Simon Kammler is ready for a Certificate
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Hello all,
It's been almost 3 years since I first logged in to Code Abbey. Many things have happened since then, the change from school to student life, the first job, new programming experience and much more. But one thing hasn't changed in that time and that was occasional nights here on Code Abbey. There have always been phases in which I have programmed more or less, mostly in Java, even though a few other languages have been added in the meantime, Java has brought me to the end here. Through the communication here in the forum, I was even able to immortalise myself a little and suggest a puzzle to other people that might keep them awake one night ;)
Now I would like to address you directly Rodion. As the admin and operator of this site, you provide free education, experience and fun with programming tasks to many people every day. At the same time you are active in the forum, support everyone who needs help and are open-minded towards everything the community brings in suggestions. I will never be able to thank you enough for what you have done with this website. I hope a small donation that will arrive in the next few days will allow you to treat yourself to a huge ice cream and give you back a very very very small part of your work.
Now, after almost three years, I have achieved a goal that was impossible for me for a long time and solved 145 tasks (albeit some with horrible code...).I got new impressions like Brainfuck or Asm4004 and could have destroyed the computer on one or the other day for the fact that the solution still doesn't work after hours of debugging. It was - at least for me - anything but easy to get this far, and after the 145 tasks I will continue to try to solve the tasks step by step in the future, perhaps in another language.
If your tests against copying and cheating from my solutions do not fail, I would be happy to receive a certificate with the name "Simon Kammler" - the same as in the title. Since I come from Germany, a matching flag would also a dream.
Anyway...., I thank you a last time very much for your work here and look forward to the coming time...
Many greetings Simon
Simon, Hi!
Thanks for all your kind words! And very glad that you reached that far! That is impressive as, since I often said, I myself won't have patience to solve that many tasks (for some problems writing checker is easier than solution)!
Yep, that problem about flood was horrible - I initially thought I can't solve it at all. And not sure I can repeat :)
About "tests against copying" - I never came up with something so clever - so checking is done manually in "computer-aided" way - a bit tedious and silly work :) However most often it is possible to detect and hint people to stop wrongdoing after 40-70 tasks, so it is comparatively rarely now that some one take pains to copy 100+ tasks :)
Your certificate is ready at your profile! Thanks once more :)
As the admin and operator of this site, you provide free education
He-he, I know that currently I devote somewhat less time to the site, but I haven't faded out completely. I've progressed through several first levels of The Python Challenge recently and now am thinking of supplementing codeabbey with something alike - a kind of mini coder-quest. E.g. something with similar goal of solving problems but with slightly different framing than "read that long problem statement, write the code, repeat while true". Not sure I'm right thinking this would be interesting - but it's better to try. Changing a dozen of jobs in the course of dozen last years I feel that education projects are the only which I really like. Despite I haven't learnt to cook them well :)
Thank you very much for the certificate, tomorrow it will be printed out, the day after tomorrow it will hang above my desk as motivation ;)
I still don't quite understand how it can be easier to write a checker for a problem than the solution itself...maybe this view will open up for me one day! ;)
The idea of a "Coding - Quest" series is a very interesting thought. If education suits you I hope you can continue to focus on it in the future :) You seem to find it quite easy to inspire other people, CodeAbbbey should be the best proof of that haha ;)
By the way, I'm trying to translate one of the initial problems into German every now and then, tonight I started with task 11 (using the simple way you described on GitHub, I'm not that fine with the platform yet :D ). You asked to post here in the forum, so if you are interested here is the link for the created problem: https://github.com/CodeAbbey/Translations/issues/93
I wish you all the best in your new job and here's to another good time :)
Many greetings
Simon, Hi!
And sorry for slow responding (was too taken by fixing or rather hand-crafting "sandbox" for the site)
don't quite understand how it can be easier to write a checker
Ha-ha, just yesterday came upon idea for one more such task, hopefully I can add it soon.
Generally it is about the class of tasks when program should classify something, or say true / false - about some inputs. E.g. given triads of points, tell whether they form triangle or straight line. Generator could simply randomly switch between generating triangles and lines - but solver need to calculate some geometry.
Or like factorizing integer to large primes. To generate such integer I will randomly choose several large primes - but to split it back solution needs certain efforts, right :)
About translation - sorry I missed and delayed this, will check after walking my dog - she is insisting it's the time :)
Shall be back soon!
