-
Sep 14th, 2007, 04:29 AM
#41
Re: get a new contest going?
I didn't mean that it wouldn't be possible to have a contest that involves PHP, but that having a contest focussed on PHP at the expense of our main languages doesn't make sense - as it would be intentionally stopping the majority of our members from entering.
As far as I see it, things have only got to the point of "we could use PHP". As the largest part of organising a coding contest is generally "what are we actually going to code, and how are we going to test it?", I don't see why that isn't the focus. The last mention of a potential "what to do" was about 20 posts (and 2 weeks) ago, and did not seem to be anywhere near ready.
I know that the contests here aren't as frequent as people would like, but a large part of that is because it takes time to get any contest organised in the first place, and time for it to run (with various questions during that period), and time for it to be marked/judged.
For all of that to happen, somebody needs to give up a fair amount of their time for an extended period. I for one am not in a position to do that, and I'm afraid don't really have the inclination either. For somebody to do it purely for what is a relatively minor language on this site doesn't seem right.
Depending on what the contest is about, it is possible that as well as our primary languages, others could be used (including those from our "Other Languages" sub forums, like PHP), assuming of course that there is somebody to do the marking/judging.
Completely eliminating all of our main languages (thus most of our members) does not make sense to me.
-
Sep 14th, 2007, 04:31 AM
#42
Re: get a new contest going?
Ok I'm going to work on some ideas and set a contest up....
-
Sep 14th, 2007, 04:55 PM
#43
Re: get a new contest going?
Well, i would be more then happy to test the php projects, as well as help with judging grading.
Also, i have a dedicated server where i can create private ftp accounts for people to build their application on, if they dont have the resources.
I think a great contest would be a content management system, or forum. Depending on how good the coder is, they can choose between Easy, Moderate, or Hard.
My usual boring signature: Something
-
Sep 15th, 2007, 05:24 AM
#44
Re: get a new contest going?
Creating a simple CMS is somewhat easy, but building it with features that are actually required takes some time: I've been building a CMS core for my own use alongside with my work and it isn't a very fast project. And the project isn't very feature rich (though admittedly I didn't make it by purpose at first and I have often been limited of time, I've only lately started organizing things together as a complete CMS).
-
Sep 15th, 2007, 11:37 AM
#45
Re: get a new contest going?
Pino, please keep us updated.
My usual boring signature: Something
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 03:41 AM
#46
Re: get a new contest going?
Oi! Clamp!
I do PHP aswell, add me to your list! #rage#
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 04:19 AM
#47
Re: get a new contest going?
A thought: It might be possible to come up with a contest that is doable in both VB and PHP.
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 05:03 AM
#48
Re: get a new contest going?
No, such thing is next to the impossible!
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 05:13 AM
#49
Re: get a new contest going?
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 12:52 PM
#50
Re: get a new contest going?
i agree with penagate. There are lots of things that you can do in both PHP as well as VB
My usual boring signature: Something
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 02:16 PM
#51
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 02:22 PM
#52
Re: get a new contest going?
My usual boring signature: Something
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 03:27 PM
#53
Re: get a new contest going?
My humour is broken. I'll see if I can patch it for the upcoming week.
(read: I actually agree with that too)
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 03:45 PM
#54
Re: get a new contest going?
ah! i get the joke. you were using Sarcasm
My usual boring signature: Something
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 10:43 PM
#55
Re: get a new contest going?
Originally Posted by Merri
My humour is broken. I'll see if I can patch it for the upcoming week.
(read: I actually agree with that too)
It's the Finnish accent.
-
Sep 16th, 2007, 10:45 PM
#56
Re: get a new contest going?
Originally Posted by manavo11
And judge them one against the other? Or basically have 2 contest running with the same topic? Like we had the prime numbers running for VB6 and VB.Net but marked them separately?
