Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

[MrRubix]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

I'm coming.

Patashu, you need to come with me, too.

[leonid]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

bump because more people should play this

[leonid]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

Also, the IRC channel for this is #anagol at irc.freenode.net

[Izzy]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

So I did the first one just to try it out. How do I possibly make this shorter?

void main(){printf("Hello, world!");}

[leonid]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

You can omit 'void', and you can use puts instead of printf to output an unformatted string.

[Izzy]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

I realized I could get rid of void but that still only got me to 32.

success!

size: 32
time: 0.000192sec
status: 13
your output:

Hello, world!

I was looking for a different print method but I couldn't find it. Guess I'll use puts.

Not sure how to do number 2 really short. I thought it would be something interesting like.

main(){puts("%s", gets());}

Something I don't like about the way the score is calculated is that it is just file size. This has nothing to do with the efficiency of the code at run time. The compile optimizer will make void main and main be exactly the same. Having extra lines in your code doesn't do anything to efficiency because the assembly code will be exactly the same in the end.

[leonid]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

Hint: If "exec is denied" is not in the option, you are allowed to use system commands.

btw, you don't have to solve the problems in order.

EDIT: File size is the sole thing you should care about in codegolf. If for a problem there is a 40-byte solution that runs for 2.97 seconds and a 41-byte solution that runs for 0.0002 seconds, then the 40-byte solution wins.

[Reincarnate]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

Hint: If "exec is denied" is not in the option, you are allowed to use system commands.

btw, you don't have to solve the problems in order.

EDIT: File size is the sole thing you should care about in codegolf. If for a problem there is a 40-byte solution that runs for 2.97 seconds and a 41-byte solution that runs for 0.0002 seconds, then the 40-byte solution wins.

Izzy is saying that writing code in a shorter fashion doesn't necessarily mean the code itself is efficient.

Nevertheless, code golfing is still a good way to get you to learn a ton of syntax -- which you can then use to write better code in real life. Writing shorter code is almost always a strong suit.

It's always a huge pain in the ass to edit/debug someone else's code/your own code when it's like ten times longer than it needs to be.

[Izzy]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

Trying to read/debugg 100+ lines worth of code that is on 1 line is kind of annoying. I would agree that shorter code in general is better, but so is good formatting. I don't believe shorter is always better.

I'm kind of curious what the assembly would look like for the shortest hello world compared to a hello word on 3 lines using printf and void main.

[Matrixdude]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

This thing is awesome, will definitely help in real life coding.

Question for all you coders at there: I already know a lot of Java and now I have the option to learn any language I want in an independent study course. What language should I delve into?

[Izzy]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

Right after java I would recommend C and C++. After that maybe php / python. You don't need to learn C# if you are doing JAVA.

I can't figure out how to convert a C file into assembly on windows and I don't feel like going all the way to my ubuntu partition just to type GCC -S

[trumaestro]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

ehhh i'll try some of these in perl and see how it goes..

[emerald000]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

For izzy:

	.file	"helloworldgolf.c"
	.section	.rodata
.LC0:
	.string	"Hello, world!"
	.text
.globl main
	.type	main, @function
main:
	pushl	%ebp
	movl	%esp, %ebp
	andl	$-16, %esp
	subl	$16, %esp
	movl	$.LC0, (%esp)
	call	puts
	leave
	ret
	.size	main, .-main
	.ident	"GCC: (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.4.4-14ubuntu5) 4.4.5"
	.section	.note.GNU-stack,"",@progbits

	.file	"helloworldformatted.c"
	.section	.rodata
.LC0:
	.string	"Hello, world!"
	.text
.globl main
	.type	main, @function
main:
	pushl	%ebp
	movl	%esp, %ebp
	andl	$-16, %esp
	subl	$16, %esp
	movl	$.LC0, (%esp)
	call	puts
	leave
	ret
	.size	main, .-main
	.ident	"GCC: (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.4.4-14ubuntu5) 4.4.5"
	.section	.note.GNU-stack,"",@progbits

Exactly the same.

[Izzy]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

Figured they would be at least 95% of the same, but exactly the same pretty much proves my point. Although shouldn't one of them call printf? Or does printf really get turned into a puts if it doesn't need printf's capabilities?

Not that codegolf can't be interesting and amusing, it just doesn't make the code "better" or more efficient.

[emerald000]

Re: Codegolf: Write the shortest code you can

I actually put puts in both of them. But using printf results in the same thing (with printf instead of puts obviously).

And 100 lines of code will usually be a lot easier to work with than 4 nested loops on a single line.