Intercollegiate Programming Competition

The competition will be held online. You may compete from any location that has a reliable Internet connection. 

Competition schedule is as follows:

• Noon-12:50 p.m.  - Check-in (log in online to DomJudge)
• 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.  - Programming competition
• 4:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m. - Judging, wrap-up and award ceremony via Zoom

Check-in time:

• Contestants should be logged in to DomJudge in no later than 12:50 p.m.
• Late starters may still participate in the competition but will not be given any extra time.

Contestants may use any or all of the following computer programming languages:

• Java
• C++
• Python
• C# 
• C

There will be two “tracks” in the competition: 

• Any student who is in COP1000 or who’s only completed programming course is COP1000 can participate at the “blue level”. The programming problems will be a bit simpler for these students. There will be no prize money awarded although there will be recognition for first, second, and third place finishers. 
• All others must participate in the “gold level”. Prize money will be awarded for first, second, and third place finishers for the gold level of the competition.

Contestants in each track will be given eight computer programming problems which will be revealed at the start of the competition. 

• Each problem will contain a set of requirements describing the problem to be solved.
• A set of input test data will be provided as part of the problem description.
• In addition, expected output based on the provided input test data will be provided.
• Successful creation of the expected output is not a guarantee the problem has been solved correctly.

Contest judges reserve the right to submit additional test data to further verify the completeness and correctness of the contestant's submission.

Problem solutions:

The problem solutions will not require graphical user interfaces, but contestants may create them if desired. All the problems can be solved by creating a command-line application that uses the standard input device. All output will be to the standard output device. The problems are logic based and do not require specialized knowledge of application programming interfaces (APIs). In other words, the problems do not require accessing a database, reading or writing files, or communicating with a server or peer client. If your programming language includes exceptions, you do not need to code exception logic as part of your solutions.

Help systems:

Contestants may use the help system native to the integrated development environment (IDE) they are using.  Individuals using Java may also use the standard Oracle documentation for the Java SDK. The Internet, email, instant messaging, cell phones and any other forms of communication are prohibited. 

Failure to follow this rule will result in immediate disqualification. 

Competition materials:

• You will be given a URL from which the booklet containing the programming problems can be downloaded. The download links will not be activated until 1:00 pm on the day of the competition.

Contestants may obtain a copy of their work after the contest by contacting the competition coordinator at their institution.

Competition rules:

• Contestants may not communicate with anyone during the competition other than the contest supervisor for your college. The supervisor will be in the competition room at your location. 
• Contestants may take a break at any time. You are not given extra time to compensate for any breaks .

Rule 1 - Panel of judges:

The contestant's submission will be scored by a panel of judges based on a set of expected results for each problem. These expected results will be determined before the contest begins. The judges will enter the sample input as described in the problem description. The results from the contestant's solutions will be compared to the expected results as described in the problem description. The contestant's solution will be considered correct if the expected output is created when using the input test data and the judges determine that no further testing is required to validate the solution. In all cases, the judging panel's decision will be final.

Rule 2 - Contestant's solution:

The application design and programming style (use of comments, indentation, white space, etc.) will not be considered when judging a contestant's solution. The only criterion for successful completion is that the application works as defined by the problem description.

Rule 3 - Contestant's source code file:

A contestant may change a source code file after he or she submits it. However, the completion time for that problem also will be changed to reflect the later submission. Any changes to a previously submitted problem will cause the completion time for that problem to be extended. This applies to changes made as a result of oversights such as initially submitting the wrong source code file.

Rule 4 - Contestant's solution order:

Contestants may solve the problems in any order they wish.

Rule 5 - Application program solutions:

Each problem requires a separate application program solution. The winner will be the individual who submits the most correct application programs for the contest problems.

Rule 6 - Tie breaker:

In the case of a tie, the total time taken to complete the solutions will be used as the tie breaker.

Rule 8 - Contestants' privacy info:

Participating institutions may use their contestants' programs of study, pictures and names for publicity and recognition purposes. No other contestant information will be released without the contestant's express written permission.

Rule 9 - Non-exclusive right:

Participating institutions acquire a non-exclusive right to display and advertise the work of all contestants as it relates to this contest.