Depends on the marking criteria. If it's something where the end result varies, then they could be judged together; if the end result must be constant but marks awarded for elegance/speed/etc., then they would have to be judged separately.
-
Sep 21st, 2007, 02:22 AM
#57
Thread Starter
Fanatic Member
Re: get a new contest going?
some DB type application would be a good choice.
-
Oct 1st, 2007, 10:30 PM
#58
Hyperactive Member
Re: get a new contest going?
This idea is either the worst idea I ever head, or possibly a really good one...
Why not have a competition to see who can create the most convoluted and obfuscated version of 'hello world'? Rather than creating an efficient and brilliant solution to a complicated problem, see who can make a complicated and unnecessarily long solution to a simple one! Would be good for a laugh. Only rule would be that you can't have lines of code that don't do anything at all. Everything must have a demonstrable purpose, no matter how obscure or superfluous.
Thoughts?
metal
-
Oct 2nd, 2007, 08:29 PM
#59
Re: get a new contest going?
sounds good. and you couldn't change a data type more than once.
-
Oct 3rd, 2007, 01:53 AM
#60
Re: get a new contest going?
Well... it would go rather easily simply by not having "Hello world" as a regular string, but as a 3D accelerated graphic instead that would be calculated... and if the end result must be a string, then add in an image-to-character reader (can't remember what it was called again).
Oh, did I just spoil that idea? :P
-
Oct 3rd, 2007, 07:26 AM
#61
Re: get a new contest going?
ocr? and who said the output has to be a string? A speech plugin would work too!
-
Oct 3rd, 2007, 10:03 PM
#62
Hyperactive Member
Re: get a new contest going?
The possibilites are endless! You're limited only by your imagination!!!
Also, once the contest is finished, we could create a new tutorial.
"Welcome to this Visual Basic tutorial. Visual Basic is a simple yet powerful language, and is easy to learn for basic programs. For example, if we wish to display the phrase 'hello world' on the screen, all we need to do is type in the following 486,723 lines, and run the program! ---insert program here--- See! It's that simple!!"
And the person who was hoping to learn VB sits there and says: ""
metal
-
Oct 9th, 2007, 03:28 AM
#63
-
Oct 9th, 2007, 08:49 PM
#64
Re: get a new contest going?
no the required processor. it must eat up all processor cycles available.
-
Oct 10th, 2007, 01:51 AM
#65
Hyperactive Member
Re: get a new contest going?
Why not mark each criteria out of 10 and the highest score wins. Possible criteria could be: - Length of code
- Exe size
- Resource consumption
- Time taken for program to execute and produce required ouput
- Difficulty of understanding (by an experienced coder)
- Features (eg fancy output etc)
Feel free to suggest others!
-
Oct 10th, 2007, 06:16 AM
#66
Re: get a new contest going?
That would sound like a project one would do in Java, not in VB or .NET.
(I don't understand jEdit... it is a text editor that can load for a minute at worst days. Also, each time a java applet opens in browser, everything halts for a moment. Java just doesn't work.)
-
Oct 10th, 2007, 08:01 AM
#67
Re: get a new contest going?
please tell me you don't use microsoft's java console? Go to sun.com and get the real one.
-
Oct 10th, 2007, 12:23 PM
#68
Re: get a new contest going?
I use exactly that. It works the same slow way no matter which computer I use.
-
Oct 11th, 2007, 12:23 AM
#69
Hyperactive Member
Re: get a new contest going?
So do people think this could actually be a good idea for a contest? If so we should start getting some actual rules, criteria, markers, timeframes etc going. I know I wouldn't be able to mark it, I just don't know enough. Judging by reps, maybe Orwell and Merri could do it? That's if you have the time and the inclination...
-
Oct 11th, 2007, 10:30 AM
#70
Re: get a new contest going?
