2004 Stanford Local Programming Contest

Saturday, 9 October 2003
Gates B02 (basement computer cluster)
12:00 pm to 5:00 pm


News and updates

Many thanks to Karen Lee for running the grading scripts and to Jerry Cain for helping administer the contest! Thanks also to Daniel Wright and Cristian Cadar for debugging the problem set beforehand.
Solutions and test data are now available!

cakeelectionnashtrianglebracketsrepeatlessplanet
Inputcake.inelection.innash.intriangle.inbrackets.inrepeatless.inplanet.in
Outputcake.outelection.outnash.outtriangle.outbrackets.outrepeatless.outplanet.out
 
chuongdocake.ccelection.ccnash.cctriangle.ccbrackets.ccrepeatless.ccplanet.cc
darthurcake.ccelection.ccnash.cctriangle.ccbrackets.ccrepeatless.ccplanet.cc
lutocake.ccelection.ccnash.cctriangle.ccbrackets.ccrepeatless.ccplanet.cc
asundquicake.ccelection.ccnash.cctriangle.ccbrackets.ccrepeatless.ccplanet.cc
dvickreycake.javaelection.javanash.javatriangle.javabrackets.javarepeatless.java
sdguocake.celection.cnash.ctriangle.cbrackets.crepeatless.c
tkxuecake.ccelection.ccnash.cctriangle.ccbrackets.ccrepeatless.cc
The following statistics on the problem set are provided by David Arthur:
Problem     # accepted  % accepted  % wrong answer  % time limit exceeded

cake        6           30.00%      35.00%          15.00%
election    26          70.27%      24.32%          0.00%
nash        14          58.33%      41.67%          0.00%
triangle    11          23.91%      63.04%          8.70%
brackets    9           33.33%      37.04%          29.63%
repeatless  18          40.00%      26.67%          33.33%
planet      4           100.00%     0.00%           0.00%
The contest is over! Congratulations to all participants! The first and second Stanford ACM teams for 2004-05 are (unofficially):

First team Second team Also, congratulations to the top 3 "just-for-fun" competitors: At 1:00 pm, the real contest problems will be available! Download the pdf or ps version.
You can check the contest standings online here.
Preliminary instructions and a test problem have been posted! Download the pdf or ps version.

What is this all about?

Once again, Stanford will be hosting a local programming contest to select the students who will represent Stanford at the 2004 ACM Pacific NW Regional Contest, and hopefully at the 2005 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.

The local contest will be an individual contest (students compete as individuals, and not on teams. The top six individuals will be grouped to form two teams of three students each to represent Stanford at the regional contest.

The top two teams at the regional contest qualify for the International Contest Finals to be held April 3-7, 2005 in Shanghai, China. The winning students not only bring fame and glory to their university, they also win hefty scholarships ($$) and plenty of free software.

The contest pits teams of three with one computer against a host of problems in a limited time-frame. Typically, six or more problems are posed with five to six hours to solve as many as you can. These problems can generally be solved by careful analysis and application of algorithms taught in undergraduate computer science. Some are quite challenging. For examples, see the problems from previous years of this contest.

Am I eligible to compete?

To qualify for a spot on the Stanford ACM team:

This year, even if you're not eligible to compete for a spot on the Stanford ACM team, as long as you have a Leland account, you may participate in the local contest anyway! Come join the fun!

How do I compete?

STEP ONE: Send an e-mail to indicating that you will be competing so that I can get a rough idea of how many students to expect. Please also mention whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student, and whether you are eligible for a spot on the Stanford ACM team. (You can compete even if you don't do this, but you may not get your choice of terminals.)

STEP TWO: Come to Gates room B02 (the computer cluster in the basement) on Saturday, October 9th at 12:00 pm. I will go over the rules of the contest, set you up with a practice problem, and begin the contest promptly at 1:00 pm.

STEP THREE: Code like mad!!! The contest will last 4 hours. There are some great practice problems to try in the archives (previous contest pages). Come and help make a good showing for Stanford. I hope to see you there!

Rules and FAQ

Is the local contest an individual or team event?

Students participating in the local contest will compete as INDIVIDUALS. The top scorers will be grouped together to form the best possible teams. There will be two teams of three students each. In each team, only ONE team member is allowed to hold a baccalaureate degree. Effectively, this means that each team will likely consist of two undergraduates and one graduate student. However, if the top scorers are all undergraduates, then each team will have three undergrads.

Can you bring notes/books to the contest?

Yes. You can bring textbooks, notes, printouts of code, and any other written material you want. However, you may NOT bring any MAGNETIC media (disks). In other words, you will have to MANUALLY TYPE into the computer any code that you use in your solutions (i.e. code that has been entered and/or compiled before the contest begins may NOT be used). You MAY NOT use any electronic devices (ie. calculators, laptops), since you will have a fairly sophisticated "calculator" sitting in front of you. You also MAY NOT browse the web and download code. At the regional/final contest, all you'll have is a PC plus any printouts/books/notes that you carry with yourself.

What platforms and languages will be supported?

At last year's regional contest and world finals, the programming environment consisted of Red Hat Linux 9.0 with all standard editors and compilers as well as some optional IDEs. It would be great if we could replicate these conditions here at Stanford for the local contest, but we will have to make do with what we have. The Gates B02 contains mainly PC systems, so contestants must "ssh" to the Sweet Hall machines and compose and compile their code there. Students with CS accounts are encouraged to work from the nearby PUP cluster. It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with these machines BEFORE the contest so that you are comfortable with editing and compiling code in this manner. Jerry Cain has set up a helpful page on using the VNC utility for running remote XWindows sessions. I will support the judging of C, C++, and Java code.

How many problems will there be?

I haven't decided yet. I'm still working on developing the problems and solutions I will use for judging. There will most likely be 5-7 problems.

What about scoring?

I'll explain more at the contest, but the judging proceeds as follows:

How do I prepare for this contest?

Success in the ACM programming contest requires a combination of coding speed and algorithmic ability. To make sure that you're ready for the contest, make sure that you are comfortable with the programming environment for the local contest (see Rules and FAQ above). Contest problems typically involve dynamic programming, search, simulation, geometry, and more.

The best way to prepare for ACM-style programming problems is to practice! The Universidad de Valladolid Problem Set Archive has tons of problems that you can solve and an online judge for grading your solutions automatically. Other problem set archives may be found here and here. Also, check out the problems from previous contests in the section below. Although it uses a different competition format, the online TopCoder weekly matches provide very useful preparation for ACM; one of the most useful features of the website is the ability to look at other contestant's solutions to problems from previous contests.

Previous contests

2003 Stanford Local Programming Contest
2002 Stanford Local Programming Contest
2001 Stanford Local Programming Contest
2000 Stanford Local Programming Contest
1999 Stanford Local Programming Contest
1998 Stanford Local Programming Contest
1997 Stanford Local Programming Contest
1996 Stanford Local Programming Contest

1998-2003 Pacific Northwest Regional Contests

2003-2004 ACM ICPC Regional Contests
2002-2003 ACM ICPC Regional Contests
2001-2002 ACM ICPC Regional Contests

2004 ACM ICPC World Finals


Local contest organizer: Chuong Do
E-mail: