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Talk:Longest string challenge: Difference between revisions
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: "The only datatypes you may are use are integer and string. In particular, you may not use lists."
:: To avoid semantic arguments, "lists" means lists/arrays/vectors in the broader sense. However, clearly in the case of C, where strings are arrays of characters, this needs to be relaxed a bit. Using arrays for other than strings would be a cheat here. --[[User:Dgamey|Dgamey]] 12:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
== Not pointless ==
I had to chuckle at the comment on the C submission as I think it proves the point quite well. Clearly, I need to document the point better :)
: While I think about how to word it, let me explain. This site allows people to compare implementations in different languages. Restrictions force people to find other ways. To choose the road less traveled. Now this may require a technique that would be useful in some other problem but perhaps overkill in the simple unrestricted case. This can show people different techniques. The C contribution's cmp procedure is a case in point (I think). My C is very rusty (entirely seized up) and it doesn't look like a cheat to me. But I only have an inkling of how it may work. I'd have to crack my old copy of K&R and scratch my head a bit for it to be clear. A fluent C programmer would 't need to, but on the other hand they wouldn't be on this site to read code. Where I failed in the task description is to require people to provide some description of how they got around the restriction so that people coming from other languages will be able to understand. I'll add this to the task description. --[[User:Dgamey|Dgamey]] 13:01, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
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