What techniques are used in solving code golf problems?

Posted by Lord Torgamus on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Lord Torgamus
Published on 2010-09-02T05:57:38Z Indexed on 2010/12/27 13:00 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 330

Filed under:

code-golf

|

technique

"Regular" golf vs. code golf:

Both are competitions. Both have a well-defined set of rules, which I'll leave out for simplicity. Both have well-defined goals; in short, "use fewer hits/characters than your competitors."

To win matches, athletic golfers rely on

equipment
- Some situations call for a sand wedge; others, a 9-iron.
techniques
- The drive works better when your feet are about shoulder width apart and your arms are relaxed.
and strategies
- Sure, you could take that direct shortcut to the hole... but do you really want to risk the water hazard or sand bunker when those trees are in the way and the wind is so strong? It might be better to go around the long way.

What do code golfers have that's analagous to athletic golfers' equipment, techniques and strategies?

Sample answer to get this started: use the right club! Choose GolfScript instead of C#.

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about code-golf

Code Golf: Collatz Conjecture

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Inspired by http://xkcd.com/710/ here is a code golf for it. The Challenge Given a positive integer greater than 0, print out the hailstone sequence for that number. The Hailstone Sequence See Wikipedia for more detail.. If the number is even, divide it by two. If the number is odd, triple… >>> More
Code Golf - p day

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
The Challenge The shortest code by character count to display a representation of a circle of radius R using the *character, followed by an approximation of p. Input is a single number, R. Since most computers seem to have almost 2:1 ratio you should only output lines where y is odd. The approximation… >>> More
Code Golf - PI day

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
The Challenge The shortest code by character count to display a representation of a circle of radius R using the *character. Followed by an approximation of pi Input is a single number, R Since most computers seem to have almost 2:1 ratio you should only output lines where y is odd. The approximation… >>> More
Code Golf: Triforce

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
This is inspired by/taken from this thread: http://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/603383 The Problem Assume the user gives you a numeric input ranging from 1 to 7. Input should be taken from the console, arguments are less desirable. When the input is 1, print the following: *********** *********… >>> More
Code Golf: Tic Tac Toe

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Post your shortest code, by character count, to check if a player has won, and if so, which. Assume you have an integer array in a variable b (board), which holds the Tic Tac Toe board, and the moves of the players where: 0 = nothing set 1 = player 1 (X) 2 = player 2 (O) So, given the array b… >>> More

Related posts about technique

MySql View Technique for Grouping Crosstab Column Data

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Learn a technique to fetch column data for MySQL crosstabs by emulating views. By replacing tables with a subquery subset, the resulting view will contain a limited dataset that has been filtered for that column field. >>> More
MySql View Technique for Grouping Crosstab Column Data

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Learn a technique to fetch column data for MySQL crosstabs by emulating views. By replacing tables with a subquery subset, the resulting view will contain a limited dataset that has been filtered for that column field. >>> More
What is your unique programming problem-solving style? [closed]

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Everyone has their own styles and technique for approaching and solving real world problems. These distinguish us from other people or other programmers. (Actually, I think it make us more desirable as programmers and improves computer science) To improve, we read a lot of books; for example, programming… >>> More
What techniques are used in solving code golf problems?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
"Regular" golf vs. code golf: Both are competitions. Both have a well-defined set of rules, which I'll leave out for simplicity. Both have well-defined goals; in short, "use fewer hits/characters than your competitors." To win matches, athletic golfers rely on equipment Some situations call… >>> More
A new CAPTCHA using sentences?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I was just thinking about how recaptcha is getting harder when I thought about another posible solution. Images won't last forever so we will need something else some day - like human logic or emotion. Google and others are trying grouping images by category (find the image that doesn't belong) but… >>> More