jsh@usenix.org (Jeffrey S. Haemer) (07/27/90)
From: Jeffrey S. Haemer <jsh@usenix.org> Son of WeirdNIX USENIX Association 23 July 1990 Norman Bangerter, Governor of Utah, declared April 23-27 ``POSIX week'' in the state of Utah. Spurred on by the spirit of that declaration, the USENIX Association is announcing its 1990 POSIX contest. Prizes (besides notoriety) include + a copy of the ``POSIX Week'' declaration, + an official, 40-foot, red-and-white ``Welcome POSIX'' banner, + and -- thanks to UNISYS and the state of Utah -- + two round-trip tickets to Salt Lake City, plus + weekend accommodations at a hotel yet to be named. If you were at the Snowbird meetings, or have ever been to Utah for any reason, you'll know this is a great prize. If you haven't, take our word for it. ``What,'' you're asking, ``do I have to do to win?'' Designing a contest isn't easy. We toyed with the idea of holding a Roger Martin look-alike contest. We almost decided on, ``If POSIX were made into a movie, who would play the attendees?'' [Sample answer: Jack Nicholson as Jim Isaak (Jim says he'd prefer ``Cary Grant''), Oscar the Grouch as John Quarterman, ...] Finally, we decided on a second, not-at-all-annual, WeirdNIX Contest. As with the first one, which is described in section B.1.2.12 of ANSI/IEEE 1003.1-1988, the goal is to find: the best new and technically legal interpretation of the POSIX standard which nevertheless violates the intuitive intent of the POSIX standard. Both + 1003.1 (``The Ugly Green Book''), and + 1003.2 (draft 10 or later) are fair game. The former is available from - 2 - IEEE Service Center 445 Hoes Lane Piscataway, NJ 08854 U.S.A. (201) 981-0060 the latter from Lisa Granoien IEEE Computer Society 1730 Massachusetts Ave NW Washington, DC 20036-1903 (202) 371-0101 While the only version of 1003.1 currently available is IEEE 1003.1-1988, we won't give high marks to cheap shots, so problems fixed in IEEE 1003.1-1990 (soon to be published, and formerly found in documents labeled 1003.1a) aren't good targets. In the earlier contest, separate prizes were awarded for ``Best'' and for ``Most Demented.'' We debated doing this again but, in the end, decided that one prize of two tickets makes more sense than two prizes of one ticket. The judges may choose to announce winners in a variety of categories, but the prize mentioned above is a grand prize: we'll award the prize to whichever entry we think is the best, whatever its orientation. Judges are: Donn Terry (Chair, 1003.1), Hal Jespersen (Chair, 1003.2), N. Ray Wilkes, (Vice chair, 1003.3), John Quarterman (USENIX Standards liaison), and Jeffrey S. Haemer (USENIX report editor). Please mail entries to Jeffrey S. Haemer <jsh@usenix.org>. If you don't get an acknowledgement, I haven't gotten it. Previous winners may compete, but previous entries aren't allowed. Entries must be submitted by November 21, 1990, to give us time to judge them. We'll announce the winner at the Winter USENIX Conference in Dallas, January 21-25, 1991. Volume-Number: Volume 20, Number 147