Thread: Anybody up for a game?

Hello all,

I had an idea for a nice little game... So just checking in to see if anybody is interested in joining. You know the game where a group of people write a story, but everybody is allowed to write only a single sentence? That, except for coding.

The goal is to finish a small and easy assignment, but everybody is only allowed to write either a single line or a single expression or statement (where grouped expressions count as multiple expressions, you all understand the rules by now more or less and it's too much hassle to write it out in a formal and "uncheatable" way so I won't even bother).
The question is if we can write the assignment like that. It will be difficult: people must consider what variables are going to be used, and understand each other's variable naming. It might even be good practice to write easily readable code, and to learn to read other programmer's code.

If enough are interested, we can do it. If not, this thread will die anyway...

What's the program supposed to do?

Also, I suggest you start it with the int main, return 0, includes, etc. otherwise no one will start b/c they don't want to waste their one line on the meaningless crap.

EDIT: FWIW, I like the idea. It does sound fun.

Originally Posted by User Name:

What's the program supposed to do?

Compile?

I like this idea.

I'd rather each person write a module. Interfacing modules offers the same challenges as one line per person but is also more constructive and useful in the end.

Okay, good, I guess there's enough people to join then. Does anybody have a good assignment to do this for? Like a homework question they remember, that's difficult enough (I'd say it should become between 50-100 lines of code)...

You should get all the participants to sign-up first, so you can pre-determine the order (first to reply could be complicated since you may have to think a bit before posting).

assignment ideas:
- sorting is always classic (especially if you don't say which algo in advance)
- Compute word frequencies in a file, output sorted list.
- Compute word to document associations in a directory of files (inverted index)
- ...

Originally Posted by EVOEx

So, what do you guys think of the rules?

I think the more rules we make the less fun we're going to have. And in general, I think most of the rules proposed belong in obfuscated code contests.

*shrug*

I'm in; it sounds like fun, but I do have some suggestions.

Let's start small; all the way around. We have several people who've joined. Let's start a simple first attempt with those guys and a simple project. Actually playing the game will attract more attention than just talking about it. While playing the first game, rotating off a list unless someone hasn't posted within 24 hours where upon that name is skipped, people can sign up for the next round.

Let's start with a profile. For example, a great C++ jumping off would be something like what I've posted here. It covers a lot of ground fast.

Start a new post noting that round one has started with the rotation list. If the discussion goes on to long, the interest will drop to those who've not bothered to follow everything.

Code:

#include <algorithm>
#include <cmath>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>

int main
(
    int argc
  , char ** argv
)
{
    return(0);
}

sorting is always classic (especially if you don't say which algo in advance)

If this is done in C++, this may be perfect.

Compute word frequencies in a file, output sorted list.

My vote is for this; at least, for a first attempt.

Compute word to document associations in a directory of files (inverted index)

This can't be done without stepping outside of C++ standard libraries unless a list of files is provided.

An addition may only be appended to the source code; changing is not allowed.

We will never be able to fix broken code; one bad addition destroys the game. It doesn't have to be a logic bug to break source you know.

The use of the "comma operator" is forbidden. Comma's are allowed of course in function definitions, function calls and to declare more than one variable on a single line.

We can police ourselves easier without fine grained rules like that. We all know what one statement means; we don't need to get complicated. For example, if I start a statement with any expression evaluating to an `lvalue', I can chain any number of expressions using the logic operators by forcing those expressions to evaluate to a value.

So, let's just stick with "one simple/complex statement", accounting for the constructs necessary to do something useful with control constructs in one shot instead of three. Also, if you don't allow some complex additions, initializing some variables is right out.

Comments are not allowed, nor is communicating the purpose of certain additions in any other method to the other participants.

Okay, so no one will follow my code if I don't want them to follow it. I'm out.

Is that seriously what you want? Again, one participant has a bad day and garages the game just because he is cranky making the addition as convoluted as possible?

How about "self describing code only" or "consider changing the addition if a comment would be necessary".

Macro's are not allowed.

That's silly. If you consider that creating a macro would take multiple expressions, no one could game that path, and using the macro would also count towards the "one simple/complex statement" rule.

At every addition, one may also add a single "#include" statement any place in the code.

That's actually not bad, but I think if we stick to the standard library and other rules simply allowing free additions to the include list is fine.

Any person making an addition that makes it impossible to successfully complete the application because of a logic error, the person loses and no longer participates; the application is restored to the version before his last change and the game continues. Syntax errors are exempted from this for typo's and the like.

Again, not a bad rule, but I don't want to play that kind of game, and with the above referenced "no communication" rule I can force most people following me to lose.

If we our going to play something like this, can't we just have a little fun with it?

Why not? Isn't this standard compliant?

That code can compile, but why impose such bad design decisions?

It also prevents a lot of class and template conventions.

Soma

cout << "Ok guys, the next few lines should recursively call the aggregation function while accumulating the total in the variable 'total'. Don't forget to check the base case of an empty structure and initialize the memory for the return data\n";

Originally Posted by laserlight

Even with the exception for #include, I note thats this means that if the game starts with the global main function, then no other functions will be defined.

Why not? Isn't this standard compliant? I've never read the standard completely so I'm not sure:

Code:

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
  void test();
  test();
}

void test()
{
  std::cout << "TEST" << std::endl;
}

Originally Posted by laserlight

So <% and ??< are not blacklisted (or rather, restricted)?

Fair point. Any other way to circumvent the rules you can think of? ;-).

Originally Posted by laserlight

You might want to clarify what "any other method" really means. As-is, your "for(int i = 0;" is invalid because i is a typical name for a loop index, and indeed the variable is used as a loop index, so the purpose of the variable was communicated by its name.

Also a good point... I'll edit the rules soon ;-).