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Comment by chaz | Hacker News Reader

Shouldn't the objective be to get the lowest score if it's called "golf?"

The goal in code golf is lower character count, not lower score - which is also the case here.

Therefore, the score it provides should be a running tally of how many characters you've used to make it match the scoring system of golf; which is the lowest number of strokes wins.

The scoring system for this is incremental which is the opposite of golf.

A proper scoring system with this would provide a character limit (par) for each section and the goal would be to write a shorter regex formula to complete the task. Final score would be how many characters under or over the total character limits (course par) you scored.

Seems this is more like Regex Darts or something like that.

But it's fun nonetheless.

I don't get what this is all about.

The title was (most probably) derived from Code Golf, which is a competition in coding something with as few characers as possible. Code Golf was derived from Golf, where you want to use as few turns as possible.

The score going up and not down, which is done because you get more points the more objectives you fulfill, does not change the objective of this game or what it is based on.

> The score going up and not down, which is done because you get more points the more objectives you fulfill, does not change the objective of this game or what it is based on.

Golf scoring penalizes you with more "points" by how many strokes you take.

If you are playing a Par 4 and it takes you 6 swings to get in the cup you just got _penalized_ +2

If your partner gets in the cup in 2 swings he is awarded -2

Therefor "Regex Golf" has its scoring reversed

From my quick read, Code Golf uses a similar scoring system as to the sport of golf, the lower the score the better.

This game is the opposite, meaning the higher the score the better.

This has nothing to do with the objectives of the games in question, just the scoring method.

To make the sport of golf have a similar scoring system as this game you would grant ten points for every stroke under par, deduct ten points for every stroke over par, and deduct one point for every penalty stroke.

Alternatively, it's a loose analogy and the main point of the game is to save keystrokes (with the positive scoring system added to reward partial effort; if it came down to a scored competition the leaders would anyway all probably have full credit for solving the problem).

Regex golf is to code golf as paintball golf is to normal golf. Or something.

The golf part is that you can only get the most points by writing the shortest regex possible. However, I think the game avoids just giving a score based on the number of characters. To do that, you would be required to match all on the left and none on the right (the equivalent of actually getting the golf ball in the hole). This game lets you pick up your ball whenever you want and scores you based on distance to the hole. For the golfers, think of it more like a closest-to-the-hole competition than the more common stroke play.

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