Competition

[RandomCoder]

Erel,

I didn't know whether this should go in the B4PPC Wishlist or here in the Forum Discussion, but anyway here it is - How do you feel about setting a little competition???

I was thinking along the lines of a small task, maybe with optional extra's for the more experienced amongst us.
A new thread could be started with guidelines to what is required and the time allowed (probably a month).
All those that have attempted the task could post their code in the same Thread for all to see.

There would be no overall winner, if you completed the task successfully then you would be a winner in your own right.
The benefit of this is that it would encourage some healthy competition and we would get to see many ways of completing the same task which can only help improve our coding.

I'm afraid that I'm short of idea's, but hopefully my fellow forumites will assist here. Simple tasks using only one library would probably be best to start off with.

Anyone else up for a bit of fun????

Regards,
RandomCoder

[Cableguy]

Count me in......

[Erel]

Why don't you throw the idea?
I will join as a competitor

[RandomCoder]

I'll put my thinking cap on, just thought it might be a good idea, especially when introducing new libraries etc.

The first one wants to be pretty simple and fun to do, so that as many people as possible can join in.
There's always more than one way of doing things and so I thought it would be interesting to see what other people come up with.
In my book, if it works then its right. But of course some solutions are far more elegant than others.

Regards,
RandomCoder.

[Erel]

The winner could be the one with the shortest code (least number of lines).

[dzt]

...I will join as a competitor

I fear for undocumented features

[bdiscount]

Readable code should also count(comments etc)

[RandomCoder]

I wasn't thinking of a winner being nominated, it's just for fun!
Of course I'm sure there will be plenty of praise for the most ingenuous approach and clever code, maybe even some

Like I said before, if the program achieves the required task then your a winner in your own right.

The best idea I've come up with so far is to write a calculator application - no libraries allowed.

I know that there's an example scientific calculator on the B4PPC website (http://www.basic4ppc.com/Downloads.html) and installed with BPPC in the samples folder.
But this is quite a neat little problem with probably many different solutions.

Here's the sort of lines I was thinking along...

1st requirement

- basic mathematics - "+" "-" "*" "/"

2nd requirement

- Trig functions -"Sin" "Cos" "Tan" (inverse ones too if you want)

3rd requirement

- Conversions - "Degrees to fahrenheit" "miles to kilometers" (and all the rest )

4th requirement

......

Please suggest some more idea's and will opt for the most popular.
What say we leave it till Friday to come up with ideas and choose one then over Saturday/Sunday we can all define the requirements ready to set sail on Monday.

PS. what chance do we stand if Erel also fancies giving it a go

Regards,
RandomCoder.

[Erel]

I like your idea and I'm sure that it won't be an easy competition.

[RandomCoder]

I'd like to set something that should have levels of difficulty for everyone.
There's quite a few new members joined lately (I myself only joined in May) and I'd like them to feel that they can have a go along with some of the older members.

I also thought that it would be a great idea to promote new libraries.

After this first task and if it proves popular then I thought we might use the HTTP library or whichever library the other members would prefer to use.
There's some real potential to gain experience from other peoples attempts at programming the same task.

I'm glad that there has been some interest already in the idea

Regards,
RandomCoder.