Editing Talk:1960: Code Golf

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What's the programming language? It seems to me like a special reverse golf variant of Python, where <code>def</code> is replaced by <code>define</code>, just to make it longer. Or is there a real language with that syntax? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.106|172.68.110.106]] 08:40, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
:  Lisp/some derivatives (I'm most familiar with scheme) use <code>define<define></code> as does Slate, however both have a different syntax.   Most likely, this is just pseudo-code. [[User:Baldrickk|Baldrickk]] ([[User talk:Baldrickk|talk]]) 09:59, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Definitely going to have to include a link to the actual longest language: Unary, which is literally just a certain length of 1s. No one actually writes in it: you write in another language and then it gets converted. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 10:48, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
: You could make a longer programming language by representing "1" with some longer string; perhaps the entire text of Moby Dick. And now the file size can be arbitrarily big. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.230.100|198.41.230.100]] 16:45, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
:: Though this idea is still quite compressible. It might be better (?) to make a language where the file size cannot be easily significantly compressed.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.25.106|172.68.25.106]] 16:48, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

This might be directed at a code golfing challenge currently taking place: https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/152856/write-moby-dick-approximately. The goal is to write a program that outputs a text, that is as closly as possible to moby dick, while no containing it, and of course beeing as small as possible.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.150|141.101.105.150]] 13:04, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Not sure why JSFuck is included in the explanation.  Not sure how it really has any relevance here as it is not mentioned in the text and is not the programming language being used by Randall in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.94|108.162.216.94]] 13:18, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

: agreed, JSFuck is not relevant in the explanation. moved it to the discussion (see below) [[User:Thawn|Thawn]] ([[User talk:Thawn|talk]]) 13:56, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

:: Instead of {{w|Python (programming language)|Python}}, one could use {{w|JSFuck}} though, which is valid {{w|JavaScript}} code - but written with only six different characters. Even mundane variable names like `LowestDenominator` will take up hundreds, if not thousands, of bytes in JSFuck. {{unsigned|Comment Police}}

Off Topic: I just realized that statistical thermodynamics is nothing else than reverse molecule golf: The entropy of a given system is equal to the maximum score you can achieve in reverse molecule golf. [[User:Thawn|Thawn]] ([[User talk:Thawn|talk]]) 13:56, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Seems like Java programmers play this game all the time.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.100|162.158.234.100]] 20:13, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Someone made everyone's comments monospaced. Please fix this. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.230.100|198.41.230.100]] 14:24, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
:Fixed [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.26|162.158.155.26]] 15:52, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
:They just wanted to play reverse comments golf with the comments section by making the comments take as much space as possible. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.76|162.158.126.76]] 15:56, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

This is called Code Bowling.

I would like to point out that there may be a ReCaptcha site shutdown? It will occur on the 1st of March (maybe). [[User:QATEKLYXM|QATEKLYXM]]

Is the explanation thinking of miniature golf when it mentions a hedge or border and the need for a ramp? In actual golf you can easily hit the ball through the air with almost every single club...and just as easily hit it off of the golf course.
[[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.64|172.69.62.64]] 15:11, 27 February 2018 (UTC)]

Curious Georges also likes Reverse Regular Golf! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.232|108.162.237.232]] 02:18, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

I found this xkcd confusing because there appears to be no obvious limiting principal. The code in the panel is written verbosely, but it could easily be a word longer, a paragraph longer, a page longer, a chapter longer, an entire book longer. Nor is skill (or chance!) particularly required to do such a thing [I suppose in "blinded reverse code golf" the question might be to guess how much length your opponents would bother to express and then to top that]. The result is I feel confused. Maybe my standards for humor are too high, but maybe, also, I'm just missing something here? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 12:02, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
: +1 [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:07, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
: I think that is the joke: what a stupidly bad game reverse code golf is. ditto for reverse regular golf. Or a dumb excuse for writing unreasonably long code/playing with a golfball in random settings [[ User:00N8 ]]

No mention of The International Obfuscated C Code Contest? It's about as close to reverse code golf as there is. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.255.158|172.68.255.158]] 14:20, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

If Randall plays Reverse Golf while playing out-of-bounds, and that means he's getting at least one penalty stroke for every regular, out-of-bounds stroke, it seems to me he perfectly well understood the rules of both golf and reverse golf. He's gaining strokes at twice the regular speed. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.17|141.101.104.17]] 15:49, 28 February 2018 (UTC)
:this guy gets it [[ 00N8 ]]

I was so confused by this comic it took me a few minutes to figure out "This was the first comic in the My Hobby series for over a year" is supposed to read "''in'' over a year" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.95|108.162.221.95]] 05:43, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

Code golf is the attempt to use as few *key-strokes* as possible, that makes the analogy with regular golf strokes clearer.  (currently reads "Code golf is the attempt to use as few characters as possible") [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.103|162.158.154.103]] 15:16, 19 September 2018 (UTC)

To me, "reverse regular golf" is starting with the ball in the hole, and you need to get it out and to the starting position in as little hits as possible. the second part of the title text is explained by how its very difficult to get the club into the whole and hit the ball out of it. maybe add this to explanation? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.193|108.162.221.193]] 11:53, 14 September 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
Isn't the code obviously a reference to "Moby Dick"? I think this should be added to the "Trivia" section. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.82|172.70.211.82]] 18:39, 14 September 2022 (UTC)