Progcomp 2005 Grand Final

The competition will be conducted under the following rules.

1. Each registered team of three students is permitted to use one computer for editing and testing, and optionally a second computer for inspection of reference material such as manuals. Neither computer has external links.

2. The competition starts at 12:30pm and ends at 3:00pm. There are no timeouts for individual teams, although the competition clock may be stopped temporarily if there are unforseen events that affect the competition as a whole.

3. Each team works on the supplied set of tasks, which carry a range of marks. Teams can decide how to distribute the workload in any way they wish.

4. Competitors may not communicate with other persons for the duration of the competition, apart from the judges, or their supervisor on matters that do not relate to the set tasks.

5. Teams will conduct themselves in a way that brings credit to their school. They must work as quietly as possible to avoid disturbing other contestants. Disruptive behaviour may lead to disqualification.

6. A team may request a clarification if a task description appears to be ambiguous or incomplete. However, judges will not provide assistance in solving any of the tasks.

7. When a team completes a task (or a part of a task where a separate mark is indicated), they may request an assessment from the judges. The team will be asked to demonstrate their software using one or more supplied test files, and possibly other data. Judges will also briefly inspect the source code, but will assess the tasks purely on performance.

8. Judges' decisions are final, but if the judges withhold marks they may choose to explain how a team's solution does not meet requirements.

9. Time taken to assess work will not be refunded. It should take only a minute or two if the team is prepared.

10. Judges may award marks for a partially solved task, but this is not automatic. A task awarded partial marks may be re-assessed later if the team completes more work on the task, without penalty (except for the time spent in evaluation).

11. Teams must wait their turn to have their work assessed. No allowance is made for delays in judges' availability.

12. Placings are decided on the number of marks awarded to each team at the conclusion of the competition. Any tasks just completed may still be assessed for marks, but no further work may be done after the notification that time is up.

13. In the event that two or more teams have equal marks, placings for these teams are decided on time. A team that achieves the marks in the lesser time is placed higher. Accordingly, the first team (if any) to reach 100 points is declared the winner.

Materials

A USB memory stick is also available to borrow should there be any problem reading the CD.

The material may be loaded onto the main computer only.

Presentation

Dr Geoff Whale
Acadmic Coordinator

Instructions to Teams

Complete as many tasks as you wish, in any order. The maximum marks assigned to a task is intended to reflect relative difficulty, but this will depend on factors such as implementation language, programming experience and teamwork.

Download the complete list of tasks and supporting files (Windows and Unix line terminators).