Quizmaster Retiring: Revenge of the Sith

[Matthew Moss]

Sorry for the dorky subject line...

A bit over a year ago, mid-November of 2007, James Gray announced he
was retiring as the Ruby Quiz master. He had run the quiz for nearly
three years, a wonderful achievement enjoyed by many Rubyists here.

Almost a year ago, mid-February of 2008, I began an attempt to follow
in his footsteps. Sad to say, though, I only lasted about 10 months.
As of now, I need to retire from running the Ruby Quiz.

When I started, I had made some changes in my personal life (incl.
quitting my job) that allowed me the time to write up quizzes and
summaries every week. However, nearly a year later, my personal
circumstances have changed again, and I will be unable to dedicate the
time necessary to run further Ruby Quizzes. Some of this has already
manifested by way of skipped weeks and late quizzes/submissions.

Hopefully, I've done reasonably well following James' incredible
effort. I also hope that, perhaps, there will be another quizmaster to
take up from where I left off. I certainly hope so; I may not be able
to run the quiz any longer, but I'd still love to participate in some
of the lighter quizzes to follow.

Apologies to everyone that I must step down, but also many thanks to
everyone for participating and making RQ2 very enjoyable.

-- Matthew Moss


P.S. For those who would consider taking the reigns, I can provide the
Ruby scripts (cgi, not Rails) used to run the current site at <http://splatbang.com/rubyquiz/

 

[James Gray]

Hopefully, I've done reasonably well following James' incredible
effort.

I think you did a great job. I know how hard it is! Thanks for the
great sacrifices.

James Edward Gray II

 

[Jesús Gabriel y Galán]

Almost a year ago, mid-February of 2008, I began an attempt to follow in his
footsteps. Sad to say, though, I only lasted about 10 months. As of now, I
need to retire from running the Ruby Quiz.

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for running the quiz, you did a great job !!
I've always enjoyed the quiz even though most of the time I didn't
have enough time to work on a solution (two little kids take too much
of my free time). When I did have the time I enjoyed it a lot. I hope
somebody will take over so we can give continuity to this great asset
of the Ruby community. Unfortunately I don't have the time or
knoweldge to run this kind of thing...

So again thanks for running the quiz.

Jesus.

 

[Ron Fox]

How about a 'quiz' group with a group leader rather than a single
quizmaster. Suppose there are n people in the group. Each person
then is responsible for at least a quiz every n weeks (if you want to
continue weekly). The group leader maintains any pool of additional
quizzes that come in for lean weeks where a quiz might be missing, and
determines which quiz from the group gets shoved out each week.. or
even go to monthly quizzes?

Seems a more sustainable/scalable approach.

Ron.

 

[Matthew Moss]

How about a 'quiz' group with a group leader rather than a single
quizmaster. Suppose there are n people in the group. Each person
then is responsible for at least a quiz every n weeks (if you want
to continue weekly). The group leader maintains any pool of
additional quizzes that come in for lean weeks where a quiz might be
missing, and determines which quiz from the group gets shoved out
each week.. or even go to monthly quizzes?

Seems a more sustainable/scalable approach.

My personal experience with groups on the Internet is that they
generally don't work for a situation such as this. It takes a certain
amount of hard work and dedication to keep things going; the usual
result is one or two people doing most of the work anyway, but also
spending time badgering or attempting to motivate the others with
little success. It is often difficult enough to find one dedicated
person... but finding a group of them?

That said, I am certainly not against a group of people contributing
to Ruby Quiz, but really... as I will not be running it anymore, that
would be left to the quizmaster (i.e. "group leader") who follows me.
If he can find a group of N people who each regularly contribute a
quiz every N-th week, more power to him and them. But you still need
someone -- a group leader, as you say -- to manage the whole.

Likewise, it may be an easier task to do quizzes only monthly, or
every other week. I certainly have skipped weeks when I was behind
schedule or overburdened. Again, that's a detail that my successor(s)
can set either as the rule or the exception.

 

[Ruby Student]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

How about a 'quiz' group with a group leader rather than a single
quizmaster. Suppose there are n people in the group. Each person then is
responsible for at least a quiz every n weeks (if you want to continue
weekly). The group leader maintains any pool of additional quizzes that
come in for lean weeks where a quiz might be missing, and determines which
quiz from the group gets shoved out each week.. or even go to monthly
quizzes?

Seems a more sustainable/scalable approach.

Ron.




