Computer Science changes from 8 to 10 problems

by David Trussell
Computer Science Director

I’m not sure what happened to January, February and March, but some sort of sinister time-compressing conspiracy must be at work. Regional weekend seems to sneak up on us faster every year.

With the inclusion of the hands-on programming session, regional Computer Science is always a chal-lenge, not only for the students who participate but also for the staff at the host sites who administer the contest. These folks give a herculean effort every year, and they should be commended for their willingness to give of their time and expertise for little or no financial com-pensation.

With that in mind, here are a few reminders of what is expected from our students and coaches. First and foremost, students and coaches alike must always be respectful of contest directors, judges and other contest staff. Remember that regional contest directors and staff are designated UIL officials, and they should be treated as such. These individuals volunteer their time and expertise because they believe in the educational value of UIL competition, and because they hope that some of the best and brightest who are participating in the contest will consider their college or university come graduation. Imagine how their feelings change when they must deal with contentious coaches or disrespectful students.

Along the same lines, please take good care of your regional host’s facilities. These colleges and universities have opened up their classrooms and labs to you -- please be good guests. Place all your trash in the proper receptacles, and do not take food out of designated areas. In general, do everything you can to leave your regional site exactly as you found it when you arrived.

The preceding are statements of the obvious for most coaches and students, and I’ve made these points in previous Leaguer columns and at Student Activities Conferences. But I believe they bear repeating as we work to make the regional contest a positive experience for everyone involved.

Last year we had no significant problems at our regional contests, and I’m hoping to build on that suc-cess for this year. The written portion of the contest remains unchanged, but we have made a few adjust-ments to hands-on that we hope will be beneficial.

This year’s problem set will consist of 10 problems instead of eight to provide an additional challenge for our more advanced teams. The point values for each problem have also been adjusted so that one problem can no longer have such a huge impact on the overall contest standings. Problems will range in difficulty from easy to medium to hard, and will be assigned four, five and six points, respectively. Teams may still work the problems in any order, and incorrect solutions may still be re-worked and resubmitted (though the one-point deduction remains a part of the team score regardless of whether a correct solution is eventually submitted).

One important procedural change for this year in-volves the way solutions are submitted. In previous years, teams submitted only source code on their disks, which the judges then compiled on their computers. This system tended to amplify the compatibility prob-lems that sometimes arise due to differences among compilers. This year, teams will continue to submit their source code, but they will also include an executable file of their program on each disk. The judges will be able to look at the executable first and then refer to the source code as needed. This system worked extremely well at the 2001 state contest, virtually eliminating the compat-ibility problems experienced in previous years.

A few additional reminders:

  • The hands--on programming contest is for teams only. Students who advance only in individual compe-tition will participate in only the written portion of the contest. Members of advancing teams take the written test as well as participating in programming. All contes-tants compete for individual honors, which are deter-mined solely on the basis of written test scores.
  • Teams may bring their own computers or use equipment provided by the host site. However, the majority of regional sites REQUIRE that teams bring their own computers. Check with your regional site well ahead of time if you are unsure what to bring. Computers brought by contestants should have "clean" drives, mean-ng that no previously written code may be present (the only exceptions are sample files that are included with compiler software).
  • A team may use only one computer during the hands-on contest. Team members should work together to solve the programming contest problems, so only one computer is needed. However, each team may bring a backup computer to use in case of equipment failure.
  • Remember to bring all required supplies. Each team must bring one unopened box of at least 10 formatted floppy disks. Each team may bring two C++ reference books to use during the contest. Books must be published works that are available to the general public, and they must be reasonably free of handwritten notes. Printers are allowed but not necessary, as all solutions will be submitted on disk.

    Keeping the points listed here in mind, as well as other contest rules and procedures, will help to ensure a trouble-free regional meet. If you have questions, please send them to uilcs@mail.uil.utexas.edu. Good luck at regionals!