
C++ Grandmaster Certification Programming Assignment 1 - Suncho
http://www.cppgm.org/pa1.html
======
stiff
Man up HN, whatever they will accomplish in the end, the content is pretty
great so far, no need to bitch and whine. Sad to see most of the derogatory
comments here, when someone out there is actually doing a really cool project.

~~~
agwa
Normally I'd agree with you because HN can be unduly harsh to people
undertaking ambitious projects. However, in this case the people behind this
(CPPGM) are remaining completely anonymous. When you do something as far out
as they're doing, you can't expect people to take you seriously if you remain
anonymous. They need to put their reputation on the line and give us some
reason to trust them that they're not pranksters, recruiters, and/or
delusional.

~~~
stiff
There was a previous submission with the initial announcement, I would
understand the criticism then, but now they actually shipped something, it's
really interesting, and not a single person commented on anything of merit. I
remember my struggles when trying to implement a compiler, and let me tell you
you can already learn some very useful things by studying the git repo they
made available, that would be rather hard to learn otherwise.

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agwa
Previous discussion here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5148895> (where
this was trashed pretty thoroughly).

A few weeks ago the site said enrollments would close on February 15. On Feb
15 it said they would close "Very soon now." Now they close on March 15. That
should indicate how few people are really falling for this.

Edit: hang on - they have a press release claiming they got 10,000 enrollments
and enrollment has been extended due to "popular demand":
<http://www.cppgm.org/news.html>. This is surreal.

~~~
CJefferson
I am positive those 10,000 fall into two groups:

1) People who understand this is impossible, and are interested to see what
they are actually going to do.

2) People who don't realise this is impossible.

~~~
bsaul
Ok, you made me honestly curious. What makes you think writing a tokenizer in
C++ is impossible ? I didn't see any deadline, but is it because of time ?
They even provide some algorithmic hints on how to do it...

~~~
thwest
The project aims to build not just the tokenizer, but a complete compiler and
standard library. None of GCC, Clang, Microsoft or Intel can provide a
complete, bug free C++11 implementation. If you hang out in freenode's ##c++,
you'll see people finding new corner cases every day. It's reasonable to
consider this project impossible for an individual.

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marshray
_Write a C++ application called pptoken that accepts a C++ Source File on
standard input, executes phases 1, 2 and 3 of the Phases of Translation
(defined below), and describes the resulting sequence of preprocessing-tokens
to standard output in the specified format._

In all seriousness, is this a prank?

~~~
defen
I had the same reaction...seems like an elaborate troll to point out the vast
complexity of C++. This particular assignment doesn't seem "that hard", but
this is probably the easiest part of writing a C++ compiler/stdlib.

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victorhn
Last time i remember this on HN i "enrolled", but no message nor login
information were sent to my email.

I felt stupid for a while because i thought this was just a facade to obtain
the data for spam/recruiting purposes.

~~~
jetti
Same. I was super excited but then when I saw that no email or anything was
sent I felt like a complete fool. I'd still be super excited if this was even
halfway legit.

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jbp
Look at <http://www.cppgm.org/news.html>:

 _2013-02-22_ : 10,000 enrolled. Programming Assignment 1 Posted. Enrollments
Extended:

They also have a time machine.

------
likeclockwork
It looks like the assignment is just to write a tokenizer. That's not THAT
bad.

I wrote one years ago, not for C++11 though.

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niggler
There's a nonzero chance that this is real and that they actually have a
roadmap for completion.

That said, I'm very surprised they don't have an automated system like the
USACO submission system (where you upload code and they compile and run it
against input data).

~~~
CJefferson
There is zero chance anyone will actually complete this in a reasonable time-
frame (except for those small number of people who have already done it, and I
suspect even they would fail to accomplish it).

~~~
thwest
No compiler vendor (gcc, clang, msvc, intelcc) has produced a bug-free
implementation of C++11 so I would contend that no one has already done it.

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stcredzero
The fact that a language could meaningfully have a "Grandmaster Certification"
should be a point of embarrassment, not pride.

~~~
marshray
What are some languages in which it would not be possible to demonstrate a
great deal of mastery in?

~~~
defen
I believe it's a comment about the complexity of the language, not the level
of skill achievable using the language. Consider this (many levels left out
for brevity):

A first-year CS student could implement a working LISP or assembler as part of
their coursework

A motivated individual or small group could implement Ruby or Python in a few
years in their free time.

AFAIK no organization has yet implemented C++11

~~~
marshray
Yeah I figured he was taking a cheap shot at C++ which is why I asked him to
clarify what he meant.

> AFAIK no organization has yet implemented C++11

Get back to me when Ruby actually has a specification.

Python's reference documentation doesn't suck, but neither is it a formal
language standard.

Lisp has an ISO standard, but it's way beyond what a first-year CS student
could fully implement.

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xedarius
After I spend weeks creating this nonsense compiler what am I going to do with
my Grand Master Certification? I've asked around my office and no-one here
either recognizes it nor would they hire anyone based on them having it.

Just do a an MSc in computer science instead, if you haven't already.

~~~
esrauch
I seriously doubt anyone is deciding between attempting this class and getting
an MSc