P.S. Paypal transferred your donation, thanks! it's much more than cost of even large ice cream (which is comparatively cheap here) so I'll use a bit to pay for CodeAbbey domain name in the end of month! Thanks a lot! Benefactor certificate is added - and I agree they look funny, so feel free to hang it too - I'll tell the girl who designed it!
Sorry, bit delayed, but here is your translation online!
I checked analytics to see that pages in Deutsch were accessed about 50 times during last month - well that's nice to know translation may help some people!
BTW, interesting question - original task is using values 1492 and 1776 which relate to memorable dates in US history... I wonder, should we change them to something "nation-specific" in translations :)
Hey :) i already heard that you are working on a new sandbox, nice that it worked out so fast - probably you learned something new again...so all great :D I understand the point about validation, but don't you have to return more than "true/false" for all tasks but still the expected solution? And thereby the problem is also present again :o Anyway, it works, that's the most important thing ;)
About the translation, thanks a lot! :) By the way, I've translated three other tasks (you can find them all at the GitHub CodeAbbey translation problems) and I'll add more and more when I find time. I don't know how much work you have to do with adding the translations, and if the effort here doesn't match the benefit I understand if you don't add them! :)
Great that the donation arrived, interestingly enough, I used this website to prepare for my internship at a company where I now work. Therefore, the money earned here is well invested and I hope you enjoy your ice ;)
To your last point, the historical years of task 11... Well, as everyone knows, the past in Germany is simply cruel. Due to the takeover of the National Socialists and the following worst years in human history, I am not proud to come from this country. Anyway, I was born long after these things, but they will haunt our history until eternity to work against forgetting.
If you still want to replace the numbers, I would have thought of the following two: In 1871, the German state is founded by proclaiming the Federal Republic. That would be a first important milestone of history. The second year would be 1989 and thus the fall of the Berlin Wall (and the reunification of East and West).
(about sandbox) probably you learned something new again
Well, a bit, yes. You see, it is not a big trick to add functionality to compile and execute code, and add "endpoints" for calling it from site. However it should be done with some degree of security, so that people won't break it (and containing server) inadvertently (or intentionally though this doesn't make much sense).
If you want to feel a bit like a hacker, feel free to examine it and see if you can find ways to misuse it. Perhaps you'll learn something new too :) Just please kindly tell if you are lucky to detect any issues (instead of exploiting them) :)
I've translated three other tasks
Oh, thanks for notifying - and for your effort - they are added now, and look pretty nice! I like to browse lines in German comparing words with English or just amusing with certain long words!
how much work you have to do with adding the translations
Oh, that's pretty simple - I go to github interface, click "create file" in the de folder, copy-paste your text
after brief "visual verification" (I only once corrected some tabulation) and click "commit". Then here in admin's
interface I only need to mark the translation exists - and website downloads it from github, creates links etc.
E.g. it's a matter of 2 minutes - so main work is for translator, of course.
at a company where I now work
oh, that's curious! what is your project/company/duties if not a secret?
Well, as everyone knows, the past in Germany is simply cruel
That's nicely coined phrase, but you can easily put any other country name in place of "Germany" here - and it remains true :)
Due to the takeover of the National Socialists and... not proud...
Oh, you are too hard on your people! Please don't! Let'me share slightly different point of view :)
Don't judge by political history only. German people are admired for their craftmanship (in case you don't know). Here in Russia - we were importing German-made things - toys, instruments, cars, weapons - in various periods of time. During Monarchy - because we had no comparable industrial skills and understanding - during Soviet times as we were technology "outsiders" by the time bolsheviks came to power. I still remember how people prized things made in "DDR".
Even now! Look, three weeks ago we went to few days trip - and we travelled by high-speed train "Lastochka" (swallow) - but despite cute russian name they are produced by Siemens and brought here by ships (we make trains too, but not to comparable degree of perfection). Another example - after one of our cats had broken all tea-pots and sugar-bowls we have - I bought a couple of used shabby metal ones in old-stuff store. And you know what? I found labels on their bottoms - one is "Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik (WMF)" and other "Eduard Hueck" - both over 100 years old (though judging by low price they are not considered "antique").
Additionally I suspect that Russian engineering science inherited a lot from German colleagues - from tool names (like Stangenzirkel) to electronics design notation, musical note names etc. You see, I like my homeland, but as many people I feel we are in many ways indebted to Germany influence during last 300 years.
