clore@cis.ohio-state.edu (michael a clore) (05/17/91)
____________________________________________________________________________
SYNOPSIS OF RULE CHANGES FOR THE
1991-1992 ACM SCHOLASTIC PROGRAMMING CONTEST
sponsored by AT&T Computer Systems
1. Each team will comprise *three* students who are *enrolled in a
degree program* at *the same* educational institution.
2. No individual who has competed in two Contest Finals may compete in
*a regional contest or* the Contest Finals.
3. All team members must be ACM members *by February 15, 1992,* to be
eligible to compete in the Contest Finals.
4. Regional contests will be held *between October 18 and November 17,
1991.*
5. Contest boundaries and allocation of finals spaces among regional
contests are defined as follows: Northeast (2 teams); Greater New
York (2 teams); *Allegheny/Capital (2 teams)*; Southeast (2 teams);
East Central (2 teams); North Central *(3 teams)*; South Central
(2 teams); Mountain (2 teams); Pacific (2 teams); Southern California
(2 teams); European (2 teams); *South Pacific (1 team); and Far East
(1 team).*
6. Contestants may bring *non-programmable* calculators into the contest.
PS. A note from the contest director: the level of participation in
the contest by women is pitifully low. Can you encourage promising young
women computer science students to participate in the contest at your
institution? To make sure that everyone feels welcome to compete in
the contest, it sometimes takes a little extra encouragement.
Thanks,
Bill Poucher, Contest Director
____________________________________________________________________________
Contest Rules
Organization
The ACM Scholastic Programming Contest is a contest consisting of
Regional Contests from which teams are selected to advance to the
Contest Finals. Competition is among teams of students
representing institutions of higher education. The ACM
Scholastic Programming Contest is an activity of the Contest
Group and, consequently, of the Local Activities Board. The
"Contest Director," who serves as chairman of the group,
coordinates these contests, oversees budgetary matters, and
assures conformance with ACM policies and procedures. Rules for
the Scholastic Programming Contest are determined by the Contest
Group. The Contest Director is solely responsible for
interpreting the rules and for ruling on any unforeseen
situations.
Contest Finals Organization
1. The ACM Scholastic Programming Contest Finals,
hereinafter called the "Contest Finals," will be held in
conjunction with the Computer Science Conference, on March 4,
1992.
2. Teams competing in the Contest Finals are selected as
described in Coordination of Contests.
3. The Contest Finals is administered by the Contest Finals
Group which is charged with executing the finals within the
Contest Rules and guidelines established by the Contest Group.
Regional Contest Organization
1. ACM Scholastic Programming Contest Regionals, hereinafter
called "Regional Contests," shall be held between October 18
and November 17 of 1991.
2. Each regional contest will be organized and run by a
Regional Contest Group, chaired by a Regional Contest
Director. Regional Contests shall be coordinated by the
"Director of Regional Contests."
3. Each Regional Contest Group determines its own rules for
its Regional Contest. These rules must be submitted to the
Director of Regional Contests for approval by July 1. It is
presumed that regional contest rules will not deviate
significantly from the Contest Rules so that teams might not
be at a disadvantage when competing in the Contest Finals;
however, alternative contest formats may well be appropriate
considering the heterogeneous nature of ACM Regions.
4. Teams competing in Regional Contests must meet the
requirements specified in the section Team Composition.
5. The Regional Contests' Head Judges will be solely
responsible for determining the correctness of submitted runs.
The Regional Contest Directors and the Regional Contest Head
Judges are responsible for determining the winners of their
Regional Contests. Decisions regarding the correctness of
submitted runs are final and may not be appealed.
6. Contestants may report claims of rule violations or
misconduct of the contest within 10 days of the Regional
Contest to the Director of Regional Contests. The Director
will make a recommendation within the next 10 days to the
Contest Group which may, by a 2/3 vote, overturn the results
of the Regional Contest by December 10. Should circumstances
disqualify finalists, the Contest Group shall designate the
teams to advance to the Contest Finals.
Regional Contest Reporting Requirements
Within 5 days of the completion of their Regional
Contest, each Regional Contest Director will submit the
following: complete report of final standings of teams
competing in the contest, indicating those teams certified to
advance to the Contest Finals; a copy of the Regional Contest
problems; registration information on all teams competing in
the contest; and any ACM membership applications and dues
collected at the regional contest. The Director of Regional
Contests will report these results to the ACM Regional
Representatives and the Contest Group.
Regional Contest Sponsorship
1. The Contest Director shall provide some funding for
regional contest operational costs and shall provide plaques
to the top six teams, or in the event that regional
competition is in two divisions, the top four teams in each
division.
2. All advertisement, signage, promotions, and fund-raising
for regional contests shall be coordinated with the Contest
Director, or designated representative, so as to conform with
the sponsoring requirements of AT&T Computer Systems as
described below. At least two weeks notice is necessary so
that materials can be reviewed by the appropriate parties.
3. AT&T shall be acknowledged as a sponsor of every Regional
Contest and the sole sponsor of the Contest Finals. On all
Regional and Contest Final promotional materials, including
but not limited to stationery, signage, announcements, press
releases, and awards at Regional Contests and Contest Finals,
the Contest will be referred to as
The ACM Scholastic Programming Contest
sponsored by AT&T Computer Systems
In all such acknowledgements, where text only is used,
the words "AT&T Computer Systems" shall be at least three
quarters (3/4) of the size of the words "ACM Scholastic
Programming Contest" (the "Contest Name"). Furthermore,
whenever the ACM symbol is used in the Contest Name, unless
otherwise mutually agreed to by the parties, the AT&T globe
also shall appear adjacent to the AT&T logotype in a size at
least three quarters (3/4) that of the ACM symbol and Contest
Name.
4. AT&T shall have the right of first refusal to sponsor any
regional contest activities (such as providing contest
equipment, prizes, and T-shirts) for which a regional contest
is seeking sponsorship. AT&T shall have fifteen (15) business
days to exercise its right of first refusal, commencing with
receipt of written notice from ACM inviting AT&T to sponsor
one or more regional contest activities. If within such
fifteen-day period, AT&T either declines such invitation to
sponsor or fails to respond to notice, then, except as
otherwise provided in this Agreement, ACM shall have no
further obligations to AT&T with respect to such regional
contest activity or activities.
5. If parties other than AT&T sponsor regional contest
activities as set forth above, ACM agrees that in any
promotional and advertising materials issued by ACM or such
other parties the word "sponsor" shall be used to refer to
AT&T only, and the activities of other sponsors shall be
described by one or more of the following phrase: (i) "funded
by"; (ii) "donated by", or (iii) "courtesy of", or phrases
similar in nature. ACM will also ensure that AT&T will be
featured more prominently than, will be larger than and set
apart from any other regional contest sponsor in all
promotional and advertising materials issued by ACM.
Coordination of Contests
1. The Contest Director shall coordinate the Regional
Contests with the Contest Finals.
2. Each team is expected to compete in the contest within
its defined region. However, a team that is geographically
closer to the site of another regional contest may, with the
written consent of both affected Regional Contest Directors,
switch its affiliation for the regional contest. An
institution may send contestants to only one regional contest
in any one year.
3. An institution may send more than one team to a regional
contest, subject to the advance approval of the Regional
Contest Director. It is expected that regional contests will
make spaces available first to all institutions with only one
team before admitting a second team from any institution.
Only one team from a given institution may advance to the
Contest Finals.
4. The Contest Group will define the boundaries of, and the
allocation of finals spaces among, the regional contests. For
the 1991 Regional Contests, the regions are defined (using
former ACM Regions terminology where applicable) and the
finals spaces allocated, as follows: North East (2 teams);
Greater New York (2 teams); Allegheny/Capital (2 teams); South
East (2 teams); East Central (2 teams); North Central (3
teams); South Central (2 teams); Mountain (2 teams); Pacific
(2 teams); Southern California (2 teams); European (2 teams);
South Pacific (1 team); and Far East (1 team).
5. If additional Contest Finals spaces are available, the
Contest Director may allocate them as may seem appropriate.
Team Composition
1. Each team must be properly constituted. It is the
responsibility of the team advisor, who must be a member of
the faculty or staff of the institution sponsoring the team,
to certify the eligibility of contestants. Any questions of
eligibility should be posed to the Contest Director, who is
solely responsible for interpreting the rules of eligibility.
2. Contestant eligibility is determined during the academic
term ending closest to the date of the regional contest.
Graduation and degree conferrals occur after a term has been
completed, not during that term.
3. Each team consists of up to three contestants.
4. Each contestant must be a student enrolled in a degree
program at the sponsoring institution with at least a
half-time load. This rule is not to be construed as
disqualifying co-op students on regular co-op activity away
from the institution who are otherwise in good academic
standing.
5. At least two contestants of each team must be
undergraduate students.
6. No contestant may have completed two years of graduate
studies or hold a graduate degree.
7. Each team that advances to the Contest Finals may
identify an alternate, who must meet all contestant
eligibility requirements with the additional requirement that
the alternate be an undergraduate student. The alternate may
replace any contestant who is unable or unwilling to compete,
provided that the advisor notifies the Contest Director in a
timely manner.
8. No contestant or alternate may have competed as a
contestant in two Contest Finals.
9. All Contest Finals contestants are required to be members
of ACM by February 15, 1992.
10. A team is not eligible to compete in the Contest Finals
until the Contest Director has received all materials that
certify eligibility from the team advisor and Regional Contest
Director.
Conduct of the Contest Finals
1. At least six problems will be posed. In the past several
years, eight problems have been posed. So far as possible,
problems will avoid dependence on detailed knowledge of a
particular applications area. Problems requiring modification
or enhancement may be posed.
2. Problems will be posed in English. All clarification
requests must be expressed in English.
3. Contestants may bring resource materials such as books,
manuals, program listings, and non-programmable calculators.
Contestants may not bring any machine-readable versions of
software or data. Contestants may not bring their own
computers or computer terminals. The Finals Director is
solely responsible for distinguishing calculators from
computers.
4. Teams may not accept help or advice on Contest Finals
problems from anyone not authorized by the Finals Director or
the Head Judge to give advice. Contest Finals Judges will
clarify problem statements as needed, and the host site staff
may advise on system-related problems, such as explaining
system error messages.
5. Judges will not invite questions about the problems. A
contestant may submit a written claim of ambiguity or error in
a problem statement by submitting a clarification request. If
the Judges agree that an ambiguity or error exists, a
clarification will be issued to all contestants.
6. Solutions to problems submitted for judging are called
runs. Each run is judged as accepted or rejected, and the
team is notified of the results. Rejected runs will be
marked as follows:
y syntax error
y run-time error
y time-limit exceeded
y wrong answer
y inaccurate answer
y failed test case
y too little/much output
y wrong output format
y check clarifications
Rejection comments are not guaranteed to be complete nor
sufficient to identify the actual error. Normally, only the
first observed error will be noted.
7. Notification of accepted runs will be suspended when
necessary to keep the final results secret. If this is done,
a general announcement to that effect will be made during the
contest. Notification of rejected runs will continue until
the end of the contest.
8. While the contest is scheduled to last five hours, the
Finals Director and the Head Judge have the authority to
lengthen the contest in the event of unforeseen difficulties.
Should the Contest duration be altered, every attempt will be
made to notify contestants in a timely and uniform manner.
9. A team may be disqualified by the Finals Director for any
activity that jeopardizes the Contest Finals such as
dislodging extension cords, unauthorized modification of
contest materials, or distractive behavior. Contestants are
not to converse with anyone except other members of their team
and personnel designated by the Finals Director.
Scoring of the Contest Finals
1. The Contest Finals Judges will be solely responsible for
determining the correctness of submitted runs. The Finals
Director and the Head Judge are responsible for determining
the winners of the Contest Finals. They are empowered to
adjust for or adjudicate unforeseen events and conditions.
Their decisions are final.
2. Teams are ranked according to the most problems solved.
Teams placing in the first six places who solve the same
number of problems are ranked by least total time. The total
time is the sum of the time consumed for each problem solved.
The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed
from the beginning of the contest to the submittal of the
accepted run plus 20 minutes for each rejected run. There is
no time consumed for a problem that is not solved.
3. Only one correct solution will be accepted for any one
problem from a single team.
Contest Finals Environment
1. The languages of the contest are Pascal and C. Details
of the actual software development environment will be made
available to the finalists as soon as possible.
2. Each team will be provided a printer and a single
microcomputer running Pascal and C. All teams will have the
same equipment.
1991-92 ACM Scholastic Programming Contest Contacts:
William B. Poucher, Contest Director
Baylor University, BU Box 7356
D/Computer Science
Waco, TX 76798-7356 (817) 755-3871
poucher@baylor.BITNET
James R. Comer, Assistant Contest Director
Department of Computer Science
Texas Christian University, Box 32886
Fort Worth, TX 76129 (817)921-7166
comer@gamma.is.tcu.edu
Dick Rinewalt, Head Judge
Department of Computer Science
Texas Christian University, Box 32886
Fort Worth, TX 76129 (817)921-7166
rinewalt@gamma.is.tcu.edu
Brian Rudolph, Director of Regional Contests
University of Wisconsin -- Platteville
421 Pioneer Tower
Platteville, WI 53818 (608) 342-1557 rudolph@ucs.uwplatt.edu
Beth Olson, ACM HQ Program Manager
ACM
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 100036-8002 (212) 869-7440 olson@acmvm.bitnet
*******************************************************************
Beth Olson "Any noun can be verbed"
ACM Chapter Activities -Alan Perlis
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
212/869-7440 (phone); 212/944-1318 (fax); email: olson@acmvm.bitnet
************
--
Michael Allen Clore "It is unworthy of excellent (persons) to lose
OSU-ACM Chair hours like slaves in the labour of calculation"
Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716)
<CLORE@OHSTPHRM.PHARMACY.OHIO-STATE.EDU> or <CLORE@OHSTPHRM.BITNET>glenn@curie.ces.cwru.edu (Glenn Crocker) (05/31/91)
clore@cis.ohio-state.edu (michael a clore) writes:
Newsgroups: comp.org.acm
Date: 17 May 91 03:01:32 GMT
1. Each team will comprise *three* students who are *enrolled in a
degree program* at *the same* educational institution.
[...]
Can anyone 'in the know' comment on the motivation behind moving from
teams of four students to teams of three students? It doesn't matter
much to me, in fact it'll be easier to bring two teams to regionals
now, but I'm curious about the change. Where are the contest finals
going to be held next year? What operating system will be used?
Thanks for any info.
--
Glenn Crocker | Your milage may vary.
glenn@ces.cwru.edu | Light bar not for occupant protection.
CWRU, Cleveland, OH | Don't drive on frozen lakes.
W (216)368-6133 H (216)754-1314 | Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.