Well, showing efficient code is not necessarily a bad thing. I think the problem is when the newbie's question gets twisted into a golf challenge! If someone's new to the language, I think it's better to provide them with something that may use up a few more symbols, but is easier to understand.

The recent thread on Removing Duplicates in an array is a great example. The first answer is an RTFM , followed by two rounds of golf. I'm not pointing fingers at the people who posted; I've done all of these myself. (I think RTFM answers are appropriate sometimes, but indicate where in the FM to R! If a clear and detailed writeup is available, provide a link to the node or external page.)

I don't think a separate node type or area for "newbie questions" is really necessary. We just need to indicate somehow that the emphasis in SOPW answers should be on clarity and simplicity of the code. Efficiency always counts, but don't sacrifice legibility and ease of understanding for a few cycles.

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