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by IamNotAtWork 3112 days ago
I just signed up and while it looks like a great resource I really wish they would grade your submissions on pass/fail based on the test cases that are included with each module. I thought it was weird that I submitted something that was not passing but it didn't complain... because if that's the case, why even submit? As a commentator I would like to know if I'm commenting on solutions that are passing or failing first, before writing any comments. Just my thoughts.
5 comments

I used exercism for a few days to brush up on python about a year ago. One of the big reasons to submit incomplete answers is to get feedback / help. I was getting feedback comments within an hour or so from other people working on the same activities within exercism, and the website itself encourages you to look at how other people did things and provide them feedback.
One reason to submit before it passes is so that you can see how others did it. If you're learning a new language and don't even know where to start, it can be useful to get help from others first then try to implement it yourself.
It would be nice if it could run tests in-browser to show whether a submission passes or not.
Isn't that cheating?
IIRC, exercism doesn't really encourage completing things for points, and didn't especially heavily gamify the learning process. Copying answers really just seemed like shortchanging yourself when I was using it.
It's not cheating if you're trying to learn, not compete
Doesn't that really depend upon the way that you treat the problem? If you're just looking to pass, what do you have to gain? This isn't a course in College.
You're the one deciding what you need out of the material so that's up to you ;-)
If you don't know how to even get started, what do you have to gain from just being stuck?

When I started on the assembly track, looking at others code to figure out how to get set up for the first challenge allowed me to do the rest on my own.

>> because if that's the case, why even submit?

Analytical data on which problems you're solving and how you're doing vs how you think you're doing? And who might be interested in purchasing that data...

Test cases change from time to time, which can cause issues and would require some kind of versioning. Would be a nice feature, maybe try to get it on the road map for Nexercism?
They have some exercises I would prefer to skip, so I'm not upset by the lack of grading. The bob exercise is extremely tedious.

I like the emphasis on sharing solutions.