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replaced http://meta.codegolf.stackexchange.com/ with https://codegolf.meta.stackexchange.com/
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Adding unnecessary fluff

See also: Chameleon challengesChameleon challenges, Cumbersome I/O formatsCumbersome I/O formats, Do X without YDo X without Y

What's the main point of the challenge? Try to keep the challenge to just that. Don't go adding frills to the challenge just because it "looks too easy", or inserting strange modifications to a perfectly okay challenge just to "make things interesting". Keep it lean and straight to the point.

In addition to the related posts above, here are more examples of what not to do (when there's no good alternative approaches):

  • Combining two or more unrelated core challenges into one — consider splitting the challenge up into separate challenges or dropping unnecessary parts. Examples include:

    • Instead of simply summing a list of numbers n at the end, requiring answers to sum over some unnecessary transformation (e.g.n^2, n+1, nth Fibonacci number) instead.

    • Instead of simply applying a function f(x) to a list of inputs, adding an unnecessary filtering step before the function is applied (e.g. median of only the prime numbers in the input).

  • Unnecessary extra applications, e.g. instead of calculating a single function f(x):

    • Making answers calculate f(x) for every x in a list.
    • Making answers take an additional parameter n and applying f to the input x, n times.
    • Making answers calculate x-f(x) until the result is 1, then counting how many steps that took.

Adding unnecessary fluff

See also: Chameleon challenges, Cumbersome I/O formats, Do X without Y

What's the main point of the challenge? Try to keep the challenge to just that. Don't go adding frills to the challenge just because it "looks too easy", or inserting strange modifications to a perfectly okay challenge just to "make things interesting". Keep it lean and straight to the point.

In addition to the related posts above, here are more examples of what not to do (when there's no good alternative approaches):

  • Combining two or more unrelated core challenges into one — consider splitting the challenge up into separate challenges or dropping unnecessary parts. Examples include:

    • Instead of simply summing a list of numbers n at the end, requiring answers to sum over some unnecessary transformation (e.g.n^2, n+1, nth Fibonacci number) instead.

    • Instead of simply applying a function f(x) to a list of inputs, adding an unnecessary filtering step before the function is applied (e.g. median of only the prime numbers in the input).

  • Unnecessary extra applications, e.g. instead of calculating a single function f(x):

    • Making answers calculate f(x) for every x in a list.
    • Making answers take an additional parameter n and applying f to the input x, n times.
    • Making answers calculate x-f(x) until the result is 1, then counting how many steps that took.

Adding unnecessary fluff

See also: Chameleon challenges, Cumbersome I/O formats, Do X without Y

What's the main point of the challenge? Try to keep the challenge to just that. Don't go adding frills to the challenge just because it "looks too easy", or inserting strange modifications to a perfectly okay challenge just to "make things interesting". Keep it lean and straight to the point.

In addition to the related posts above, here are more examples of what not to do (when there's no good alternative approaches):

  • Combining two or more unrelated core challenges into one — consider splitting the challenge up into separate challenges or dropping unnecessary parts. Examples include:

    • Instead of simply summing a list of numbers n at the end, requiring answers to sum over some unnecessary transformation (e.g.n^2, n+1, nth Fibonacci number) instead.

    • Instead of simply applying a function f(x) to a list of inputs, adding an unnecessary filtering step before the function is applied (e.g. median of only the prime numbers in the input).

  • Unnecessary extra applications, e.g. instead of calculating a single function f(x):

    • Making answers calculate f(x) for every x in a list.
    • Making answers take an additional parameter n and applying f to the input x, n times.
    • Making answers calculate x-f(x) until the result is 1, then counting how many steps that took.
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