eberard@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (Edward Berard) (04/18/88)
The purpose of this message is to clarify some issues regarding the
"Ada Can" programming contest. Hopefully, I will only have to post it
once.
First, for those of you who picked up the two-page flyer on Ada Can at
the Phoenix meeting: check the "Rules of the Contest" on the back
page. The next to the last rule says, in part: "Entries become the
property of EVB Software Engineering for publication WITHOUT
COPYRIGHT." The intent of this rule is to alert entrants to the fact
that their submissions may very well be published. However, neither
EVB nor the entrants can claim a restrictive copyright to the
material. Specifically, all winning entries, and up to 8 (eight)
additional entries for each problem, will be placed in the public
domain.
The following should help clarify matters:
1. The problem descriptions will be placed in the public domain.
This will include, but will not be limited to, placing the
problem descriptions in the Ada Software Repository. (There will
be at least 10 (ten) different contest problems.
2. There will be first and second place winners for each problem.
These solutions, along with up to 8 (eight) additional different
solutions, will also be placed in the public domain. This will
include, but will not be limited to, placing the solutions in
the Ada Software Repository.
3. EVB Software Engineering will publish both a bound volume
containing the problem descriptions and their solutions, and an
MS DOS floppy containing all published Ada source code. EVB will
charge a fee (estimated to be approximately U.S. $40) for each
copy of the bound volume (which will include the floppy). The
purpose of this fee is to help defray both the cost of
publishing the volume, and the cost of the prizes.
In my many conversations with those involved in Ada-related research
and development, it became apparent that there are a number of
"unsolvable" Ada programming problems. It is my opinion that each of
these problems has an infinite set of solutions. The intent of this
contest is to draw out a number of these solutions using prize money
as bait.
-- Ed Berard
(301) 696-6960