list of standard loopholes which are forbidden by default. This is pretty good, it does good for the site. But it's also 8 years old, and it is showing its age. We occasionally inaugurate ...
Wheat Wizard's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
64 views

Can Function Objects be Appened to STDIN From the Stack?

This is mostly specific to Vyxal, but I've worded the language so that any hypothetical stack language could utilise this Say you have a stack-based language which supports function objects on the ...
lyxal's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
208 views

What is our consensus on languages which do not halt by design?

Current consensus seems to be that programs must terminate by default. This makes sense in general. However, does this bar use of languages which are not designed with a halt state (other than ...
thejonymyster's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
179 views

Policy on Outputting Irrationals as Fractions

There's consensus that answering with fractions is allowable for decimals that can be expressed as fractions. But what about irrational numbers? Can they be expressed as a rational representation of ...
lyxal's user avatar
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20 votes
5 answers
615 views

What is our consensus on floating point issues?

As far as I can tell, we don't yet have a definitive Meta consensus to the following question: Are answers allowed to work "in theory" but fail in practice due to floating point issues? ...
caird coinheringaahin g's user avatar
14 votes
7 answers
767 views

Default policy for output in decision problems

Challenges tagged as decision-problem involve "deciding whether the input meets certain criteria". Although some challenges with this tag involve more than two categories, most involve only ...
Luis Mendo's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
719 views

Is the "no MetaGolfScript" rule somehow formalized?

A disadvantage of the "default rules as answers" is that the rules don't have a common, organizing, "formal" thought behind them. I'm talking about this one here. I understand it as applying to "...
acupoftea's user avatar
  • 301
1 vote
3 answers
114 views

Are infinite score allowed by default for "lowest score win"?

Are submissions acceptable if their worst case score is unbounded? I think it worth a default exist
l4m2's user avatar
  • 20.3k
1 vote
4 answers
77 views

Defaults for word lists

Some challenges (that I'm currently mulling over with a view to posting) require that the solution produces valid words. Having to embed an entire dictionary in a code-golf entry isn't the point of ...
Toby Speight's user avatar
  • 6,218
8 votes
2 answers
297 views

Is "vim + plugins" a valid language?

It is probably not a shock to most of you, but I really enjoy answering code golf questions in Vim. There are many vim plugins that could greatly shorten some answers. For example, surround, subvert, ...
DJMcMayhem's user avatar
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7 votes
0 answers
201 views

Why can't we take input from a variable? [duplicate]

On the default allowed I/O methods, we have come to a consensus that programs may not take input from a predefined variable. However, we have decided that anonymous functions are allowed. In the ...
Esolanging Fruit's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
238 views

Command Line Arguments in Polyglots

It occurs to me that there isn't really a general consensus on how command line arguments should be treated in polyglots. So... What should the consensus on command line arguments in polyglots be? I ...
MercyBeaucou's user avatar
  • 3,061
51 votes
1 answer
3k views

When can APL characters be counted as 1 byte each?

Prompted by this. The question of APL's encoding often comes up, and many times a helpful soul links to Wikipedia's article on the APL EBCDIC codepage. However, each implementation of APL has its own ...
Adám's user avatar
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17 votes
6 answers
1k views

Which number formats are acceptable in output?

Comments on this loophole meta answer suggest that more than a simple yes or no answer is required. Which number formats are valid for output? Is there a difference between code-golf and other tags? ...
trichoplax is on Codidact now's user avatar
22 votes
12 answers
3k views

Default acceptable image I/O methods for image related challenges

I do not feel that the default general acceptable I/O methods sufficiently cover image-processing and graphical-output challenges. So I would like to poll. What are the default acceptable I/O methods ...
orlp's user avatar
  • 39k
25 votes
3 answers
1k views

Should Booleans be allowed where a number is required?

This is a rather common inquiry in contests that require computing elements of a sequence. For example, consider the following recursive implementation of the factorial function (Python): ...
Dennis's user avatar
  • 210k
4 votes
2 answers
148 views

Does drag+paste count as a valid form of input in Excel?

I recently answered in Excel, where my input was based on the user copying a cell's contents via drag and past over multiple cells, where the input n was the final ...
Addison Crump's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
145 views

What should "JavaScript" be defined as?

JavaScript ES6/7 is a popular language on PPCG, but currently there is no definition for "JavaScript". JavaScript is a language with many implementations. Ecma international defines the ...
Downgoat's user avatar
  • 28.9k
8 votes
4 answers
378 views

Integer range defaults for challenges

When writing challenges involving integer I/O, I always find myself having to type the same thing: ...
user avatar
102 votes
49 answers
26k views

Things to avoid when writing challenges

If there is something that you find annoying / counterproductive / unfair / detrimental / no longer funny in challenges (question posts), describe it in an answer here, and propose a recommended ...
trichoplax is on Codidact now's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
2k views

When is code that requires a REPL acceptable?

Question in brief: For what challenge types and in what circumstances should code that requires a REPL be acceptable in an answer? There seems to be an understanding in chat that code that only works ...
trichoplax is on Codidact now's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
667 views

Minecraft I/O Methods

Seeing as how we've discussed a size measurement for Minecraft redstone creations, I thought I'd follow that up with establishing standard output and input methods. Minecraft, obviously, does not ...
a spaghetto's user avatar
  • 11.2k
6 votes
1 answer
467 views

Machine code Input/Output defaults

We already have a question about default I/O for general code-golf submissions. However, entries in machine code have different built-in I/O capabilities from entries in high-level languages. Should ...
lirtosiast's user avatar
  • 21.4k
5 votes
3 answers
367 views

How should we score compiler/interpreter build-time options?

Prompted by this comment. The scoring of optional flags passed to compilers/interpreters has already been handled here and here. However there is another case of one more level of indirection. ...
Digital Trauma's user avatar
23 votes
3 answers
3k views

What character encodings may a submission use?

In code-golf questions, we typically score submissions by their byte count. However, whenever a submission uses a character outside of the ASCII range, the question of which encoding the code uses ...
isaacg's user avatar
  • 42k
9 votes
2 answers
161 views

Default for additional characters in output

Where the question does not explicitly state either way, should an answer that gives surplus output count as valid? Should this rule be different for visible characters and whitespace? Some specific ...
trichoplax is on Codidact now's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
347 views

Defaults for reading several pieces of input

When reading several pieces of input as command-line arguments, it is common practice to read each piece as a different argument. The command-line arguments now provide an array of the input pieces. ...
Dennis's user avatar
  • 210k
127 votes
116 answers
38k views

Default for Code Golf: Input/Output methods

It looks like we have a consensus that we want certain defaults for the format which answers are expected in for code-golf. On that poll, the question arose twice, which input/output formats should be ...
Martin Ender's user avatar
50 votes
6 answers
8k views

Default for Code Golf: Program, Function or Snippet?

One of the things many (new?) users forget to specify in code-golf challenges is whether the answers should provide a full program or a function (or even just a snippet). For most such things, we have ...
Martin Ender's user avatar
34 votes
8 answers
6k views

Standard definitions of terms within specifications

Quite often I find that I am repeating myself when creating a challenge. For example, usually I have to retype the definition of "random" in all of my posts, or I have to specify the same thing about ...
Doorknob's user avatar
  • 71.4k
423 votes
54 answers
216k views

Loopholes that are forbidden by default

There are a number of standard loopholes which experienced question-setters seek to explicitly close. However, inexperienced question-setters may unintentionally leave them open, or respondents may ...