--
Ron Fox
NSCL
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1321

Although I am just a Ruby Apprentice, I like the idea of a "quiz group". I

can also give it a try if no volunteer is found, to run the weekly quiz. As
long as I am not expected to solve the quiz myself (remember, I am a light
weight Ruby learner) I would be happy to feel the vacuum until someone more
experience takes it over.
Regards,

 

[Ruby Student]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

can also give it a try if no volunteer is found, to run the weekly quiz. As
long as I am not expected to solve the quiz myself (remember, I am a light
weight Ruby learner) I would be happy to feel the vacuum until someone more
experience takes it over.
Regards,

I also think that more people would get involve if the quiz is given once
and no more than twice/month.

 

[James Koppel]

I haven't done Ruby Quiz in a while, but when I did, a big draw for me was =
making it=A0an important part of my week. If you made it once or twice a mo=
nth, all that would accomplish is that no-one would form a "Ruby Quiz habit=
" as I did.=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A________________________________=0AFrom: Ruby Stu=
dent <[email protected]>=0ATo: ruby-talk ML <[email protected]>=
=0ASent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 8:48:43 AM=0ASubject: Re: Quizmaster Re=
tiring: Revenge of the Sith=0A=0AOn Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 9:47 AM, Ruby Stud=
with a group leader rather than a single=0A>> quizmaster.=A0 Suppose there=
are n people in the group.=A0 Each person then is=0A>> responsible for at =
least a quiz every n weeks (if you want to continue=0A>> weekly).=A0 The gr=
oup leader maintains any pool of additional quizzes that=0A>> come in for l=
ean weeks where a quiz might be missing, and determines which=0A>> quiz fro=
m the group gets shoved out each week.. or even go to monthly=0A>> quizzes?=
=0A>>=0A>> Seems a more sustainable/scalable approach.=0A>>=0A>> Ron.=0A>>=
=0A>>=0A>> Matthew Moss wrote:=0A>>=0A>>> Sorry for the dorky subject line.=
...=0A>>>=0A>>> A bit over a year ago, mid-November of 2007, James Gray anno=
unced he=A0 was=0A>>> retiring as the Ruby Quiz master. He had run the quiz=
for nearly=A0 three=0A>>> years, a wonderful achievement enjoyed by many R=
ubyists here.=0A>>>=0A>>> Almost a year ago, mid-February of 2008, I began =
an attempt to follow=A0 in=0A>>> his footsteps. Sad to say, though, I only =
lasted about 10 months.=A0 As of=0A>>> now, I need to retire from running t=
he Ruby Quiz.=0A>>>=0A>>> When I started, I had made some changes in my per=
sonal life (incl.=0A>>>=A0 quitting my job) that allowed me the time to wri=
te up quizzes and=0A>>>=A0 summaries every week. However, nearly a year lat=
er, my personal=0A>>>=A0 circumstances have changed again, and I will be un=
able to dedicate the=0A>>>=A0 time necessary to run further Ruby Quizzes. S=
ome of this has already=0A>>>=A0 manifested by way of skipped weeks and lat=
e quizzes/submissions.=0A>>>=0A>>> Hopefully, I've done reasonably well fol=
lowing James' incredible=A0 effort.=0A>>> I also hope that, perhaps, there =
will be another quizmaster to=A0 take up from=0A>>> where I left off. I cer=
tainly hope so; I may not be able=A0 to run the quiz=0A>>> any longer, but =
I'd still love to participate in some=A0 of the lighter=0A>>> quizzes to fo=
llow.=0A>>>=0A>>> Apologies to everyone that I must step down, but also man=
y thanks to=0A>>>=A0 everyone for participating and making RQ2 very enjoyab=
le.=0A>>>=0A>>> -- Matthew Moss=0A>>>=0A>>>=0A>>> P.S. For those who would =
consider taking the reigns, I can provide the=0A>>>=A0 Ruby scripts (cgi, n=
ot Rails) used to run the current site at <=0A>>> http://splatbang.com/ruby=
quiz/=A0 >. As for hosting, I am open to several=0A>>> possibilities.=0A>>>=
=0A>>>=0A>>>=0A>>=0A>> --=0A>> Ron Fox=0A>> NSCL=0A>> Michigan State Univer=
sity=0A>> East Lansing, MI 48824-1321=0A>>=0A>> Although I am just a Ruby A=
pprentice, I like the idea of a "quiz group". I=0A> can also give it a try =
if no volunteer is found, to run the weekly quiz. As=0A> long as I am not e=
xpected to solve the quiz myself (remember, I am a light=0A> weight Ruby le=
arner) I would be happy to feel the vacuum until someone more=0A> experienc=
e takes it over.=0A> Regards,=0A> --=0A> Ruby Student=0A>=0A=0AI also think=
that more people would get involve if the quiz is given once=0Aand no more=
than twice/month.=0A=0A-- =0ARuby Student=0A=0A=0A=0A

 

[Tom Link]

Likewise, it may be an easier task to do quizzes only monthly, or =A0

every other week.

