2010 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest Finals Call for Problems

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest is seeking programming problems for the Contest Finals. Contest Finals Judges will be selected from among those who contribute problems. Each contributor must submit at least two problems, each consisting of
* a problem description,
* a solution in C/C++ or Java and
* a simple test plan.

All problems must be submitted by Friday, July 17, 2009. This date is firm and cannot be extended.

I will send an acknowledgement when I receive a submittal. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within a week, please contact me again.

The "Guide for Judges and Problem Contributors" is attached. Please read this document carefully.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.

Dick Rinewalt Computer Science Dept Texas Christian Univ
D.Rinewalt@tcu.edu

PS: Please forward this to anyone who is interested.

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Guide for Judges and Problem Contributors
2010 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest Finals


Judges for the 2008 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest Finals have the sole responsibility for producing the test problems (including test data and expected results) used in the contest and for assessing the correctness of solutions produced by teams competing in the contest. This guide is an attempt to assist judges with those responsibilities.

Problems from previous Contest Finals are available at the URL http://icpc.baylor.edu/Past/
These may be used as further guides for producing problem statements.
If you have more questions, please contact:

Director of Judging
Dick Rinewalt
College of Science & Engineering
Texas Christian University Box 298960
Fort Worth, Texas 76129
Office phone: 817-257-7721
D.Rinewalt@tcu.edu

Problem Statements

1. Each problem must be unambiguously described in English.
2. All problems must require input.
3. Unless the core of the problem is input/output related, the formats chosen for input data and the displayed results should be relatively simple. Still, the format of the input data and the appearance of the expected displayed results must be described in suitable detail.
4. Multiple data sets testing different cases are appropriate; make the problem statement include iterative data sets as input to avoid using separate input files.
5. Due to the judging environment, a problem which requires more than one input file is not appropriate.
6. Anticipate questions about special cases. Where appropriate, explicitly state that certain special cases will not appear in the input data. It is not necessary to specifically identify the special cases that will appear.
7. Indicate the precision that is required for real results.
8. Contestants must write solutions for problems in a short time. While very simple problems are not appropriate, neither are problems that require a great deal of code; a few hundred lines of Java or C should be an upper limit on what can be expected in a solution.
9. The program and chosen test data should not require excessive execution time. Contestants' solutions may be less efficient than yours and so a generous margin is allowed for execution. Still, if your test data requires the program to execute for a long time, then incorrect student solutions (e.g., those with infinite loops) will take an excessively long time to judge. We would like to avoid those situations.
10. The problem description (excluding sample input/output) should generally require at most one page.
    

Judges' Solutions

1. For each problem you propose, prepare a solution in C/C++ or Java. Solutions in multiple languages will be appreciated.
2. Include comments in your code, even though the contestants' code need not be commented.
3. Make sure that your program correctly solves the problem! Include test data that illustrates the generic and special cases that you expect the contestants' solutions to handle.

Test Data

1. Data must be unambiguous when printed. Consider carefully those cases where trailing blanks (or leading blanks, etc.) will make a difference in a program that processes input data.
2. If several test cases are included, describe the manner in which data for the test cases is separated in a single file.
3. Include a rationale for each of the test cases you provide. This will help identify missing test cases as well as identify those cases where a student solution fails.
4. 4. Put a copy of the sample input data first followed by general cases, ones which student solutions are likely to get. Stress tests (boundary values) should appear last.

Submission of Problems, Solutions, and Test Data

1. Use electronic mail and send all files as either
* MS Word document,
* RTF,or
* flat ASCII.
PGP encryption is encouraged but not required.
My public key is attached to the end of this message.
2. Do not put your name in documents containing the problem statement, solution, or test data. This will simplify the transformation from your form to the one used for ranking.
3. Be discreet about problem statements and solutions. It is not appropriate to discuss problems with people not involved with the contest.
4. Problem selection will be completed around September 1.


Judging Criteria at the Finals

1. Each solution proposed by a contest team will be judged as acceptable or not. If not, at least one of the following comments will be returned to the team:
* Run-time error
* Time limit exceeded
* Wrong answer
* Presentation error

2. Contestants may ask for clarifications of the problem statements. When appropriate such clarification will be provided.

Summary

Each proposed problem must include the following components:
a) A problem statement.
b) A correct C/C++ or Java solution to the problem.
c) A comprehensive (but not necessarily exhaustive) annotated test data set for the problem.