Change of focus towards educating?

[SirWumpus]

@lcn2 I recall some where deep some issue some mention/ statement that the IOCCC is looking to focus more on educating or some such.

• Is this the case?

• Will this be a considering factor in judging?

• Should there be a statement in the Guidelines under Hints And Suggestions if so?

[xexyl]

@lcn2 I recall some where deep some issue some mention/ statement that the IOCCC is looking to focus more on educating or some such.

• Is this the case?

You recall correctly.

• Will this be a considering factor in judging?

I would like to know this too although my understanding is that it's more that the presentation of entries are more clear like not having the remarks rot13d.

There are exceptions of course like my Enigma machine (although I gave the key).

• Should there be a statement in the Guidelines under Hints And Suggestions if so?

If it does impact judging then I would think this is a very good idea.

I dimly recall something about it in the FAQ: something about no longer wanting rot13d remarks. So even if it doesn't affect judging it should probably be in the guidelines.

Besides grammar issues that I will hopefully be working on in the next day or two (as the other things are taking longer so it's probably not worth delaying it further) I possibly have an update there anyway.

Maybe if I have time and energy I can start working on that issue today. Although I do have to do some other things (out of the ordinary) today.

I am glad you brought this up because I kind of had forgotten about these things! I know just what to say about the educational part in the guidelines too.

So I will hopefully be able to do that in a bit. It is unclear if I will get it committed today. That depends on a number of factors.

Anyway yes your recollection is indeed correct. Actually there was discussion about later on having syntax highlighting and a way (again with the exceptions) for rot13 text to be unrot13d (although I actually did undo some because of the fact that the IOCCC is moving away from that).

[SirWumpus]

Well I wasn't so concerned about Rot13 blocks of text, those can be solved with answers in another file or something pushed to way to the end of documentation.

I was think more about what submissions demonstrate and document and help programmers learn new ways to look at a problem, or elegant data structures, or make as us laugh, and maybe some C coding tricks that should be avoided in real life work.

I had a thought / point about this when I posted, but have misplaced it during lunch.

[xexyl]

Well I wasn't so concerned about Rot13 blocks of text, those can be solved with answers in another file or something pushed to way to the end of documentation.

I was think more about what submissions demonstrate and document and help programmers learn new ways to look at a problem, or elegant data structures, or make as us laugh, and maybe some C coding tricks that should be avoided in real life work.

I had a thought / point about this when I posted, but have misplaced it during lunch.

Hopefully it'll come up later after Landon replies.

I can't do anything here today after all but tomorrow should be better assuming we have power (it's quite possible we won't).

Best wishes on the rest of your day!

[lcn2]

Well I wasn't so concerned about Rot13 blocks of text, those can be solved with answers in another file or something pushed to way to the end of documentation.

I was think more about what submissions demonstrate and document and help programmers learn new ways to look at a problem, or elegant data structures, or make as us laugh, and maybe some C coding tricks that should be avoided in real life work.

I had a thought / point about this when I posted, but have misplaced it during lunch.

Fair question, @SirWumpus

Yes, the old notion of "spoiler warning" his gone.

As the your related question, the guidelines do state:

You are better off explaining what your submission does in your remarks.md file section
rather than leaving it obscure for the [judges](https://www.ioccc.org/judges.html) as we
might miss something and/or be too tired to notice.

And for a while now, the guidelines state:

It is a very good idea to, in your remarks.md file, tell us why you think your submission is
obfuscated. This is particularly true if your submission has some very subtle obfuscations
that we might otherwise overlook. <<– Hint!

So sure, educational are probably useful to put in the remarks.md and are helpful to
those studying code in the future.

[xexyl]

Well I wasn't so concerned about Rot13 blocks of text, those can be solved with answers in another file or something pushed to way to the end of documentation.

I was think more about what submissions demonstrate and document and help programmers learn new ways to look at a problem, or elegant data structures, or make as us laugh, and maybe some C coding tricks that should be avoided in real life work.

I had a thought / point about this when I posted, but have misplaced it during lunch.

Fair question, @SirWumpus

Yes, the old notion of "spoiler warning" his gone.

As the your related question, the guidelines do state:

You are better off explaining what your submission does in your remarks.md file section

rather than leaving it obscure for the [judges](https://www.ioccc.org/judges.html) as we

might miss something and/or be too tired to notice.

And for a while now, the guidelines state:

It is a very good idea to, in your remarks.md file, tell us why you think your submission is

obfuscated. This is particularly true if your submission has some very subtle obfuscations

that we might otherwise overlook. <<– Hint!

So sure, educational are probably useful to put in the remarks.md and are helpful to

those studying code in the future.

If I may: yes you're right @lcn2 but: those remarks are quite a bit older and the educational aspect you brought up to me first in either 2022 or 2023 so there is a difference. Iirc there might be something in the FAQ about it too although I would have to check specifics.

I have a thought about this but I will have to be at the computer first which is not going to happen for probably at least another half an hour and even then I probably won't get to it immediately. But I hope to get to it today.

Hoping actually to work on the grammar issues but that really depends.

But for now I have other things I have to do.