I personally think a group of quiz masters would necessarily result in
a greater variation of "quizzes" which would probably make more people
interested in solving the quiz. IMHO a weekly quiz would be better
suited to maintain a general interest. This would probably be easier
to achieve for a group (2+) of quiz masters. You're right though that
such a group would still need somebody who carries the one ring to
bind then all.

Many thanks for your time and effort you put into the ruby quiz. I
always found it quite interesting to follow the discussion & read the
summary.

 

[rick_2047]

Ok of all the people who are commenting i am perhaps the least
qualified coz i never solved one on my own, but i think this is the
best time to tell people what has been on my mind for a very long
time. But first let me make it clear that i am in no state right now
to take voluteering for what i am suggesting.

I do not know the particular history & culture of quizzes (i say
quizzes because i know about python and perl quiz) but i find it very
common that most of them are like for the stack of people just above
the intermediate level(correct me if its wrong). Nobody seems to be
bothered about those learners just who have just understood the
syntax, conventions and philosophy of ruby. While the quizzes are
great they are of little value for such people (who actually are the
most in need). I always maintained that the best way to learn the
solution is to actually solve the problem. Now i propose that apart
from the regular quiz section we have, we also start a beginner quiz.
You know like quizzes intended for people who are just learning tho
ropes.

I know many of you think that it would be unlikely (specially now that
we lack a proper quiz master altogether) to have something like this.
But think about all those beginners who are left gasping for breath
when they read the first quiz.

 

[James Gray]

I do not know the particular history & culture of quizzes (i say
quizzes because i know about python and perl quiz) but i find it very
common that most of them are like for the stack of people just above
the intermediate level(correct me if its wrong). Nobody seems to be
bothered about those learners just who have just understood the
syntax, conventions and philosophy of ruby. While the quizzes are
great they are of little value for such people (who actually are the
most in need). I always maintained that the best way to learn the
solution is to actually solve the problem. Now i propose that apart
from the regular quiz section we have, we also start a beginner quiz.
You know like quizzes intended for people who are just learning tho
ropes.

Perl's Quiz of the Week (which I modeled Ruby Quiz off of) had two
quizzes each week for a while. One was a beginner quiz and the other
was an expert.

My approach for the quiz was just to try to have quizzes that ranged
the gamut. We were probably more top heavy than I intended, but we
definitely had a few beginner problems. I've used those same problems
in teaching beginners anyway.

What I think would have helped is a way for people to rate quiz
difficulty. As it stands now, you pretty much need to comb the sight
and look for the quizzes with a lot of solutions. Those are generally
the easy problems. But that process is less than ideal.

James Edward Gray II

 

[Michael Libby]

Thank you to both James and Matthew for doing the Quiz.

I think I can count the number of quizzes I solved on one hand, but
they were some of the most fun I've had programming.

-Michael

 

[James Koppel]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

I've actually done little Ruby outside of simple text-parsing scripts, Project Euler, and Ruby Quiz (I wrote 300-line data mining program for a charity and a not-quite-finished Lisp interpreter for fun), but I nevertheless consider myself a proficient Rubyist thanks to Ruby Quiz alone. I started by trying a couple of the older quizzes, then later saw that the then-current quiz, #118, was easily within my reach, and then continued from there, and found my skills quickly rising over the next dozen. I really like the Ruby Quiz format for learning programming -- they make it easy to learn a wide variety of skills. If I were working on my own, I'd probably develop a comfort zone in a single area, and rarely venture out of it; RubyQuiz brings diverse areas to me. Even if you're motivated to try to tackle a new area and you still can't solve it, the summaries do a great job of bringing expert-level code down to beginner level.

Probably the most important part is the comparison; it motivates me to read other people's solutions and contrast them with mine, which was great for introducing me to a variety of libraries and styles.

In summary, the solution for beginners isn't for Ruby Quiz to come down to you. Ruby Quiz already provides what's needed for you to rise up to Ruby Quiz's level.