-
Oct 11th, 2007, 05:54 PM
#71
Re: get a new contest going?
well since this is going to be in multiple languages, you will need people who specialize in that language to help
and i would like to help btw
My usual boring signature: Something
-
Oct 12th, 2007, 12:58 AM
#72
Hyperactive Member
Re: get a new contest going?
OK, here is my proposal:
Task: To create the most complicated version of 'hello world' possible.
Criteria: Size of program (both .exe size and no. of lines); difficulty of understanding the code; impressive output; resource consumption; general complicated-ness.
Rules: 1- No code that does absolutely nothing (ie you can't just bump up your code length with pointless lines). 2- Output does not necessarily have to be a string, nor is it restricted to the monitor. It must, however, communicate in some way, the phrase "hello world". 3- No just repeating pointless things over and over again like 500 lines that continually double a number then halve it again. Everything must serve SOME purpose, no matter how obscure. 4- The winner will be the one with the highest score out of 50 (each criteria out of 10)
Duration: Open to suggestions. Maybe 2-4 weeks???
Languages: VB6 and VB.Net definitely. I don't know enough about the forum population to say, but if the mods reckon theres enough population for other languages and we have someone to mark them then I see no reason why not? I know we have sections on C/C++ and ASP etc. Also we need to decide whether to allow 'add-on' type languages (I don't know the correct term). Things like directx, openGL, winsock, database languages... I would suggest we pick a couple and only allow them. Maybe just directX and openGL for the sake of producing awesome outputs?
Oh and the other thing is that we should decide exactly how we mark the 'size of program' criteria. We could give the biggest one 10 and the smallest one 0, then do everything else in between? Or we could give the biggest one 10 and all the others a score based on their percentage of the size of the biggest one?
Any suggestions for a prize? This would probably be up to the mods as to what we can and can't offer, and if it's forum related, how permanent it is.
Obviously everything above is open to suggestion and debate, so let the creative juices flow
metal
-
Oct 12th, 2007, 07:33 AM
#73
Re: get a new contest going?
this actually has the makings of a codebank entry lol
-
Oct 12th, 2007, 12:03 PM
#74
Re: get a new contest going?
I have to add in: no language syntax compression/obfuscation tools should be used. The syntax must be purely human made.
-
Oct 12th, 2007, 12:59 PM
#75
Re: get a new contest going?
To be brash, this sounds like a horrible idea. And what does the winner get, "worst coder on VBF" tag? Past contests have appealed to people because in the end - everyone is a better programmer for having competed. This is the exact opposite of what they should be, and because contests here are so few and far between; I really think you should take some more time and opt for a better objective.
-
Oct 12th, 2007, 05:00 PM
#76
Re: get a new contest going?
i have another proposal. because i agree with sh...
what about an Alarm Clock?
My usual boring signature: Something
-
Oct 12th, 2007, 06:20 PM
#77
Re: get a new contest going?
i have an idea too. A simple video game that everyone is familiar with, such as PONG. We could either say "most accurate" and judge on that, or judge on most advanced physics and graphics or some such.
-
Oct 15th, 2007, 02:53 AM
#78
Thread Starter
Fanatic Member
Re: get a new contest going?
keke advance pong. everyone here should be able to make pong ;\
-
Oct 15th, 2007, 07:26 AM
#79
Re: get a new contest going?
either that or a tetris clone or some such.
-
Oct 15th, 2007, 08:55 AM
#80
Re: get a new contest going?
Or a themed contest: for example, create a game that somehow combines tetris and pong. Atleast this would show how creative people can get when they get a limited theme, everyone seeing very concrete results, as creativity in the code side may often go unnoticed (for some reason I've felt this way quite often).
But someone really really should just get started on anything. Everyone has ideas and suggestions, but nobody has been really willing to finally do something about it. I've tried, a few times, but I end up either being too busy (with work) or losing interest in other ways.
Posting Permissions
- You may not post new threads
- You may not post replies
- You may not post attachments
- You may not edit your posts
-
Forum Rules
|
Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width
|