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by xzyyyz 525 days ago
I find it rather annoying and irrespectful for Project Euler. They specifically ask not to publish solutions.

Some other collection could be used for demonstration of skills and languages.

7 comments

From Project Euler homepage:

> the rule about sharing solutions outside of Project Euler does not apply to the first one-hundred problems

Apparently I do not keep up with times. I read the rules some 15 years ago last time. :-(

If you can provide a link, I would be really grateful!

As pointed out in a sibling comment, it appears that quote only shows up if you're logged in (apologies--I wasn't aware when I originally replied), but assuming you have an account and are logged in, it's on the homepage (https://projecteuler.net/), second paragraph under the following heading:

> I learned so much solving problem XXX, so is it okay to publish my solution elsewhere?

> It appears that you have answered your own question. There is nothing quite like that "Aha!" moment when you finally beat a problem which you have been working on for some time. It is often through the best of intentions in wishing to share our insights so that others can enjoy that moment too. Sadly, that will rarely be the case for your readers. Real learning is an active process and seeing how it is done is a long way from experiencing that epiphany of discovery. Please do not deny others what you have so richly valued yourself.

> However, the rule about sharing solutions outside of Project Euler does not apply to the first one-hundred problems, as long as any discussion clearly aims to instruct methods, not just provide answers, and does not directly threaten to undermine the enjoyment of solving later problems. Problems 1 to 100 provide a wealth of helpful introductory teaching material and if you are able to respect our requirements, then we give permission for those problems and their solutions to be discussed elsewhere.

You could say that providing code in an obscure language isn't really to "instruct methods", but I think it's within the spirit of the rules.

thank you very much! pointer to the home page would suffice. your willingness to walk an extra mile (and copy relevant text) is much appreciated.

as i mentioned, i read home page years ago. in that time, third paragraph did not exist and 1-100 were considered a challenge. the language of request changes since that times.

fwiw this only shows up if you're logged in (at least for me), which confused me for a bit
Oops, you are right!
The first 100 problems are fair game to publish, I can't find it on their website anymore, but it's generally accepted that this is the case. You can check out the project euler discord for more authoritative information on this
I know they ask, but it's really easy to find solutions online.

For what it's worth, when I was doing Project Euler myself, I never had a problem _not_ looking up solutions.

Just because a bus stop already has a broken window does not make it ok to smash in another.
Yes, but it's also a bit like closing the barn door after the cows have escaped.
I find it annoyingly unrealistic to demand that nobody publish solutions, especially interesting ones like this. Some people will always do it anyway, and once they do, any further resistance to such publications is pointless. If you want something secret, your ultimate mistake is publishing the problems in the first place. For a problem set as old as Project Euler, it's not reasonable to expect solutions to not be out there, and it is ultimately on the honor system whether a problem solver cheats or not.
It is called the honor system. But you're right: some people... And no, Project Euler does not demand. You can be sure, nobody is going to be sued. It asks politely to show respect to those who created the project, and to those who did not solve the problem.

Besides other things, there is a place to publish interesting solution: it is Project Euler forum to discuss solved problems.

Demand is a strong word. I do think it's entirely reasonable to ask, especially around the time the problems were first published. Things have changed on the internet
Well, HN specifically asks for people to not comment shallow dismissals of others work, but here we are…
at this point it is an old problem set, the solutions are everywhere and easy to find, at the very least for the first 100 problems. for those problems (at the very least) it is the responsibility of the participant to not look at solutions.
It's ChatGPT answers anyway.