what do you guys thing about DUELS!!??

[inkedmn]

ok, this is a brainstorm at best...

s/storm/fart

anyway, i was thinking that there are quite a few accomplished programmers here, some that are intermediate, and some beginning. why not pit 2 coders against each other for a knock-down, drag-out CODE-OFF??!!?

it could either be one person challenging another, or a third party proposing a challenge between two programmers here...

i JUST thought of this like 3 seconds ago, so it may be the crappiest idea on earth, but then again, it may not :)


anyway, let me know what you think!

[Strike]

Interesting, but how would it be done? Language-specific? Speed over correctness?

[stuka]

yeah....and who's got the free time? (ok, some of y'all might)

[inkedmn]

i think that could be determined on a duel-by-duel basis, by the person(s) proposing or participating in the duel.

say, for instance that vince challenged me to a DUEL (:)). he might say "you do java, i'll do python. fastest code wins" or "we both do python, most correct code wins".

or, kmj could propose a challenge between strike and dru and lay out his idea for objective and how the winner would be determined (obviously, nobody HAS to accept a challenge. but they'd be wusses if they didn't ;)).

eh?

[GnuVince]

Inkedmn, we do a challenge. Fastest program wins. We have to sort a list of 1 million elements. I use O'Caml, you use Excel.

[Strike]

Well, we could do it TopCoder style, and have it in two stages - Time to complete the challenge in stage 1, and in stage 2 you can break down your opponent's program by providing inputs/test cases where it doesn't meet certain criteria. Check out topcoder.com for more detail

[gufmn]

I think it's a cool idea. Just so long as the match ups are fair. Even though I know I would lose them all, it would be a fun way to learn.

My first challenge is for Dru and Strike. Any task, any language. Bring it on baby!

</glutton for punishment>

[Strike]

Originally posted by gufmn
My first challenge is for Dru and Strike. Any task, any language. Bring it on baby!
Both of us? :)

[recluse]

Well IMHO, (yah everyone stopped reading at this point didn't they?) It would be best to create situations that were most similar (same language) if you're goin for speed. But I don't think that should be stressed I mean what's the point of a speed contest between C and Ruby? As far as the correctness of code goes I think it's a great idea. The topcoder idea of trying to break the opponents program is pretty killer.

[inkedmn]

we could also do "fewest lines of code" for the scripting languages :)

that might be fun...

[Strike]

Originally posted by inkedmn
we could also do "fewest lines of code" for the scripting languages :)

that might be fun...
Bah, I hate things like "Perl golf" where you try and make it in as few characters as possible.

[gufmn]

Originally posted by Strike
Both of us? :)

Are you afraid?

</in over my head>

[madMoney]

sounds like a pretty cool idea ;) i need some motivation

and i could do to learn a few new languages... ruby and python look useful... hmm maybe something functional would be interesting. anyway, back to the topic

another cool thing to base it on: speed to completion. this would be best if the two could meet in an IRC channel, and both be given a relatively simple task at the same time. whichever comes first, while meeting the exact specifications for input and output. sounds sorta XP-ish

[inkedmn]

madMoney:

i like that idea...

sounds reminiscent of TopCoder in a way...

[a_priebe47]

That's probably the best idea I've heard all day. (literally)
Anyone want to challenge me to a "hello, world" script in Python? Eh? That's what I though;) .

[kryptech.net]

Sounds cool... lets try some Advanced languages like C++
or C or how about some Game programming

[sirking]

LMAO

[gufmn]

Originally posted by sirking
LMAO

There are 2 pages to this thread. That means quite a few people are subscribed to it. The last post was over a year ago. If you're going to re-hash an old thread like this, try to make sure it's with something a little more substantial than "LMAO".

</my 2 cents>