Each person must compete individually or in a team of two people.
Entrants may bring any written resources, including but not limited to:
Books
Manuals
Program Listings
Entrants may NOT bring machine readable resources, including but not limited to:
No CDs
No Floppy Disks
No Flash Drives
During the Contest
Problem submissions must be in either C++ or Java. The versions used will be:
C++: g++ 4.1.2
Java: javac 1.5.0
The judges machines will be on Linux. If you use a Windows machine, then it is your responsibility that you write code that can compile with g++.
Entrants may use only one computational device, namely the computer assigned to them.
No Calculators
No Cell Phones
No PDAs
Entrants will be given 5 problems to solve. The problems will have sample input data and sample output. The judges will use a different set of test cases while judging submissions.
Entrants may submit a solution to any problem at any time during the contest. The submission must be made through the contest software PC^2.
Entrants are responsible for knowing how to make a submission with PC^2 (help will be given during the practice session).
All input will be from standard input. (cin, System.in, etc.)
All output will be to standard output. (cout, System.out, etc.)
Each submission must be a single source file.
Judges will respond to each submission with one of these rulings:
Yes, this means the submission was correct.
No - compile error, this means the submission did not compile on the judge's machine. It is foolish to submit code that does not compile.
No - run-time error, this means that the submission crashed (threw an exception, segfaulted, etc.) while run on the judge's test cases.
No - time limit exceeded, this means that the submission did not halt withing 10 seconds while run on the judge's test cases.
No - wrong answer, this means that the submission did not give the correct answer while run on the judge's test cases.
No - presentation error, this means that the output of the submission differed from the correct output based on formatting considerations.
No - other - contact staff, this means that something unexpected has happened. A judge will contact you shortly.
Entrants can submit clarification requests using PC^2.
The judges will only answer clarifications about the meaning of the problem. They will not answer questions regarding how to solve a problem or any details pertaining to an entrants solution.
Judges decisions will be considered final and as such are beyond dispute.
Scoring
Each correct submission is worth 1 point.
The most points wins.
Ties will be broken by time-penalty points.
The fewer time-penalty points wins.
Each correct submission adds 1 time-penalty point for each minute from the start of the contest to the time of the submission.
Each incorrect submissions adds 20 time-penalty points, as long as the entrant eventually solves the problem.
Prizes
One XBox 360, awarded to the overall winner.
One Zune, awarded to freshman winner.
Disqualification
Not following these rules or acting in any way inappropriate will be grounds for disqualification. Remember that intention of this contest is to have fun.