Problem 30. Sort a list of complex numbers based on far they are from the origin.

Thanks for sharing

does any of this regexp trickery translate to practical application?

i understanding the importance of hacking but that's not really the point for applying regexp (you're not trying to improve your hacking skills via the Cody platform)

So I must go back to your first point about being the #1 ranked player, why is being ranked #1 on Cody so important to you?

in my mind, the most "efficient" solution is meant to offer those who wrote alternative algorithms an opportunity to learn something new, so that's why there's a desire to float the solution with the minimum size

as for having the highest Cody score, that doesn't necessarily require having the smallest solution for each problem. having the smallest solution earns a badge but not extra points every time (I may be wrong?), so the goal of having the highest Cody score actually has nothing to do with also earning the smallest solution for each puzzle.

conclusion - if you want to game Cody to earn points for a leaderboard that translates to nothing, have at it. it's your freedom of expression. but doesn't it seem a little selfish to also want your name at the top of every problem and prevent learning opportunities for others?

that's why people gripe about regexp, it's not because they care about leaderboards, it's because they want to learn and the regexp tricker doesn't offer any learning for algorithm writing. it's just a cheat to see your name on the internet more.

@Josh Cody recently gained a "community-preferred solutions" feature for just the reason you describe: in order to highlight solutions that offer others an opportunity to learn something new, and to take away the focus from size as the major (or only) relevant metric for assessing solutions. Cody isn't golf. (That said, golf is often part of the fun. THAT said, solution such as this aren't even good golf.)

What's really ironic about the whole thing is that when wielded correctly, regular expressions are a powerful and useful tool, yet this kind of cheat has made some problem creators rule out their use in the solutions of problems, even those problems where regular expressions are genuinely appropriate.