From: James Edward Gray II <james@...>
Date: 2005-04-23T01:43:17+09:00
Subject: Re: [QUIZ] HighLine (#29)

On Apr 22, 2005, at 10:56 AM, Ryan Leavengood wrote:

> James Edward Gray II wrote:
>> On Apr 22, 2005, at 9:24 AM, Francis Hwang wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Not that this necessarily mitigates the educational value of this
>>> Quiz, but: EasyPrompt sort of does what you're saying below.
>>>
>>> http://easyprompt.rubyforge.org/
>>
>>
>> Thanks for the link.  I wasn't aware of this project.  I like it.
>
> Given the existence of this library, do we still want to proceed with 
> this
> Quiz? :)

Heck yeah!  Take a glance back at what I didn't know when I ran the 
Quoted Printable quiz and it turned out just fine.  If we used what I 
don't know as a barrier, there wouldn't be any quizzes!  ;)

> I suppose it will be worth it simply because we will see various
> implementations and APIs for this concept, even if we are duplicating
> EasyPrompt.

I wouldn't declare EasyPrompt robust.  Did you glance at the API?  It's 
well... Easy.  :)  I'm confident I can add features to it in under an 
hour.  It's not even capable of some of the ideas I'm tossing around in 
the quiz.

What it did do for me, was give me more ideas.  Have yourself a look, 
then think bigger...  :)

> But sometimes I think programmers have too much of a penchant for
> continually re-inventing the wheel...

We all know that's a good coding habit, but I really don't think it 
applies much to Ruby Quiz.

To me, Ruby Quiz is about writing regular code to keep our skills in 
shape.  The goal is to find interesting exercises to support that.  I 
use a lot of methods to find them.  Sometimes, I dream them up (like 
this week).  Some are suggested.

Other times I adapt challenges I've seen elsewhere.  Obviously, these 
have been worked before, some even in Ruby.  No big deal.  If I ruled 
out all those ideas, we would miss out on some great little puzzles 
that have taught me a lot.  That's how I know they're good and worth 
using.  They're proven.  By contrast, some of my ideas flop and nobody 
works them.

Ruby Quiz isn't a professional software coding assignment.  (You 
certainly won't be paid for it!)  It's gaming for super geeks.  Use it 
to sharpen your reflexes.  Give yourself little challenges going in:  
"This will be the sexiest solution to prime numbers ever written; I'll 
solve this sucker in five lines; this weather program will scrape and 
digitally modify Google's satellite photos to add rain and snow above 
your own house, because I can do that and it would be awesome; etc."  
Then when the big job comes along, you'll have all those experiences to 
draw on, putting you that much ahead in the big game.  (I've actually 
adapted quiz solutions to job problems!)

"Of course, that's just my opinion.  I could be wrong."  --Dennis Miller

James Edward Gray II