Re: Counting positive numbers

[Corion]

I count your attempt at 40 chars:

          #1234567890123456789012345678901234567890
perl -wle "$a=<>;($x=<>)>0?$_+=$x:0 while$a--;print

My attempt is 23 chars:

          #123456789012345678901234
perl -wle "print 0+map{1..<>}2..<>"

Likely there are ways to improve on that, for example the space between print and 0 likely can be eliminated. If you use Perl 5.10 or higher, you can replace print with say, shaving off another two characters.

Update: Relaxing the condition of respecting the number of items in the first line doesn't shorten the code for me:

          #123456789012345678901234
perl -wle "<>;print 0+map{1..<>}<>"

[eyepopslikeamosquito]

Using ~~ inchworm secret operator saves a stroke:

          #1234567890123456789012
perl -wle "print~~map{1..<>}2..<>"

Update: The inchworm secret operator is more clearly described here. I remember it from good old TPR0 way back in 2002. You can read all about TPR0 and the other early Perl golf tournaments by downloading Terje/mtv's excellent Book of Perl Golf.

Relaxing the first line restriction allows 20 strokes (which can probably be further shortened):

         #12345678901234567890
perl -pe "$.>1&$_>0and$\+=$_}{"

This time we use the }{ eskimo greeting secret operator in harness with Eugene's infamous $\ trick.

[ikegami]

It's customary to include the switches in the count as a lot of code can be replaced by switches. For example, switching to say actually saves 3 chars.

     12345678901234
perl -le"print ..."
perl -E"say ..."
     12345678901

[Anonymous Monk]

oh! Thank u very much Corion for ur Quick Reply!

Im focussed on getting a hold of this language!

Thanx again :)