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In the past few days, I saw 2 questions that were asking for a review of code written for a programming challenge.

However, both of them had something strange, I hadn't seen in other questions. The OP was asking for a review of his solution, which was written in two languages. Specifically this question.

Personally, I see this as two questions, because both of the languages are different and hence the reviews would be completely different. Nevertheless, it has been framed into a single question.

Is this allowed?

I'm currently learning c++ coming from a python background, so I'll include a solution in python and in c++ for the following problem statement and based on very helpful answers obtained on my previous question I made some improvements in the c++ implementation:

If this isn't allowed, how should I report this to moderators?

link to the first question
link to the second question

I strongly believe that it should be formatted into two questions. Otherwise, I feel that the question wouldn't be focused + it's likely that the reviewer doesn't know both the languages, in that case, he would only be able to review a part of the question.

To re-enforce a point made by @Reinderien, accepting only one answer won't make sense in these kinds of questions too.

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    \$\begingroup\$ For the record: if it's not allowed, it should be flagged for closure, not for moderator attention. The higher-reputation users of the community can sort this out, it's not necessary to involve a moderator. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast - on strike Mod
    Nov 2, 2020 at 14:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ Do you have a cause/motivation based on the help center to disallow it? \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast - on strike Mod
    Nov 2, 2020 at 14:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ If the comparative-review tag is there, it is perfectly ok. You can also add the comparative-review tag. That particular question is interested in performance in both languages so it I don't think it is a problem. \$\endgroup\$
    – pacmaninbw
    Nov 2, 2020 at 14:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mast am I allowed to give my personal opinion on meta? I wanted to see what others thought of it \$\endgroup\$
    – user228914
    Nov 2, 2020 at 15:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ That does not address my points. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast - on strike Mod
    Nov 2, 2020 at 17:41
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    \$\begingroup\$ The duplicate target is not the same question. That question: "Can someone post the same problem in multiple questions?" This question: "Can someone post multiple solutions in the same question?" \$\endgroup\$
    – mdfst13
    Nov 4, 2020 at 14:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ @mdfst13 I have voted to re-open \$\endgroup\$
    – user228914
    Nov 4, 2020 at 15:05

3 Answers 3

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I don't know the policy well enough to say whether it explicitly prohibits this, but my opinion is:

If the fundamental question is solid enough, then I wouldn't recommend closure - we already have a large-enough closure rate, and I wouldn't advocate yet one more reason to push well-meaning users away. Instead, I would offer the advice to the OP that there are many pockets of specialization on CR, and they will get higher attention and higher-quality answers from a question that is tagged to only one language; so the question should be split.

The StackExchange incentive structure is such that "the best" answer should be accepted, but where there are multiple languages at play, "the best" answer is IMO fairly apples-and-oranges. It makes less sense to only accept one answer that is (potentially) language-specific than it does to accept an answer for each language, and the only way that's possible is multiple questions.

Said another way, I don't trust that it's feasible to ask for a meaningful, comprehensive answer on every language submitted in one question. It's a lot to ask of a reviewer to give good advice to an arbitrarily broad range of technologies at once, and this would push out intermediate programmers whose technological breadth may be somewhat small but could - on a single-language question - provide perfectly fine advice.

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On-topic, discouraged

Posting solutions to the same programming challenge in multiple languages in one question is discouraged. Posting multiple solutions is not off-topic, whether it be in one or more posts. As such the discouragement is unlikely to be accompanied by a slap on the wrist - closure, downvotes, comments.
Note: It is encouraged to leave some time before posting similar questions.

  • I would ask two separate questions because (as you said) they are totally independent and smaller questions are easier to answer. (You can link them, of course.)

    If there is a chance that they are not totally independent I'd consider asking the first question and waiting for a few days or reviews before posting the second one. You might get feedbacks which requires some modification in the code of the second question.

    palacsint, CC BY-SA 3.0

  • Please go ahead and post three questions, one for each language, and feel free to have them link to each other.

    You may also want to consider to post your questions a bit apart, as answers to one of the languages might improve the code for another language.

    Simon Forsberg, CC BY-SA 3.0

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While there currently appears to be nothing in the rules against this practice, I would recommend making separate posts. Some reviewers may only be familiar one language though others may be familiar with multiple. The biggest advantage I see to separate posts is that there is a potential for more reputation and badges, which opens the door to more privileges on the site.

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