VCCC2023: Christmas Challenge

[Diminished]

VCCC2023compo.png (6.3 KiB) Viewed 37514 times

Oh come, all ye faithful.

https://logiker.com/Vintage-Computing-C ... lenge-2023

"A small programming contest that will run from Monday, 4.12.2023 until Monday, 25.12.2023."

Last year saw the great Acorn choir in good voice, with many Acorn entries proving quite competitive, so it would be nice to duplicate or exceed that success this year.

Most coders submitting entries tend to focus on minimising code size, but feel free to set whatever personal goals you like for this challenge. You can submit an official entry to Logiker, but you don't have to.

BASIC users should measure code size for submission by typing PRINT TOP-PAGE at a BASIC prompt.

Please do not discuss details of techniques, reveal code sizes, or share any code etc., before the official judging is complete.

(For reference, last year's thread is here).

[BeebMaster]

Looking forward to this! Good luck everyone!

[JohnH]

Well I've had a little go at this and come up with a small basic program which works but I'm struggling to find simple ways to compress the data, it just doesn't seem very compressible without a complex decompression algorithm which then defeats the purpose of compressing it

[roland]

For the standard Atom this is a real challenge, we only have 16 lines on the screen
Of course, we can use software like VDU2440 or the 80 column boards….

[BeebMaster]

I don't think it necessarily has to be done using text characters, it could perhaps be done using graphics instead.

[roland]

That's s true, but it won't make the code shorter or more efficient compared to the other Acorn computers with at least 20 lines per screen. Still, I'm thinking about a short as possible routine to print this pattern.

[Phil_G]

deleted

[BigEd]

Hmm, should you have published that so soon?

[BeebMaster]

I think not. I hereby Tut.

[Phil_G]

You only see the result, which is (or should be ) exactly the same for everyone who enters.
Source code and binary size are the crucial secrets!

[BigEd]

Ah right, maybe that's different then. Of course I didn't view it. Must avoid spoilers at all costs.

[Simon]

I'm having quite a bit of fun with this one.

[Diminished]

I haven't looked at it yet. Too busy working on B-Em. :(

[regregex]

Submitted a couple of entries. I took a slightly different approach this year and didn't go all out for minimal code size; while still compact, one entry does a tiny amount of housekeeping while the other strives for economical beauty.

That said, it's nice to see the other competitors' entries and the systems they're submitted on. Best of luck to everyone taking part.

Greg

[fuzzel]

That's me done. A few iterations and I really don't think I'll be able to make any further improvements. I do have a quandary though about a technique I've used - it may not be strictly legit. Btw, I've written mine in Basic and after a brief think about an assembly language version I doubt I could program a smaller version. Roll on Boxing Day!

[BigEd]

What are the odds that you'll suddenly realise you had just one more bright idea, some time in the next couple of days? That's how it went with me.

[BeebMaster]

That's why I haven't sent mine in yet, which I did at the beginning of the week and hasn't really advanced since then!

[flaxcottage]

Just had a go and developed this formula to work out the minimum number of bytes in my program

.

Formula.jpg (3.72 KiB) Viewed 36996 times

nb is the number of bytes needed, n is the number of BASIC keywords used and x is the number of stars displayed.

I managed to shave off 4 bytes just by reducing n by 1.

[BigEd]

I know how tempting it is to say something about how you tackled a problem like this, but the guidance is very clear - don't share, until the deadline. Even if it's a clever obfuscated or indirect spoiler, it's still a spoiler.

[flaxcottage]

Sorry, it was my sense of humour.

That equation is absolutely meaningless, algebra babble but looks impressive. Even the explanation does not make sense (I hope, else I have just discovered the formula for the meaning of life!)

I consider my wrist slapped.

[JohnH]

I tried a different approach to my initial, easy to code, easy to understand, program. But I can't quite get it to work. I need to do some proof of concept tests to see what part is going wrong. If I can't figure it out maybe someone can take a look at it after the deadline and see if I'm bonkers or just not a very good coder

[fuzzel]

What are the odds that you'll suddenly realise you had just one more bright idea, some time in the next couple of days? That's how it went with me.

100%. I had a lightbulb moment on a walk last night and managed to shave another ten bytes off.

[Diminished]

Well, I've made a start. I don't think I'll be winning any awards.

I've added a note to the first post that BASIC users should measure their code size as TOP - PAGE.

[JohnH]

Managed to get my non-working code working It's about 2/3 the size of my first go and 14 bytes smaller than my best effort last year so I think I'm done, barring any flashes of inspiriation. But I'll give it a day or so before I submit just in case

[Rich Talbot-Watkins]

Last year I managed to find an absurd way to plot the Christmas tree star using discrete cosine transform. Can't think of an equally absurd way to do this one so I'll probably stop now with the boring solution that I've got.

[Diminished]

Nope

[JohnH]

That reminds me of the creature from vision on or take hart made from signatures.

[regregex]

What are the odds that you'll suddenly realise you had just one more bright idea, some time in the next couple of days? That's how it went with me.

I had one yesterday and, exhausted from Christmas shopping, coded it up to see what it weighed. It was a shade heavier.

Even if it hadn't been, I've resolved to stick with my submissions and not kick myself.

[Phil_G]

How about a score multiplier based on the number of days before the 25th when the entry was submitted!

[JohnH]

Found a new way to do it that shaves 3 bytes off my best previous effort but I am completely out of ideas now, but we'll see what a sleep can do