Coding challenge

[Deveant]

yea, might as well have ago at it again, though ill use a better language than actionScript haha

[corcrash]

Well as it is atm there are only 2-3 of us. That could be enough for the start. What do u think?!

[kaizen_0]

i wish people would start doing this again, it would be fun.

[H@L0_F00]

+1 vote for starting this back up again

[Emeryth]

I'm all for it.

I've got an idea: make a game in exactly 101 lines of code, any language.

And perhaps a new thread?

[kaizen_0]

i think a new thread would be good too, i think i suggested that a long time ago.

the game sounds, ok, but needs more detail, and the idea of making extra challenges like certain about of lines, or a limit of size and stuff would be fun.

[kaizen_0]

hmm, we need a new challenge.

[corcrash]

I 'm in if u get this going! We had such a thread on another forum but its dead for long time now! I 'd like to get coding again! :D

[Deveant]

kinda a big issue with the 101 lines restraint. what do you class a line as?

such as when using braces i go:

if (true)
{
   // Code
} else {
}

does that mean one if statment takes up 4 lines of code?

[sablefoxx]

Code Challenge - Starts 8/11/09 - Ends 8/31/09

Write a program in C that changes the desktop background of a Windows XP machine.

Requirements:

1 - Must take command line argument for file path of image (i.e. C:\image.bmp)

2 - Program must not crash on invalid input

3 - Changes must take affect, (at the very latest) on reboot.

Winner is the person who's program uses the fewest characters (white space doesn't count).

Hint

[corcrash]

Ok, i 'm done with the coding. Should i upload the executable and put a link in here or is there any other procedure?

[sablefoxx]

Ok, i 'm done with the coding. Should i upload the executable and put a link in here or is there any other procedure?

Just post source code, no bins.

[corcrash]

Well if i post source, some one could use it for his code. How about we send u the source and u than post them when the time for submission is over?

[Deveant]

he has a good point, how about hold onto the source till the final day, just post screens and your char count?

[corcrash]

Well, its one of the options. But it took me less than 30min to code this one so, if someone gets the code, he can alter it in no-time. So ether we post the bins and the code when the voting is over, or the one that sets the challenge takes the code and posts it for voting. ^_^

[sablefoxx]

Well, its one of the options. But it took me less than 30min to code this one so, if someone gets the code, he can alter it in no-time. So ether we post the bins and the code when the voting is over, or the one that sets the challenge takes the code and posts it for voting. ^_^

Agreed, post screen shots, source code on the last day. I'd still prefer no bins.

[corcrash]

Ok! So, what 's the time limit for this one?! Then i think its no use to post screens of this one...

[Resix]

in the future can we make code challenges that can use any programming language, id laike to participate but can't write any c, only ruby, java and php

[corcrash]

Yeah it would be cool to have more languages, and would get us more participants for sure.

[Resix]

I already have an Idea for the next challenge which should be doable in all languages.

Oh and maybe at the end of the contest the winner of the challenge could post their compiled piece of software cuz not everbody has a c++ compiler or an assembler or knows how to use them.

[corcrash]

Yep! Good word m8! So should i post my code right now so we can finish this one and get Resixs idea going? :D

[Deveant]

-.-' i suck ass at C, the concept is easy enough and i can do it / have it working perfect, just not in C. So if no one else has interest bar corcrash, can the source be posted and we move on to an open language contest with no silly restraints like limited lines / characters which is just bad programming.

Your taught to worry about complexity, and mem managment, not file size of your source.

[Resix]

What'd be really interesting is, coding a program, and the fastest most efficient script wins.

When this contest finishes I'll post my Challenge ;)

[corcrash]

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <string.h>

char image[255];
FILE *file;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    HKEY hKey;
    
    strcpy(image, argv[1]);
            
    if((file = fopen(image, "r"))==NULL){
             printf("The specified file doesn't exist!");
             }
    else
    {
        if(RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Control Panel\\Desktop", 0, KEY_SET_VALUE, &hKey) != ERROR_SUCCESS){
                                       printf("Couldn't open registry!");
                                       }
        else
        {
        RegSetValueEx(hKey, "Wallpaper", 0, REG_SZ, (const unsigned char*)image, sizeof(image));
        RegCloseKey(hKey);
        }
    }
    fclose(file);
    system("RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters");
    printf("Check your background, it should be changed!");
  
  system("PAUSE");    
  return 0;
}

There, this is the code, uncommented but if someone doesn't understand something feel free to ask. The program has only one bug, it crashes when no argument is given. So the usage goes like this, "nameofbin nameofimage", the image has to be a 24-bit BMP (don't ask why, its windows) u wanted the program compact so no place for conversion algorithms. I hope u can get it to work, if not ask and ill try to fix that. ^_^

[corcrash]

So, if no one wants to give us an answer, i would say this one is over. Post your challenge so we can go on.