And as about "National Socialists" - remember, they came to power due to country being in impossibly wrecked state - both by unwise previous goverments - and by cold relations with other European countries after 1-st WW. It just was a chain of factors which went wrong way (due to personalities). Sad story, well, but remember that USA and USSR got to space with the rockets inheriting much technical solutions from German V-2. It's a history, we should learn from it but not blame it :)
Oh, sorry for that much words, I'm a bit emotional :)
Thanks for suggested dates - I think I'll plug them into bit later. As about Berlin wall - I even vaguely remember from my childhood - news of it coming to our old black-and-white TV some day.
Oh, sorry for that much words, I'm a bit emotional :)
It was a pleasure to read the many words ;)
If you want to feel a bit like a hacker
I'll come back to that, but I guess you did such a good job that I won't get very far with my little knowledge about web development :D Still, I think it's quite interesting ;)
E.g. it's a matter of 2 minutes - so main work is for translator, of course.
Good well, if that should be no problem then I will do the translating on occasion again and again. I remember my beginnings on the site, where I was always relatively happy to find a German translation (well, my English wasn't exactly great at the time either). Now I don't mind reading/hearing programming topics in English at all. Sometimes it is much more precise than the german language (for example we don't have a word-same translation for the word "array"). While I'm at it, I read about a "Certificate of Mason for people contributing (as a developer etc) to CodeAbbey related projects". I don't know if translations meet the definition of contributing, but as a developer I'm more likely to not be able to help the site (yet) :D I've never seen such a certificate either, so I'm not sure if it exists at all or if it's just a myth ;) If one day I have translated significantly more puzzles I would be happy about such a certificate for symmetry reasons above my desk wall (and because the certificates just look cool). In the middle is the Stargazer certificate, next to it the Beneficator. A third would round the thing (until another fourth should come sometime) for the time being again :D Don't feel pressured though, the certificates are just a nice wall decoration and I completely understand if you don't want to display another one ;)
oh, that's curious! what is your project/company/duties if not a secret?
No, it's not a secret, even if I better hide the name of the company here ;) It's a consulting company for software and project management. I work as a student trainee in the area of business analysis (mainly quality and defect management), but this year I was also allowed to build the frontend of a small web app. That was a lot of fun and certainly increased my web skills a bit ;)
put any other country name in place of "Germany" here - and it remains true.
I guess that will be true. However, we Germans are often reduced to that time, which hurts.
Oh, you are too hard on your people
Maybe I am. At least in our school lessons the topic is worked up and treated. Nevertheless, sadly, there are people all over the world who hold views similar to those of the National Socialists.
Don't judge by political history only.
These are some examples you list nicely ;) I can not disagree with you about many things from our economy, however, it remains to be seen whether in the future German goods will continue to be so valuable. China starts to buy up the German middle class, develops our technologies further and is in many things now on the same level - if not significantly further. Bureaucracy slows down many processes here and gives away tons of potential. But so far it works and I could be happy to live here...well, if you don't use Berlin Airport as an negative example (I'm not sure how well known the issue is internationally, but in Germany (or maybe...europe?) there is probably no better example of project failure. If u arent familiar with it...give it a try, its worth reading^^).
Anyway Rodion, thank you for your kind words about my home country, they made me look at things from a different point of view.
Simon, Hi again!
I read about a "Certificate of Mason ... so I'm not sure if it exists at all or if it's just a myth
Surprisingly you can find few profiles with it using search box above (I didn't know, just tried myself).
You are right, due to clumsy and mostly closed nature of the project it is hard to contribute as developer, but translations defintely count - feel free to set goal yourself - there never was any specific criteria - just a meek attempt to award people's efforts :)
However currently there is a small chore adequate for python developer (if you want): profile banners are not working anymore, but they were created intentionally as a small side-app. They are broken due to google appengine (where the app was working) have changed once more, I suspect. So the best idea probably would be to modify them to be used via old good CGI - so I shall host the thing on the main site or some free satellite - and they would please people again.
I was also allowed to build the frontend of a small web app. That was a lot of fun and certainly increased my web skills a bit ;)
I'd say it's very good - to work with business-analyst with dev background is much more comfortable, for sure :)
here are people all over the world who hold views similar to those of the National Socialists.
