Newsgroups: comp.org.acm
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!uw-beaver!fluke!kurt
From: kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth)
Subject: The Programming Contest IS A GAME!!!
Message-ID: <1991May9.004140.1116@tc.fluke.COM>
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
References: <91120.075856TAINT021@ysub.ysu.edu> <9105020134.AA29577@enuxha.eas.asu.edu>
Date: Thu, 9 May 91 00:41:40 GMT

I can't believe all this <expletive> about the programming contest.  How is
football or basketball like real life.  It's a CONTEST.  Y'know, a GAME?  An
artifical (and in fact unnatural) set of constraints placed on the
contestants for the purpose of making the contest lively and exciting?

Watching (or participating in) a programming contest with no time limit
would be as exciting as watching grass grow.  The game is probably more a
test of the knowledge of algorithms than one of coding skill anyway.

It's hard enough to explain to the general public about how a bunch of
computer geeks is going to get together and program for fun.  Telling the
public you'll announce the winner in six months after analyzing the style
and beauty of the code seems anal retentive even for software folks.  Don't
you guys get enough seriousness in your daily lives without trying to kill
what residual fun may be invented in this field.  Geez.  I bet you complain
if the Obfuscated C code isn't prettyprinted.

Kurt Guntheroth