Questions tagged [faq]
These questions are the most frequently asked and answered questions on Meta and the first place to look for answers to your questions
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What are the winning criteria I can use for my challenge?
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?
Every single ...
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Welcome to Code Golf and Coding Challenges Stack Exchange!
What is this site?
This is a place to host recreational coding challenges, such as code golf. We are unlike most sites in the Stack Exchange network. We are not a question-answer site, nor are we a ...
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How does this site work?
Hello,
I have spent time looking at the StackExchange sites and especially this has seemed quite interesting to me. But I would like you to explain how it works and what it is about. I know how to ...
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What are our specific abbreviations and terms?
Newcomers to codegolf.SE are often compelled to ask what many of our abbreviations and terms mean. Let us list them here so this information always will be easily available.
Return to FAQ index
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New users' guides to golfing rules in specific languages
What are the most important rules a first-time golfer in a given language should know? For instance, how do golfed programs usually take input and output?
Each language should have a single CW answer ...
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Useful External Resources
There are a bunch of external resources that are either used very often by this community or are directly related to it. This post contains the most relevant ones to make them more discoverable for ...
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General rules for custom languages and libraries
The rules for what languages and libraries are allowed on this site seem to be scattered all over the place.
I'm looking for a simple check list to know if a custom language or a custom library is ...
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Is it OK to promote my own posts in chat?
Occasionally I see other users posting links to their own answers or challenges in The Nineteenth Byte. Is this OK? Can I promote my own posts as well?
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How to count bytes FAQ
We've got a lot of questions asking how to count the bytes in different situations. This question is here to put them all in one spot.
General questions
How to count "interactive" answers ...
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Why do we have objective winning criteria?
2 years ago, we discussed dropping the objective winning criterion requirement. No consensus was really reached. I'd really like to start that conversation again, as I feel like it is hindering our ...
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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 ...
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Definitive policy about answers not meeting the challenge specification
This question has been asked so often, I have no idea what our actual policy is:
Almost-correct answers
Should answers that break the rules be deleted?
Should we flag and delete Not an Answer posts?
...
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Things to consider when creating a challenge
There's a lot to remember to include when writing a challenge for this site. What are some things that are easy to forget?
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Should submissions be allowed to exit with an error?
Suppose we have the following Python code:
f=lambda x:x*2
X
The first line defines a function which doubles a number. Then the second line is reached, is found ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Interpretation of Truthy/Falsey
Quite a few code-golf questions require output to be "truthy or falsey". This is possibly confusing as these terms can possibly mean different things to different people, and especially in different ...
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How does the Sandbox work? How do I use it?
Link to sandbox
I've noticed some people here talking about a "proposed question sandbox."
Where is the sandbox?
Why should I use the sandbox?
How does the sandbox work?
What should we do with ...
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How long should I wait before accepting an answer?
Suppose I write a code-golf question. How long should I wait before accepting the shortest answer? One week? Two days? More? I checked the FAQ, but couldn't find any information on this topic. Is ...
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Let's decide what kind of non-challenge questions we want once and for all
4 reopen votes and 1 delete vote is a strange thing to see. It's also slightly worrying that we have so little consensus on this matter. So let's bring the community together.
What kind of non-...
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Where should non-challenge questions go?
I have a question about programming puzzles or code golf, and it's not a challenge for others to solve. Where should I post it?
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Template For Challenges
What format is generally good for questions? Is there a good template I can use?
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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 ...
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How can I incorporate good-looking mathematical exposition into my question/answer?
How can I incorporate good-looking mathematical exposition into my question/answer?
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Community FAQ for Code Golf and Coding Challenges
Community FAQ
For the Code Golf and Coding Challenges site
For official guidance from Stack Exchange, visit the Help Center.
General information
Welcome to Code Golf and Coding Challenges Stack ...
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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 ...
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Are two questions duplicates if they have different scoring rules?
My question Just Another Polyglot Hacker! was marked as a duplicate of Write a polyglot that prints the language's name. Now, our scoring rules are completely different. Why are they considered ...
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What makes winning criteria "objective"?
The FAQ says (in part)
All questions on this site, whether a programming puzzle or a code golf, should have [... an] objective primary winning criterion, so that it is possible to indisputably ...
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What details should always be given for a code golf task?
Related: For Code Golf, how do you deal with languages without a traditional print/echo statements?
Related: What programming language should we consider for the code-golf solution ?
Related: Use of ...