How to contribute questions for cppquiz.org

You might be familiar with my C++ quiz site, cppquiz.org. But did you know you can contribute your own questions to the site? First, try solving a few questions to get the gist of it, then visit http://cppquiz.org/quiz/create to create your own.

I try to live by the “quality over quantity” motto for the questions on the site, so you’ll find the following guidelines on the submission form:

• Your question should be short, and demonstrate one thing only
• Your question should compile (unless not compiling is the point)
• Your question should be about standard C++, not compiler specific or about 3rd party libraries
• Your question should not be a trick question, and be free from distractions
• Your explanation should be clear and to the point
• Your explanation should use correct terminology, and refer to the standard where possible
• Prefer well defined programs over programs with compilation errors, undefined or unspecified behaviour

But what does all of that mean?

Your question should be short, and demonstrate one thing only

The shorter the code in the question, the better. The point of a question is to teach one single aspect of C++, not to be an exercise in reading and understanding an unfamiliar code base.

Your question should compile (unless not compiling is the point)

It should be possible to copy your code verbatim and have it compile as C++11, without errors, requirements for additional includes etc. (Of course, some questions are not intended to compile, then this rule does not apply.)

Your question should be about standard C++, not compiler specific or about 3rd party libraries

This should be fairly self explanatory, don’t make questions about posix, boost, windows.h etc.

Your question should not be a trick question, and be free from distractions

I’ve refused several questions due to this. Your question is supposed to be non-trivial, but the difficulty should be to understand a concept of C++, not to read the question correctly, or find the clue in the midst of distractions. Don’t make questions where the key is noticing that the variables v1 and vl are not the same. Don’t make questions full of complicated C++ that doesn’t matter, but is just there to hide the simple core of the question.

Your explanation should be clear and the point

Don’t go on lengthy asides in the explanation. As your question is already short and demonstrates one thing only, explaining that single concept should not take too many words.

Your explanation should use correct terminology, and refer to the standard where possible

The chances of having your question published quickly increases if you use correct C++ terminology to describe the concepts in your question. It helps me a lot if you’re also able to provide references to the standard, but don’t let this stop you from contributing.

Prefer well defined programs over programs with compilation errors, undefined or unspecified behaviour

There’s a lot of fun and interesting things to learn from questions that don’t compile, or contain undefined or unspecified behaviour. It’s however not so fun when most of the questions on the site can be answered simply by enumerating those three alternatives as an answer.

That’s it! I hope I didn’t scare you away from contributing. Please have a go, and don’t be afraid to ask if you have any questions about your question! :)