________________________________
From: rick_2047 <[email protected]>
To: ruby-talk ML <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 10:31:51 AM
Subject: Re: Quizmaster Retiring: Revenge of the Sith

Ok of all the people who are commenting i am perhaps the least
qualified coz i never solved one on my own, but i think this is the
best time to tell people what has been on my mind for a very long
time. But first let me make it clear that i am in no state right now
to take voluteering for what i am suggesting.

I do not know the particular history & culture of quizzes (i say
quizzes because i know about python and perl quiz) but i find it very
common that most of them are like for the stack of people just above
the intermediate level(correct me if its wrong). Nobody seems to be
bothered about those learners just who have just understood the
syntax, conventions and philosophy of ruby. While the quizzes are
great they are of little value for such people (who actually are the
most in need). I always maintained that the best way to learn the
solution is to actually solve the problem. Now i propose that apart
from the regular quiz section we have, we also start a beginner quiz.
You know like quizzes intended for people who are just learning tho
ropes.

I know many of you think that it would be unlikely (specially now that
we lack a proper quiz master altogether) to have something like this.
But think about all those beginners who are left gasping for breath
when they read the first quiz.

 

[Martin DeMello]

Sorry for the dorky subject line...

A bit over a year ago, mid-November of 2007, James Gray announced he was
retiring as the Ruby Quiz master. He had run the quiz for nearly three
years, a wonderful achievement enjoyed by many Rubyists here.

Almost a year ago, mid-February of 2008, I began an attempt to follow in his
footsteps. Sad to say, though, I only lasted about 10 months. As of now, I
need to retire from running the Ruby Quiz.

Thanks for a great job

martin

 

[Robert Dober]

Sorry Matthew if I let some of our private discussions out here but I
believe it is the best for the group .
Anyway
You did a tremendous job. (And who could argue with James on this
matter anyway!)

But it is interesting to note that we had quite some discussions and I
really did favor the group approach. However your determination and
the slow progress of the group approach made it clear to the others
that it would be you, and it was really just fine like that.

That said I really would like the group approach to happen. In the
meantime I might come up with one or two quiz ideas I was brooding
about, maybe not for tomorrow but who knows.

The first resumes would be temprorarily on my blog before we can come
up with something more suitable.
Maybe we could simply start a Rubyforge project RubyQuiz3, "Standing
at the shoulders of Giants" ))

Tom do you read us here? (or whoever is responsible )
All opinions welcome of course.

Cheers
Robert

 

[Robert Dober]

update:
Sorry folks it's 3am and I should probably go to bed...
What about relaunching one or two of the old Ruby Quizzes that might
have considerable different solutions in Ruby1.9. That might fill the
gap for one or two weeks.

James, Matthew would that be fine with you? Any ideas, maybe Ara's
metakoans, they were just crying for block parameters in blocks IIRC.

Good night for now.
R.

 

[James Gray]

James, Matthew would that be fine with you?

Use away. I support any idea that keeps the Ruby Quiz alive.

James Edward Gray II

 

[Martin DeMello]

update:
Sorry folks it's 3am and I should probably go to bed...
What about relaunching one or two of the old Ruby Quizzes that might
have considerable different solutions in Ruby1.9. That might fill the
gap for one or two weeks.

James, Matthew would that be fine with you? Any ideas, maybe Ara's
metakoans, they were just crying for block parameters in blocks IIRC.

I don't have the time to actually *run* a quiz, but if someone wants
quiz problems I can happily supply them.

martin

 

[Robert Dober]

I don't have the time to actually *run* a quiz, but if someone wants
quiz problems I can happily supply them.

And I would happily receive them
Cheers
R.

 

[Robert Dober]

How about a 'quiz' group with a group leader rather than a single
quizmaster. Suppose there are n people in the group. Each person then is
responsible for at least a quiz every n weeks (if you want to continue
weekly). The group leader maintains any pool of additional quizzes that
come in for lean weeks where a quiz might be missing, and determines which
quiz from the group gets shoved out each week.. or even go to monthly
quizzes?

I'd love that approach and I really would like to be a member rather
than the leader.
However I love Ruby Quiz too much to leave the leader job vacant for long.
Pleeease volunteer somebody, until than I can try to keep the idea
alive. I have asked for a Rubyforge project *now*. That means that I
will pass over the maintainer role to any volunteers as soon as the
project is approved.

*** This shall not discourage other approaches to Ruby Quiz, I just
felt that action was necessary to keep RQ alive ***
Cheers
Robert