RFC: Monthly Code Challenge

[Cueball]

Actual source for this is @GoodPie - extracted from Slack Message:

What are your thoughts on something in a similar vein, where we run monthly challenges?

Just short 2-3 hour problem that we present at the end of the meetup to take a look at (can post on Github?) and we can have a round table during the next meetup on peoples solutions?

Can present "dumb" awards like "Most Creative Solution" or "Most Over Engineered" just to make it a bit playful and have a bit more engagement.

Could also be a good fallback in situations where we don't have a talker and help take some of the strain off of Bruce.

[Cueball]

Haha I initially just saw short 2-3 hr problem and brain fritzed out 🤯

Having now read it properly, I think that's a fantastic idea:

• Gives people a chance to code without time pressure
  • Absolutely a factor for some people
  • Some people might be readily willing to share their solution if they've had sufficient time to consider
  • Having way for people to contribute without time pressure sounds good to me
• Maybe encourage discussion in-between meetups via Slack
  • Demonstrates engagement to non-attendees in Slack
  • Perhaps would prompt interest and ⬆️ attendance?
• Like the whimsical award notion too - perhaps a token prize too?
  • 1st thought was bar of ruby chocolate
  • That shizz expensive 🤑 so TBD…
• IDK whether we'd want to run it monthly?
  • Not sure how that would work, but happy to be edumacated 😛
  • But absolutely keen to try it out at some point
• If there's objections not yet identified, please shout 📣

TLDR? Sounds good. Suggest we try it, then see how it goes. If popular/useful, iterate and adjust as needed.

Q: Is there an example or suggestion for the "first" problem that we might want to use for this concept?

[GoodPie]

Delivery

I think the only thing to consider is how to deliver the challenges.

It might be worth creating a challenges directory in our repo, with each challenge being its own directory. We can add instructions to clone the directory using sparse checkout.

We could also create a README.md outlining the awards for submissions, creating more engagement.

# 🏆 Ruby Perth Leaderboard

## September Challenge Results

| Member | Solutions | ⭐ Stars | Achievements |
|--------|-----------|----------|--------------|
| @alice | 1 | 5 | 🥇 First Submission, 💎 Clean Code |
| @bob   | 1 | 3 | 🚀 Best Performance |

It might also be worth adding discussions to our repo where people can talk about the project, while also having discussions in the meetup slack chat.

Also happy to draft up problems/review submissions when required as it is an additional responsibility and I'm aware we're already stretched pretty thin.

Alternatives

We explore other platforms that would be able to automate some of this. Unsure of what is readily available so we'll need to do some research.

Would like to start basic, gauge popularity/effort and iterate and adjust as needed.

Problems

Was also thinking for the problems, we should try keep them Perth themed where possible.

My first thought is something basic like:

Transperth is introducing a new "off-peak" discount system to encourage travel outside busy hours. 
Your task is to build a fare calculator that implements this new system alongside the existing fare structure.

I think this would be good for a few reasons:

• Perth themed and real world tool
• Accessible enough to be able to solve with simple conditions but scalable enough for people who want to show off and add stretch goals.
• Enough to encourage different approaches in Ruby and explore different patterns.

Input Example

• Start Zone: 1
• End Zone: 2
• Time: "2025-09-01 08:30"
• Ticket Type: :smartrider
• Passenger Type: :standard

Stretch Goals?

Something to consider for those who have the time:

• Stretch Goal 1: SmartRider Daily Cap
• Stretch Goal 2: Free Transit Zone
• Stretch Goal 3: Journey Planner
• Stretch Goal 4: Real Station Names

Awards

We could do some basic awards:

• 🏆 Most Elegant Solution
• 🚀 Best Performance
• 🎨 Most Creative Approach
• 🤝 Most Helpful Code Review
• 🎯 First Submission

Maybe utilise the funding to purchase stickers (or other small prizes, like the chocolate)?

[Cueball]

Just wanted to indicate that I'd skimmed this at the time of posting; I think there's a lot of great ideas in there but am uncertain about the scope. Would like to discuss this further. Suspect that F2F is probably better than back-and-forth, so suggest at meetup (during pizza? at end? or maybe in post-meetup drinks?)
I can then summarise discussion/actions back here in issue so we have a record of that...