Ha-ha, don't get much frustrated. When I read Old Testament I see such views existed 3500 years ago. We just haven't made much progress. It's just a matter of waiting while people become more clever... perhaps few thousand years more... :)
China starts to buy up the German middle class, develops our technologies further
Yep, they are doing great progress. Perhaps soon we all shall prefer to learn Chinese instead of English. :) But I don't feel inclined to worry about that - they are trying to implement the other invention originating in your country, namely Communism (in which Soviet Union failed miserably) - and while it seems yet very long way, I suspect if people are to become clever, they need ultimately to understand and conform to Marx ideas.
Hm-m-m, now my speech have come to dangerous path - hopefully Google and Facebook won't ban us for mentioning Commies :)
but I guess you did such a good job that
Oh, I guess it is general misconcept. Even good programmers are often poor at hacking and security analysis, moreover I'm really naive in these things. Thus it is natural that if some other person sets on studying the matter "as hacker", certain valuable ideas could be obtained.
I guess many things in internet are not hacked mainly because they are not worth hacking - and this case is similar :)
you can find few profiles with it using search box.
Ahh, thanks for the tip, I did that :) The certificates, like the others, look very nice and even seem to have an individual character.
feel free to set goal yourself
Well, let's say the first 50 most solved puzzles I could translate from time to time :) I think, sooner or later it's not bad for a programmer to have to understand things in English. You can't get around that in your life anyway.
there is a small chore adequate for python developer
That's a nice offer, unfortunately I haven't written a line of code in Python yet :D The language is definitely still on my ToDo list, until then I'm useless though :( I skimmed the forum post at that time and feel, as another user already wrote "too noobie" for the problem :D This would definitely be an interesting task to familiarise myself with and learn how WebApps work, but unfortunately I don't have the time for it besides my full-time studies (and exam period) and my job as a working student :( If the topic is still open until Christmas, I might be able to take a closer look at it, actually you can't say no to an opportunity like this ;)
We just haven't made much progress
Unfortunately true - I don't think I need to say more :(
they need ultimately to understand and conform to Marx ideas
Rodion, you are a fascinating person! This goes deeper into political understanding, not really my forte and definitely too complex a topic to discuss with the attention it deserves. Also democracy - as we live it in Germany is only the least evil. But instead of thinking in such big dimensions and changing entire political systems, I prefer to change my behaviour - and thus indirectly that of my fellow human beings :) In the end, this makes bigger waves than I could dream of ;)
Even good programmers are often poor at hacking and security analysis.
Hacking is certainly one of the more exciting branches of programming. I'm sure with enough creativity (or perhaps a great deal of ill will if you want to exploit things) there's little limit to making anything closed to the big wide internet your own. Anyway - I'm not a good programmer, nor do I have any hacking experience - so maybe I'll look into it some other day :)
Well, let's say the first 50 most solved puzzles I could translate from time to time
I may be wrong but it sounds like quite a number - so while of course you are welcome - don't hesitate to claim the paper after about half of that :)
unfortunately I haven't written a line of code in Python yet
sorry, I obviously confused that you used Java! well, rewriting banners in java isn't too hard, but probably should be left as last resort. also there are less options to easily/freely host java app...
Also democracy - as we live it in Germany is only the least evil.
I believe democracy in Germany is now regarded as one of the best implementations - and it is rightfully deserved :) though I remember Theodor Mommsen (another wise German) in his "History of Rome" (nobel-prize winning, I think) describing Romans struggling with mainly the same social and political issues which we discover with surprise in our modern environment :)
But yeah, it's useless lamentation! As you said:
But instead of thinking ... I prefer to change my behaviour
if only all people should adopt this clever "religion", we shall see a very different world :) haven't you considered becoming teacher/instructor in some local school or university?
I may be wrong but it sounds like quite a number
Yes, maybe you are right. But in this case, there is a goal that I can pursue - a clear end and if I were to set myself a time limit, it would even be SMART - formulated ;)
in his "History of Rome"
A book I'm still completely unfamiliar with, sounds like it would be worth a look :)
haven't you considered becoming a teacher/instructor?
No, I haven't so far :) Although teaching and imparting knowledge is fun, I would like to achieve something myself first - if I wouldn't do that, I don't know why people should learn from me ;) But life is (maybe) long and there are many possibilities to go in this direction later. We'll see what happens :)