On Saturday 03 February 2007 21:22, Andrew Savige wrote:
> --- ô Great Ton wrote:
> > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> >
> > "Robin Houston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >> On the subject of new golf, I wonder if you golfers all know about
> >> http://codegolf.com?
> >>
> >> The rules are not quite the same as traditional Perl golf: the most
> >> important difference is that the whole of the shebang line counts
> >> towards the size, which effectively penalises the use of switches
> >> by seven strokes ("#!perl" + the newline) and makes the }{ business
> >> less useful.
> >
> > That's the major issue stopping me.
> > A 7 stroke penalty to use options is just too much.
>
> Agreed.
You know, I'm pretty sure that if I was to visit some remote region of
Scotland, I'd find a pub. In that pub, I'm fairly certain I'd find a
congregation of old geezers, comfortably seated at a table in the back and
craddling pints of bitter in diverse states of draininess. And if I
discreetly, very discreetly scoot close to that group and perk my ear, I'd
probably hear them passionately bemoan how those darned foreigners are
butchering that old, venerable sport that Golf is...
(I'd like to say that this parallel was meant to bring in the point of
acceptance and tolerance of diversity, but the truth is, the mental image of
everyone present wearing kilt just cracks me up ;-) )
> Challenges are always open
>
> This regrettable rule ruins the game of golf because:
>
> 1) It robs you of the joy of the post mortem: the joy of learning new
> Perl tricks, the joy of discovering what the heck ô Great Ton was
> up to, and perhaps the greatest joy of all, the joy of teasing
> `/anick about making a blunderific Mr Magoo ... again.
As if you ever needed to see my code to tease me in the first place. ;-P
True, the Codegolf challenges does bereft the contestants of all those
fun,
not to mention educative, collaterals. But, on the other hand, they do allow
for contemplative golfing. Without a time limit, one can grow one's solution
like a bonzai tree. Slowly nipping a character here, binding an algorithm
there, and generally returning to it whenever one feels the need for a little
code Zen.
> 2) It imposes no limit on how much time you spend on a challenge.
> Though perhaps not a problem for well-adjusted folks, I fear an
> obsessive personality may spend far more time than they can afford
> on a challenge, resulting in chronic distress in their personal life.
> With the traditional one week tournament, at least you are strictly
> limited in how much time you waste.
Pfah. Humbug! Golfing is not *that* addictive. You just have to-- hey,
did
they posted a new entry this morning? Ooooh... A Roman-to-decimal rehash of
the Fonality tournament. Aah.. Emm... Do you mind if we pursue this
conversation later on? I suddenly remember I have things to do...
Joy,
`/anick
