Computer Science Canada DWITE Comments |
| Author: | Mr.S. [ Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | DWITE Comments |
Hello, It's Mr.S. (the guy who runs the DWITE contests). First of all, I'm pleasantly surprised and trilled to see that there is some discussion regarding DWITE. I didn't expect to see this. I discovered this site when I googled Turing Tutorial, even though I am certain I was aware of this site a couple of years ago. By the way, I can't seem to find any online Turing Tutorials. Which brings up a problem with DWITE and the Turing compiler that the DWITE judge uses. It is an old DOS version dated 12/13/1993. Several weeks ago I received an e-mail from Tom West (at Holt Software). He provided me with a link to an updated Turing compiler. His email was: I have created a "tcomp.exe" which is functionally more or less equivalent to what you get when you invoke "Create EXE" from within the WinOOT environment. It doesn't allow you a lot of options (the output window is always centered, you get the default font size, etc.), but it does operate from the DOS command line. It does require Turing 4.1 or higher to be installed. (Actually it probably works for 4.0.5 but I haven't tested it.) To install it, simply copy tcomp.exe into the same directory as turing.exe. (It does require the same support files that Turing does). You can then either add the Turing directory to your path, or create a batch file to run tcomp (Note: you will need to be able to specify a command line argument to the tcomp) as in: tcomp.bat @echo off c:\program files\turing\tcomp.exe %1 %2 The usage for tcomp is simple: tcomp file.t The compiled file will be called file.exe (if the file name doesn't end with .t or .tur, it will append .exe instead of replacing the suffix). The new tcomp.exe is alpha, so I can't promise anything. However, it worked on all the files I've fed it so far. It can be freely downloaded at: [ http://www.holtsoft-transfer.com/tcomp.exe ]http://www.holtsoft-transfer.com/tcomp.exe I can not get the compiler to work properly and I get no support from Holt Software when I contact them, so I can't get this compiler to work for the DWITE judge. If anyone can figure out how it works, I would greatly appreciate it. There seems to be a bit of discussion about cheating on DWITE. Ideally DWITE should be written at a school where a teacher could monitor the students. This isn't always possible, so students could write on their own at home or wherever without supervision. There really isn't anything to gain by cheating as there are no prizes, scholarships, etc. The goal of the DWITE site is to help students practice for CCC and ECOO. Hopefully this goal is achieved. I do try, for each contest, to create one or two easy problems that are achievable by most students that have completed grade 11 ICS. I also try to put on one or two problems that would challenge those students who wish to succeed in CCC or ECOO. The Java compiler that is used with the DWITE judge is the Excelsior Jet Personal Edition that compiles a J2EE 1.4 .class file. This was free from their website a couple of years ago. I haven't been able to find a free compiler for the newest version of Java. I'm a cheap Dutchman and I keep my costs low by paying for very little. I get compilers off of the Internet. I beg for web server space from ECOO. I get an email address from my school board. I managed to get a grant to buy the DWITE judge computer and www.dwite.org. I write the problems myself, with the help of a few other people a couple of year's ago. A teacher in Kitchener proofreads them and double checks the judging data, but we still sometimes make mistakes. I enjoy running DWITE but I don't plan on doing it after next season. Is there anyone out there who knows a good teacher or resonsible adult who would like to take it over? I could give them the hardware and a lesson on how to run a DWITE contest. OR is there anyone out there who wants to write a judging system and run their own contests. To tell you the truth I've never heard of Ruby before, until I read it on this site. I'll look into it a little and see if I can implement it with the DWITE judge. It's way past my bedtime. Keep in touch. Mr.S. |
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| Author: | Martin [ Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Welcome to our humble abode. I imagine you shouldn't have too difficult a time finding a new home for the DWITE (tons of fun, by the way). And other people - tell your teachers about this, and give then Mr. S's email address (Mr. W. Sentjens (w.sentjens _at_ ldcsb.on.ca)) if they're interested. Turing tutorials, source code, questions and everything are here by the way: http://www.compsci.ca/v2/index.php?c=3 |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:45 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: DWITE Comments |
Mr.S. wrote: The Java compiler that is used with the DWITE judge is the Excelsior Jet Personal Edition that compiles a J2EE 1.4 .class file. This was free from their website a couple of years ago. I haven't been able to find a free compiler for the newest version of Java.
Do you have to compile the Java code into native .exe files? If so, the only other option is gcj (which is a bloated download). Unfortunately, from the little that I have tested I can say that gcj is quite buggy, and has usually failed to compile most of my java code into a native executable. If you are still interested you may download the windows version here. I would recommend against using a java to native compiler. Sun's own Java compiler (the JDK) is decent, fast and always up-to-date, but it will only compile to bytecode. Which isin't a problem really! Running bytecode is just a matter of java -cp . ClassName Where ClassName is the name of the class. If you are doing the compilation on a slow machine, you might notice some speed differences. In that case you can opt for a native compiler: Jikes. (yes SUN's compiler is written in Java it self). Don't get the wrong impression here, Jikes only compiles to bytecode. It is native, since it does not require a JVM to run. |
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| Author: | Dan [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:16 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
CompSci.ca might be very intrested in runing and hosting DWITE. I will have to talk to some of the staff but i know i whould give my time to try and keep DWITE alive. At a very least we could proived hosting and e-mail for it. CompSci.ca has come in to some aditional resorces lately and we have lots of hosting and bandwith space just siting around here. I am not shure if we could get the progame runing for it or not on our aucatal server but i am shure we could find some one who could. |
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| Author: | Cervantes [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: DWITE Comments |
Mr.S. wrote: To tell you the truth I've never heard of Ruby before, until I read it on this site. I'll look into it a little and see if I can implement it with the DWITE judge. That would be fabulous. Personally, I just assumed that languages like Ruby and Python weren't incldued because they'd give such an advantage. Hacker Dan wrote: will have to talk to some of the staff but i know i whould give my time to try and keep DWITE alive.
Hacker Dan, don't go forgetting about V3 now.  |
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| Author: | Dan [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:28 pm ] |
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LOL, well all the senrio staff i have talked to at compsci.ca whould be all for trying to help out with DWITE. And there whould be more then one person working on it unlike V3. |
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| Author: | rizzix [ Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:37 pm ] |
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Oh really? Now QUIT trying to change the subject. Get back to work! We want that V3 tomorrow!  |
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