Asp Forum - contest season (or something

pat eyler

12/29/2006 5:40:00 PM

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

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.

--
thanks,
-pate
-------------------------
http://on-ruby.bl...

14 Answers

pat eyler

12/29/2006 5:44:00 PM

James Britt

12/29/2006 5:54:00 PM

pat eyler wrote:
> It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New
> Year's Eve:
> http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
>
> 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

12/29/2006 6:01:00 PM

On 12/29/06, James Britt <james.britt@gmail.com> wrote:
> pat eyler wrote:
> > It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New
> > Year's Eve:
> > http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
> >
> > 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?

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.

> :)

;^)

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

--
thanks,
-pate
-------------------------
http://on-ruby.bl...

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky

12/29/2006 8:54:00 PM

Quoting pat eyler <pat.eyler@gmail.com>:

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

12/29/2006 9:40:00 PM

pat eyler wrote:
> On 12/29/06, James Britt <james.britt@gmail.com> wrote:
>> pat eyler wrote:
>> > It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New
>> > Year's Eve:
>> > http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
>> >
>> > 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?
>
> Yeah, but then all the winners would be FP geeks. This way everyone
> else get's a shot.

Quite true.

--
James Britt

http://www.ru... - Ruby Help & Documentation
http://beginni... - Beginning Ruby: The Online Book
http://www.rub... - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff
http://www.jame... - Playing with Better Toys

William James

12/29/2006 10:11:00 PM

pat eyler wrote:
> It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's Eve:
> http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
>
> 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

12/29/2006 10:43:00 PM

William James wrote:
> pat eyler wrote:
>> It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's Eve:
>> http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
>>
>> 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?

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.)

--
John W. Kennedy
"The blind rulers of Logres
Nourished the land on a fallacy of rational virtue."
-- Charles Williams. "Taliessin through Logres: Prelude"

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky

12/29/2006 11:27:00 PM

James Britt wrote:
> pat eyler wrote:
>> On 12/29/06, James Britt <james.britt@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> pat eyler wrote:
>>> > It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New
>>> > Year's Eve:
>>> > http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
>>> >
>>> > 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?
>>
>> Yeah, but then all the winners would be FP geeks. This way everyone
>> else get's a shot.
>
> 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++. :)

--
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky, FBG, AB, PTA, PGS, MS, MNLP, NST, ACMC(P)
http://borasky-research.blo...

If God had meant for carrots to be eaten cooked, He would have given rabbits fire.

Jamie Macey

12/30/2006 7:17:00 PM

On 12/29/06, pat eyler <pat.eyler@gmail.com> wrote:
> It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New Year's Eve:
> http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
>
> 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

12/30/2006 8:39:00 PM

Jamie Macey wrote:
> On 12/29/06, pat eyler <pat.eyler@gmail.com> wrote:
>> It looks like there's a cool programming contest scheduled for New
>> Year's Eve:
>> http://opc.kurukshetra.o...
>>
>> 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
>
>
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. :)

--
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky, FBG, AB, PTA, PGS, MS, MNLP, NST, ACMC(P)
http://borasky-research.blo...

If God had meant for carrots to be eaten cooked, He would have given rabbits fire.

comp.lang.ruby

contest season (or something

pat eyler

pat eyler

James Britt

pat eyler

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky

James Britt

William James

John W Kennedy

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky

Jamie Macey

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky

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