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Bots that visibly write code at a human pace

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
45/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
javascript, next.js, node.js
Domain
backend, frontend, testing

Research direction

Start with backend/server.js and trace how bot submissions currently emit code-update; also read the existing bot difficulty settings and the tests run by npm test. The goal is a pure seeded timeline whose replay yields the reference solution, while keeping win rates stable; validate with node scripts/check-boundary.js and include a screen recording and before/after win rates in the pull request.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

enhancement help wanted

Bot battles feel lifeless. The bot's editor stays blank (its code is an empty string in backend/server.js) until a timer fires and it submits a finished solution all at once. Players can tell instantly that nobody is there.

Goal

Bots that look like they are coding: the opponent editor fills in gradually, with pauses, small mistakes and test runs, at a pace that matches the bot's difficulty.

Design

  • Build a typing plan from the bot's reference solution before the battle starts: a timeline of insertions, pauses (longer at the start of a function or a loop) and the occasional typo fixed a moment later.
  • Easier bots plan slower, pause more, and may submit a failing version first, then fix it.
  • Emit the plan through the same throttled code-update path a human uses, so the frontend needs no special case.
  • Total time follows the bot's difficulty settings, with randomness so two battles against the same bot are not identical.
  • Bots never "react" to the player's code. Their timeline depends only on the problem, the difficulty and a seed.

Definition of done

  • A pure, seeded function that turns a solution into a timeline, with tests proving that replaying the timeline produces exactly the reference solution.
  • A screen recording of a bot battle in the pull request.
  • Bot win rates by difficulty before and after, so the change does not quietly make bots easier or harder.
  • npm test and node scripts/check-boundary.js pass.
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
0
Forks
2
No merged PRs in 30d

Getting set up

First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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