21st Annual PACISE Spring Conference
Programming Contest Rules
Hosted by
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
- Any violation of the rules may result in team disqualification.
- There is a maximum of three (3) undergraduate students per team.
Each team must have only undergraduate students currently registered at that
school.
- The contest will officially run from 8:30 AM until 12:30 PM. A group
of 9 problems will be given to solve in this time period. They can be solved
in any programming language on our system, however the problems are written to
be solved in C++ and Java.
- Team advisors and coaches will NOT be allowed to help (or
hinder ) teams during the contest. All questions will
be answered directly by our judges. Teams may ask for clarification of any
problem from the judges. Teams are not allowed to access the internet for any
reason nor can members from one team communicate with members of another team
for any reason.
- Approved reference manuals are allowed for teams, but not
textbooks. Please see our approved reference material list. No previously
written student code is allowed for use during the contest. Java programmers
can use all standard Java classes and C++ programmers can use the STL.
- Team members may not be in pocession of an electroninc devices
including cell phones.
- Problem booklets will be distributed to the teams just before the
contest starts. Each team will get one booklet. The teams are not to
open the booklets until instructed to do so by the contest chair. Teams may
attempt the problems in any order. Teams may work on more than one
problem at a time. Problems are not all of the same difficulty. Solutions all
count the same, regardless of how difficult a problem is to solve.
- When a team completes a program, the team must place a marker on
the top of their computer signifying that a problem is ready to be
evaluated by a judge. The team needs to be ready to execute their program when
a judge visits there table. When a judge arrives the team will execute the
program with our hidden sample data. If the program produces correct
output for all sample data, then the judge will look over the code for the
program. The judge may ask the team questions about their solution. Once the
judge is satisfied the program is correct, the judge will award credit for the
program. The last modified timestamp of the compiled files will determine the
time the program is credited with being correct. Thus, DO NOT RECOMPILE or
REBUILD YOUR PROGRAM! Any time penalty for incorrect submissions will be
added and the judge will mark the adjusted time on the judge’s sheet for this
team. If the program was not correct, the team may attempt to fix any errors
and resubmit the program. Each incorrect submission will add 10 minutes to the
recorded time for this problem. Judges have the right to examine code
and look over the shoulder of teams as they work. Judges will make multiple
runs of the programs with different sample data. Teams may proceed to work on
other problems while waiting for a judge.
- Judges will test all programs completed by 12:30 PM. DO NOT
RECOMPILE or REBUILD YOUR PROGRAM after that time. Teams will not be
awarded credit for any program that are compiled and/or built after the
contest period.
- Scoring is as follows: The winner will be determined by
whichever team completes the most problems in the given time. Ties will
be broken by determining which team finished the last correct solution first.
For example, if two teams complete six problems, the team that finishes their
sixth problem first will win. If a tie remains we will then look at the fifth
correct solution and so forth. If all times are the same, then the team with
the fewest incorrect submissions will be determined the winner. Because we are
in multiple rooms, times must differ by two or more minutes to be considered
different. The contest chair’s decision will be final.
- Refreshments are not allowed in the computer labs.
- The top teams will be given plaques and prizes.
- The contest chair’s decisions are final in all regards.