THE EIGHTH ANNUAL HIGH SCHOOL

PROGRAMMING CONTEST

 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012

7:30 A.M. – 1:45 PM

KIRKBRIDE HALL ROOM # 242

17TH & Walnut St, Chester, PA 19013

 

IMPORTANT: PLEASE GATHER AT ROOM 242 (ROOM CHANGED - THIS WILL BE THE NEW LOCATION)

KIRKBRIDE HALL BY 8:00 AM. USUALLY, THERE IS

AMPLE PARKING AROUND KIRKBRIDE HALL (BEFORE 8:00 AM)

YOU COULD PARK AT KIRKBRIDE LOT (IN FRONT OF KIRKBRIDE HALL) WITHOUT PARKING PASS - JUST FOR THIS EVENT

Click here for Directions to Widener and campus map

 

WE INVITE HIGH SCHOOL (GRADES 9-12) STUDENTS IN MID-ATLANTIC AREA (E.G. PA, DE, NJ, MD, NY) TO PARTICIPATE IN A TWO HOUR COMPETITION. STUDENTS COMPETING IN TEAMS OF TWO OR THREE ARE INVITED TO DEMONSTRATE THEIR PROGRAMMING SKILLS AND PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITIES IN THEIR LANGUAGE OF CHOICE (Java,C, C++, QBasic, PHP, OR PYTHON - OTHER LANGUAGE PLEASE CONTACT US). AVAILABLE OPERATING SYSTEMS: LINUX AND WINDOWS XP.



FIRST PRIZE = 500 DOLLARS + TROPHY

SECOND PRIZE = 250 DOLLARS + TROPHY

THIRD PRIZE = 150 DOLLARS + TROPHY

BREAKING NEWS:

 2012 CONTEST WINNERS :

First Prize: A team from Cherokee High School

Second Price: A team from West Chester East High School

Third Price: A team from West Chester East High School

REGISTER BY: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

(NO REGISTRATION FEE – BUT SPACE IS LIMITED)

 

 

SCHEDULE:

REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST (FREE): 8:00 - 8:40 A.M.

ORIENTATION MEETING: 8:45 - 9:15 AM

CONTEST: 9:30 A.M. – 11:30 A.M.

LUNCH (FREE): 11:45 A.M. – 12:45 P.M.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNERS: 12:45 P.M. – 1:30 P.M.

 

 

DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION FORM, FILL IT OUT AND SEND IT

VIA EMAIL TO rufinus@cs.widener.edu 

 

 

ABOUT THE CONTEST

Contact Person: PROFESSOR JEFF RUFINUS

Email Contact: rufinus@cs.widener.edu

JURORS: PROFESSORS S. YOON, B. NEVELN, J. RUFINUS, Y. KORTSARTS, A. FISCHBACH

2005 Programming Contest Problem Sets

2006 Programming Contest Problem Sets

2007 Programming Contest Problem Sets

2008 Programming Contest Problem Sets

 

CONTEST RULES:

THE CONTEST WILL BEGIN AT 9:45 AM SHARP ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011. IT WILL END AT 11:45 AM SHARP ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011. PLEASE GATHER AT KIRKBRIDE HALL ROOM 242 (COMPUTER SCIENCE LAB #1) BEFORE 8:45 AM FOR ORIENTATION MEETING.

 

MATERIALS

During the contest, team members may use written materials (manuals, books. etc.) of any kind. Pencils and scratch paper will be provided. Standard Calculators are permitted, however, programmable calculators or PDAs are not allowed. The use of cellular phones and the internet is also not allowed during the competition. Cell phone or internet use by any team member during the contest will result in immediate disqualification of that person's entire team.

 

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Each team will use a programming language to solve the problems. Each team is free to choose a programming language. However, each team must inform the judges what programming language to use, before the contest. Available programming languages are C, C++, Java, and Python. To use other programming language a contestant must tell the judges at least one week before the contest. Please contact Prof. Rufinus at rufinus@cs.widener.edu

 

COMPUTER

Each team will be assigned one PC to use during the contest. Instructions on computer usage, if needed, will be given during the contestants meeting preceding the contest.

No floppy disks or computer storage media or devices will be allowed in the computer lab (please communicate with the judges before the contest if you need to bring a storage device because of certain circumstances). All code must be entered using the keyboard. (e.g. You may not use code found on a webpage, even if you wrote the code). Teams are allowed to print their source code, but sharing of source code is not permitted.

 

MONITORS

Faculty and/or student monitors will be available to assist team members. The monitors will answer questions concerning computer usage and contest procedures but will not answer any questions regarding logic, language syntax, or problem interpretation.

 

PROBLEMS

When the contest begins, each team will be given approximately five (this number could change) programming problems to solve. Team members may work on these problems in any order and in any manner they choose. There will be exactly two hours to work on the solutions.

 

TESTING

Each team may RUN their programs using their own test data files (if needed) as many times as they wish. We urge you to use the sample data provided with each problem statement, but do not assume that because your program works with the sample data that it will work with the actual contest test data. Test your programs very carefully before submitting them for judging.  

 

PROGRAMS

The following conventions must be observed when creating programs:

 

JUDGING OF PROGRAMS

Judging of submitted programs will be done on the spot (i.e. as the team finishes a program the team should tell the judge. The judge will test the program to determine whether the program works correctly/incorrectly)

 

QUESTIONS

Once the contest begins, all direct or indirect interaction between the teams and the judges will be limited to a specific question and answer process. This includes requests for clarification of problems as well as any other questions about a specific problem. These questions and their answers will be available to all teams throughout the contest.

 

RESUBMISSION OF PROGRAM

NO resubmission of any program is allowed. Be certain that your program works correctly before you submit it.

 

TIME OF EXECUTION

When the contest judges are executing a program using the official contest data, a solution will be judged to be incorrect if it does not execute in less than 1 minute.

 

TIMING (THIS PART WILL BE MODIFIED, IF NECESSARY)

Time is essential. If you have finished a problem, please submit it as soon as possible, since the submission time will be recorded. Say, there are five problems that you could finish in 2 hours. You waited for two hours to submit them simultaneousy. The total time that will be recorded will be equal to 5 X 2 hours = 10 hours.


STANDINGS

Teams will be ranked according to the number of problems they complete correctly. For example, a team that completes 5 problems correctly will finish ahead of a team that completes 4 problems correctly.

In the event of a tie, the teams that tied will be ranked according to the total accumulated time taken by each team. Accumulated time is measured as follows: For each problem completed correctly, the time from the start of the contest to the completion of the problem is calculated and added to the team's total accumulated time. For example, if two teams complete the same number of problems, the team that has an accumulated time of 100 minutes would be ranked ahead of the team that has an accumulated time of 120 minutes.

 

PRIZES

Winners will be awarded after the lunch and tour of campus (SEE The Schedule above)