contest season (or something)

[pat eyler]

It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's Eve:
http://opc.kurukshetra.org.in/opc/

a $1,000 first prize, a $500 second prize, and 5 x $100 third prizes.

I'm not sure which timezone this is actually happening in, as it's
based in India,
but it looks pretty cool nonetheless.

 

[pat eyler]

It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's Eve:
http://opc.kurukshetra.org.in/opc/

a $1,000 first prize, a $500 second prize, and 5 x $100 third prizes.

I'm not sure which timezone this is actually happening in, as it's
based in India, but it looks pretty cool nonetheless.

And the original article *does* give the time zone. I just glossed over it.

 

[James Britt]

It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New
Year's Eve:
http://opc.kurukshetra.org.in/opc/

a $1,000 first prize, a $500 second prize, and 5 x $100 third prizes.

I'm not sure which timezone this is actually happening in, as it's
based in India,
but it looks pretty cool nonetheless.

"Participants can submit solutions in the following languages -- "


No functional languages? No Lisp? No Haskell?

Bah.


It's not a *real* programming contest.



--
James Britt

"The use of anthropomorphic terminology when dealing with
computing systems is a symptom of professional immaturity."
- Edsger W. Dijkstra

 

[pat eyler]

"Participants can submit solutions in the following languages -- "


No functional languages? No Lisp? No Haskell?

Yeah, but then all the winners would be FP geeks. This way everyone
else get's a shot.

Bah.


It's not a *real* programming contest.

Sure, it's just like AA or AAA league.

 

[znmeb]

It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's
Eve:
http://opc.kurukshetra.org.in/opc/

a $1,000 first prize, a $500 second prize, and 5 x $100 third prizes.

I'm not sure which timezone this is actually happening in, as it's
based in India,
but it looks pretty cool nonetheless.

Anyone taking side bets as to which language the winners will be using?

If I were at all competent in C, I'd sure take a shot at it, but the only
language on that list I'd be able to speed-code in at this point is Perl, and I
rather doubt that I could take on a C programmer in something like that.

In any event, my side bet is that the winner will be using either C or C++.

 

[James Britt]

Yeah, but then all the winners would be FP geeks. This way everyone
else get's a shot.

Quite true.


--
James Britt

http://www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
http://beginningruby.com - Beginning Ruby: The Online Book
http://www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff
http://www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys

 

[William James]

It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's Eve:
http://opc.kurukshetra.org.in/opc/

a $1,000 first prize, a $500 second prize, and 5 x $100 third prizes.

I'm not sure which timezone this is actually happening in, as it's
based in India,
but it looks pretty cool nonetheless.

From the site:

"You are given N integer numbers. Choose thee of them which give
maximum product."

I don't get it. Isn't this the same as finding the 3 largest numbers?

 

[John W. Kennedy]

"You are given N integer numbers. Choose thee of them which give
maximum product."

I don't get it. Isn't this the same as finding the 3 largest numbers?

Integers are not necessarily positive; the complications introduced
thereby are -- interesting.

Since this is a /programming/ problem, the question arises, too, of what
to do about overflow. (In Ruby, the answer is, "ignore it, because it
won't happen except under system-crashing conditions", but I'm not sure
that's the answer they have in mind.)

 

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

Quite true.

Besides, you can use a functional programming *style* in Ruby fairly
easily if you wish. I don't know Python well, but I suspect it's also
fairly easy in Python. I'd have a hard time doing FP in Perl, although
I'm sure it's *possible*, and of course, *anything* is possible in C++.

 

[Jamie Macey]

It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's Eve:
http://opc.kurukshetra.org.in/opc/

a $1,000 first prize, a $500 second prize, and 5 x $100 third prizes.

I'm not sure which timezone this is actually happening in, as it's
based in India,
but it looks pretty cool nonetheless.

Sadly, I lost the ability to be productive coding between 12:30 and
6:30am about three years ago, otherwise I'd give it a shot.

It did get me thinking about organizing a ruby coding contest for the
community, though. Limit to Ruby only, similar organization/scoring
to this one (6 problems worth points, bonus points for the
smallest/fastest/least memory on each problem) and do cash prizes. I
don't have $1500 to put up for prizes, but if a $5 admission was
organized, 30 people could make a $75/$50/$25 prize split.

Would anyone be interested in participating in such a contest?

- Jamie

 

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

Sadly, I lost the ability to be productive coding between 12:30 and
6:30am about three years ago, otherwise I'd give it a shot.

It did get me thinking about organizing a ruby coding contest for the
community, though. Limit to Ruby only, similar organization/scoring
to this one (6 problems worth points, bonus points for the
smallest/fastest/least memory on each problem) and do cash prizes. I
don't have $1500 to put up for prizes, but if a $5 admission was
organized, 30 people could make a $75/$50/$25 prize split.

Would anyone be interested in participating in such a contest?

- Jamie

I personally think "competitive programming" is an abomination.
Programming is all about cooperation and communication, about helping
people learn a difficult art and science, and about producing worthwhile
artifacts. Maybe I thought differently when I was 19, fresh out of
college and programming for a living, but it didn't take long for that
to get beaten out of me.

 

[James Edward Gray II]

I personally think "competitive programming" is an abomination.
Programming is all about cooperation and communication, about
helping people learn a difficult art and science, and about
producing worthwhile artifacts. Maybe I thought differently when I
was 19, fresh out of college and programming for a living, but it
didn't take long for that to get beaten out of me.

I'm 30 and I love a good programming contest. I always learn so much
from everyone you is so much better at it than me and that's all it
takes to win me over.

I'm all for such a contest and will participate if my schedule allows.

James Edward Gray II

 

[William James]

Sadly, I lost the ability to be productive coding between 12:30 and
6:30am about three years ago, otherwise I'd give it a shot.

It did get me thinking about organizing a ruby coding contest for the
community, though. Limit to Ruby only, similar organization/scoring
to this one (6 problems worth points, bonus points for the
smallest/fastest/least memory on each problem) and do cash prizes. I
don't have $1500 to put up for prizes, but if a $5 admission was
organized, 30 people could make a $75/$50/$25 prize split.

No cash prizes are needed. We'll compete for the laurel wreath.

 

[Eric I.]

"You are given N integer numbers. Choose thee of them which give
maximum product."

I don't get it. Isn't this the same as finding the 3 largest numbers?

Well, consider this list of numbers:

5, 5, 10, -10, -10

The product of the three largest numbers (those closest to positive
infinity) is 250. But the highest product is 1000 that you'd get from
10, -10, and -10. Pairs of negative numbers become significant.

So the simplest algorithm would be along these lines:

* sort the numbers
* calculate the product of the three highest numbers
* calculate the product of the one highest and the two lowest
* compare those two products and choose the larger

Eric

 

[Eric I.]

For those in the western hemisphere who elected not to pariticpate due
to having to code in the wee hours, you missed nothing. The contest
had to be cancelled because they couldn't keep the server running.
They've suggested they might try again at a later date.

Eric