36
votes
Accepted
Why do we have objective winning criteria?
Dennis's answer touches upon this, but I wanted to write a separate answer to make it more explicit:
Objective scoring is essential to drive competition, and competition inspires creativity.
Here is ...
- 196k
16
votes
Do [tips] questions need an objective winning criterion?
No
Or more to the point, how?
Frankly, I'm on the fence about the linked question. However, whatever's wrong with it isn't that it lacks an objective winning criterion, because every tips question ...
- 21.2k
15
votes
Accepted
Does the OP have to explicitly state the winning criteria?
Yes, the winning criterion needs to be specified in the challenge
First, tags like code-golf where the winning criterion is obvious in theory. You're right that it's probably not entirely necessary, ...
- 196k
11
votes
Does the OP have to explicitly state the winning criteria?
No, as long as the winning criterion is already clear from the tags
Most challenges on PPCG are code-golf. A lot of distraction, duplication, and possibly inconsistency is caused by having to re-...
- 15.2k
11
votes
Are pure programming puzzles on topic?
Yes, they are on topic
To address some common reasons why people think they shouldn't be on topic:
They don't have a winning criterion. By default, the winning criterion is first posted. Even if ...
- 14.4k
10
votes
Why do we have objective winning criteria?
It is hard to discuss advantages and disadvantages of such a radical change; it completely changes the scope of the site. Right now, this site holds programming contests, meaning that we don't just ...
- 210k
10
votes
Winning criterion tag request: [minimum-distinct-chars]
Looking at the minimum distinct character challenges linked it does seem like while there are a couple it's not a very well liked scoring criterion on it's own.
"Do X but with minimum characters&...
Wheat WizardMod
- 96.5k
10
votes
Is [answer-chaining] a self-contained winning criteria tag?
It depends:
If the answer-chaining question is :
Scored based off of the chain, then the tag is self-contained. For example, scoring by the last answer (or second to last answer).
Scored based off ...
- 14.4k
9
votes
Accepted
How to deal with questions that do not explain their winning criterion?
Edit if obvious, close if not
...and by obvious, I more or less mean code-golf, as, off the top of my head, I cannot think of any other criteria tag that’s so universally scored.
If a question is ...
- 49.4k
9
votes
Do [tips] questions need an objective winning criterion?
No, but ...
tips is the Q&A portion of our site. The point of tips (at least as I view it) is to provide assistance with ppcg-style challenges (mostly code-golf).
I think in order for it to be on ...
Wheat WizardMod
- 96.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Is Brainfuck considered a serious contender
We had a related discussion a few month ago, and I like the wording of the answer I linked to.
A serious contender is a submission which makes a serious effort towards optimizing the submission's ...
- 210k
6
votes
What are the winning criteria I can use for my challenge?
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 ...
6
votes
Accepted
New tag proposal - anarchy
On scoring by ratio to shortest code
I like the philosophy here that you're competing relative to your language, but I don't see it working. The idea seems to be based on assumptions from Anarchy ...
- 144k
6
votes
Do [tips] questions need an objective winning criterion?
No
The on-topic page for our site states that:
Non-challenge questions that are related to solving programming puzzles or a particular type of challenge are also on topic. However, if you have a ...
- 32.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Why is this answer considered non-competitive?
I deleted the answer because it made no effort whatsoever to compress its input.
Now that the test case has been revealed, it turns out that trying to compress the input is rather pointless, as even ...
- 210k
5
votes
Is Brainfuck considered a serious contender
TL;DR: You're asking the wrong question. Being "a serious contender" is about the answer, not the language.
Code-Golf is not about having the absolute lowest byte-count at all costs and everything ...
- 58.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Efficiency vs Length
fastest-code/fastest-algorithm
fastest-code challenges are, as the tag suggests, about creating the code to complete a task as fast as possible. Challenges with this tag should include the ...
- 49.4k
4
votes
Phrasing a winning criterion to avoid excluding solutions
As a member of the team working on the current solution, I can say that of the proposed winning criteria I've seen, bounding box is generally the best. I'll list each criteria I've seen and their ...
- 16k
4
votes
Challenges with categories of winners
This is a good thing provided the challenges belong in the same post
If the challenge is "Output the sum of N numbers, or alternatively their product" that just clutters the solutions of two distinct ...
4
votes
Winning criteria request: [time-attack]
Probably Not
This is rather difficult to accurately measure in our format, and makes the Sandbox practically unusable. Any simple challenge may be done in minutes, making the winners basically whoever ...
- 10.7k
3
votes
Close questions early!
I agree that we should close early. We are now at a stage where we have more reviewers than things to review (within a 12 hour period), so should vote to close whenever a question is close-worthy.
...
- 2,379
2
votes
What standard should be used for [code-golf] byte counts?
Code golf answers should be scored in whatever the interpreter can digest. If there's an X bytes file that does what it's supposed to do, you can claim a score of X bytes.
UTF-8 doesn't even apply to ...
- 210k
2
votes
Should the victory condition for a challenge always ensure that it has only a single winner?
In most cases, yes. The submissions don't have to be perfect on those conditions if there isn't much competition, though. Having an unbeatable answer also doesn't mean the challenge is closed for new ...
- 36.9k
2
votes
How many winners can a challenge have?
The rules are specified in the challenges itself
As long as it is programming puzzle, and it have objective winning criteria, any rules are fine. That includes allow multiple users to win.
I don't ...
- 17.2k
2
votes
How to deal with questions that do not explain their winning criterion?
These questions should be directly edited
If a challenge is tagged code-golf, the author's intent is clear. Unless they go out of their way to change the meaning of code golf, which would constitute ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible