A Virtual Face-off: Replaying the 2020 Livecoding Championship

November 25, 2020 — Jesse Friedman, Software Engineer, Engine Connectivity Engineering

In early October, by what at this point can only be a time-honored tradition, the Livecoding Championship returned in its fifth annual iteration as a special event during the 2020 Wolfram Technology Conference. As in preceding years, the championship offered top Wolfram Language programmers a chance to show off their knowledge, agility, typing speed and documentation-reading skills to an unfailingly adoring audience.

Follow along with this post by watching this recorded video of the 2020 Livecoding Championship livestream!

The virtual setting of this year’s conference posed unique challenges for the competition, but our team took this as an opportunity to try a slightly different format for the event. Past competitors—and readers of last year’s recap blog—will remember that previous years’ questions were rigidly structured, with the judges expecting to see contestants’ code produce a specific, expected output for each. This year’s questions were much more open-ended and in many cases left purposely open to interpretation, allowing contestants to express both their creativity and humor alike. Our lively livestream audience was enlisted to judge, voting in real time on their favorite solutions out of the top five received for each question.

Audience favorite Flip Phillips and veteran livecoding contestant Philip Maymin reprised their roles as nominally overlapping MCs from the Wolfram Summer School competition earlier this year. Flip cohosted the 2019 event as well. This illustrious and industrious duo was also accorded the dubious privilege of question-writing, and I’m told they are still recovering.

In this post, I’ll walk our blog audience through this year’s competition questions and the top solutions received for each.

Question 1: “I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means” »

Create a depiction of a mole using any Wolfram Language visualization functionality (e.g. symbolic graphics, graph plotting, equation plotting, etc.).

There are numerous possible moles to choose from here—the SI unit of amount of substance, the mammal, the tunnel-boring machine and probably about

6.022×

23

10

more. Let’s see which moles our contestants went for.

First Place: Adereth

In[]:=

Grid[ImageData[ImageResize[Binarize@Import["https://assets.dragoart.com/images/101719_502/how-to-draw-a-mole-for-kids-step-5_5e4c9ff3b14865.32843667_54930_3_3.gif"],50]],Spacings0]

Out[]=

Adereth chose the mammalian option, downloading a line drawing of a mole from a website and converting it to a 50-pixel-wide bit matrix. An intellectual property court might have considered this a derivative work, but the court of public opinion awarded Adereth first place.

Second Place (Tied): Daniele Ceravolo

In[]:=

WolframAlpha["mole curve"]

Out[]=

Input interpretation

The Mole-like curve (popular curve)

Plot	Hide axes Show ticks

t

(plotted for t from 0 to 92π)

Associated fictional character

The Mole

Equations

Parametric equations

x(t)

194

5

sint+

11

7

+

45

8

sin2t+

19

12

+

1

7

sin3t+

55

27

+

27

7

sin4t+

11

7

+

15

11

sin5t+

47

10

+

23

11

sin6t+

11

7

+

1

2

sin7t+

14

3

+

3

4

sin8t+

8

5

+

2

9

sin9t+

5

3

+

1

10

sin10t+

17

10

+

4

11

sin11t+

8

5

+

1

39

sin12t+

21

11

+

1

6

sin13t+

13

8

+

2

11

sin14t+

8

5

+

1

14

sin15t+

23

5

+

2

7

sin16t+

19

12

+

1

8

sin17t+

47

10

+

2

9

sin18t+

21

13

+

1

37

sin19t+

40

9

-

188

27

θ(91π-t)θ(t-87π)+-

2

11

sin

11

7

-6t-

23

11

sin

11

7

-2t+

124

15

sint+

11

7

+

9

5

sin3t+

11

7

+

11

8

sin4t+

11

7

+

14

11

sin5t+

11

7

-

4079

40

θ(87π-t)θ(t-83π)+-

5

13

sin

20

13

-10t-

5

8

sin

14

9

-8t-

5

4

sin

14

9

-6t-

1

19

sin

20

21

-5t-

10

9

sin

17

11

-4t-

29

2

sin

11

7

-t+

16

5

sin2t+

11

7

+

2

9

sin3t+

14

9

+

1

2

sin7t+

20

13

+

1

4

sin9t+

17

11

+

1

7

sin11t+

14

9

+

1

9

sin12t+

14

3

+

1

8

sin13t+

14

9

+

1

50

sin14t+

40

9

+

1

27

sin15t+

17

10

+

1

36

sin16t+

27

16

+

35

13

θ(83π-t)θ(t-79π)+-

2

9

sin

29

19

-22t-

1

6

sin

14

9

-21t-

1

3

sin

14

9

-19t-

1

9

sin

3

2

-18t-

1

3

sin

14

9

-15t-

1

15

sin

23

15

-14t-

2

9

sin

32

21

-12t-

7

12

sin

14

9

-11t-

5

16

sin

14

9

-9t-

9

11

sin

17

11

-8t-

1

8

sin

17

11

-7t-

24

7

sin

11

7

-2t+

236

15

sint+

11

7

+

19

7

sin3t+

11

7

+

10

7

sin4t+

11

7

+

19

11

sin5t+

11

7

+

11

7

sin6t+

19

12

+

2

3

sin10t+

8

5

+

1

10

sin13t+

5

3

+

3

13

sin16t+

8

5

+

1

11

sin17t+

47

10

+

1

22

sin20t+

22

13

+

1

47

sin23t+

9

2

-

1271

8

θ(79π-t)θ(t-75π)+-

11

17

sin

6

5

-40t-

17

14

sin

14

11

-35t-

11

12

sin

17

12

-31t-

3

7

sin

17

12

-29t-

3

2

sin

17

12

-28t-

1

6

sin

9

7

-27t-

25

13

sin

16

11

-26t-

15

7

sin

17

12

-22t-

49

15

sin

22

15

-19t-

11

9

sin

18

13

-18t-

19

8

sin

16

11

-15t-

164

11

sin

3

2

-10t-

239

16

sin

35

23

-9t-

37

4

sin

11

7

-7t-

71

8

sin

17

11

-4t-

122

7

sin

17

11

-3t-

194

11

sin

11

7

-2t+

389

3

sint+

11

7

+

218

31

sin5t+

13

8

+

43

6

sin6t+

23

14

+

124

25

sin8t+

23

14

+

75

19

sin11t+

22

13

+

25

11

sin12t+

19

11

+

11

5

sin13t+

7

4

+

27

5

sin14t+

28

17

+

12

7

sin16t+

8

5

+

7

10

sin17t+

47

10

+

13

9

sin20t+

19

11

+

1

8

sin21t+

29

7

+

1

6

sin23t+

13

8

+

3

5

sin24t+

25

12

+

21

13

sin25t+

9

5

+

4

7

sin30t+

15

8

+

3

13

sin32t+

21

11

+

14

11

sin33t+

13

7

+

1

35

sin34t+

4

5

+

1

8

sin36t+

12

7

+

1

28

sin37t+

21

5

+

1

21

sin38t+

17

4

+

9

19

sin39t+

11

6

+

2

11

sin41t+

17

11

+

5

6

sin42t+

24

13

+

1

56

sin43t+

23

8

-

491

9

θ(75π-t)θ(t-71π)+-

1

20

sin

29

19

-36t-

2

13

sin

14

9

-34t-

2

11

sin

3

2

-33t-

1

8

sin

3

2

-31t-

1

5

sin

17

11

-29t-

1

21

sin

13

9

-28t-

2

9

sin

14

9

-27t-

1

11

sin

17

12

-26t-

3

11

sin

14

9

-24t-

2

9

sin

14

9

-22t-

1

49

sin

9

7

-21t-

7

20

sin

29

19

-19t-

13

11

sin

14

9

-12t-

16

5

sin

14

9

-9t-

52

21

sin

14

9

-7t-

3

4

sin

14

9

-6t-

49

33

sin

11

7

-5t-

59

9

sin

11

7

-3t+

320

9

sint+

11

7

+

415

23

sin2t+

11

7

+

4

5

sin4t+

47

10

+

28

11

sin8t+

11

7

+sin10t+

11

7

+

3

4

sin11t+

19

12

+

4

11

sin13t+

14

9

+

3

10

sin14t+

8

5

+

2

11

sin15t+

19

12

+

1

15

sin16t+

11

7

+

10

13

sin17t+

33

7

+

1

10

sin18t+

20

13

+

1

11

sin20t+

16

11

+

3

13

sin23t+

8

5

+

1

7

sin25t+

8

5

+

1

18

sin30t+

20

13

+

1

8

sin32t+

17

11

+

1

26

sin35t+

5

3

+

1

16

sin37t+

18

11

+

1627

15

θ(71π-t)θ(t-67π)+-

1

31

sin

13

9

-24t-

1

16

sin

3

2

-23t-

1

36

sin

9

7

-22t-

3

10

sin

28

19

-18t-

1

5

sin

25

17

-17t-

5

16

sin

3

2

-14t-

2

9

sin

31

21

-13t-

2

5

sin

17

11

-12t-

1

34

sin

9

10

-11t-

2

9

sin

3

2

-10t-

12

23

sin

20

13

-9t-

5

12

sin

23

15

-8t-

2

13

sin

13

10

-7t-

45

13

sin

14

9

-6t-

13

12

sin

17

11

-5t-

76

25

sin

14

9

-3t-13sin

11

7

-2t+4sint+

11

7

+

7

4

sin4t+

11

7

+

3

11

sin15t+

13

8

+

1

7

sin16t+

17

10

+

1

9

sin19t+

13

8

+

1

19

sin20t+

7

4

+

47

11

θ(67π-t)θ(t-63π)+-

1

95

sin

7

12

-24t-

1

10

sin

25

17

-23t-

1

8

sin

28

19

-21t-

1

10

sin

3

2

-19t-

1

12

sin

3

2

-17t-

1

17

sin

32

21

-15t-

1

14

sin

17

12

-14t-

1

11

sin

14

9

-13t-

5

13

sin

17

11

-11t-

3

5

sin

14

9

-9t-

2

9

sin

11

8

-8t-

3

2

sin

17

11

-7t-

71

13

sin

14

9

-3t+

73

7

sint+

11

7

+

4

5

sin2t+

11

7

+

2

13

sin4t+

9

7

+

13

12

sin5t+

47

10

+

7

8

sin6t+

11

7

+

1

6

sin10t+

3

2

+

1

95

sin12t+

2

3

+

1

19

sin16t+

23

14

+

1

23

sin20t+

17

11

+

1

59

sin22t+

8

7

-

284

9

θ(63π-t)θ(t-59π)+-

2

9

sin

13

10

-42t-

1

7

sin

4

3

-38t-

1

8

sin

9

7

-37t-

1

8

sin

13

10

-35t-

1

9

sin

9

7

-34t-

1

9

sin

16

13

-32t-

1

3

sin

13

9

-29t-

1

5

sin

11

8

-28t-

1

8

sin

9

7

-26t-

3

5

sin

31

21

-25t-

2

5

sin

34

23

-23t-

18

13

sin

19

13

-21t-

13

10

sin

13

9

-18t-

2

3

sin

14

9

-17t-

2

5

sin

23

15

-15t-

1

4

sin

3

2

-14t-

13

9

sin

3

2

-13t-

9

10

sin

20

13

-11t-

58

25

sin

32

21

-10t-

13

10

sin

26

17

-7t-

69

13

sin

14

9

-6t-

34

11

sin

14

9

-5t-

95

7

sin

14

9

-4t-

31

9

sin

14

9

-2t+

197

6

sint+

11

7

+

87

22

sin3t+

8

5

+

7

3

sin8t+

13

8

+

23

24

sin9t+

13

8

+

6

11

sin12t+

23

14

+

5

7

sin16t+

13

8

+

1

5

sin19t+

29

15

+

2

5

sin20t+

13

8

+

4

11

sin22t+

12

7

+

4

9

sin24t+

28

17

+

1

9

sin27t+