It's pass/fail for test cases, as long as it doesn't time out, for some definition of "time out".

You can approximate that large data sets with quadratic solutions is bad news, but if you can't come up with more efficient algorithms, then naive solutions could still often get partial marks, depending on the test cases.

AJ will be trying to turn up the difficulty of DWITE to match it closer to CCC. It would be strongly encouraged to participate in the next DWITE round (if the timing doesn't work, all the questions and test data become public after the contest).

I would also remind you guys that about a collection of tips we have posted at http://compsci.ca/blog/getting-ready-for-the-canadian-computing-competition/

@z_cross_fire - Refrain from using this thread to ask specific questions regarding past contests. Create a new thread for any questions you may have. Having said that, since you have already posed your question regarding S4 2010, I feel obligated to answer:
This problem was one of the harder graph theory questions on the CCC. Like Tony mentioned, recognizing its a graph theory problem leads to the usage of Minimum Span Tree algorithms, like Prim's algorithm. The trick is to run the MST algorithm on the dual of the given graph (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_graph).

Not that prepared considered I'm writing it at 8:30 in the morning tomorrow.

First time writing this contest. I don't have any teachers who knows how to mark these contests and have experiences. How do you get marks from these contests? Is someone willing give me a quick run down on this? Thanks!

The grader for you will take your program, run it, then test is against data. Your school received, along with the question booklets, an additional grader booklet that contains input to feed into the programs and the expected output for each question. This is done after the contest is completed.

Since each question is worth 15 points, there are usually around 5 test cases; 3 points each. So if your code is not bullet proof, it is possible to get partial points for a question.

I believe (and anyone correct me if I'm wrong) that if your teacher grades your work and you receive over ~50%, they are required to submit your code to Waterloo, to ensure it was marked correctly.

Thanks for that. I believe I can get over 50%, since I should be able to solve 3 questions no problem. I just need some good luck with thinking of all the possibilities. Any tips? I'm doing junior contest.

You are allowed to do Stage 1 in any language. If they decide that they need to mark your solutions (really, I think they just look over your code to make sure you didn't cheat), and they can't find your compiler/interpreter of choice, they'll contact you.

Edit: Haha, thanks. And good luck, good luck, good luck!

Stupid emoticons and no-editing. I meant "(I'm so old ;_; )".

Actually, be careful of presentation errors... if your correct solution gets invalidated, you'll be very frustrated. And make sure you submit the correct versions of your code... my failure to do so prevented me from getting into Stage 2 in 2008.

I still don't know what it means by lose mark by efficiency.. If it's what i think it is (excessive for loops, for example), then i'm losing marks big time

so when can we discuss the specifics

I was wondering whether it would be ok with people if I posted an analysis of the problems. I understand if you all want to discuss this yourself without a general 'analysis' as such. Just a thought.

spent 10 minutes on S5 before realizing it was a lot harder than I thought No stage 2 again probably, it was fun writing the CCC for the past 3 years though!

If there's anyone here who finished the contest, used one of the languages supported by our autograder, and wants to know his/her score, you can email me your solutions (bbi5291@gmail.com) and I'll mark them for you. (Languages supported: C/C++, Pascal, Java, Python, Ruby, Perl, Haskell, OCaml --- no Turing.)

Would you pls send me the testdata, or the problems? I felt extremely uncertain about my progs... I'm so worried I must've made lots of mistakes pls...

... several people claim that s1, s2, s3, and s4 were quite easy, I think the cutoff for stage 2 will be between 55 and 60. (Screwing up one case out of five on s3 seems to have been quite common.) ...

Adding to this discussion, I do agree s1-4 were too easy for CCC. Unfortunately, as with many people I somehow missed a few cases in s3 (I really can't wait until I found out why.) and my score was just under 60. And based on results from dwite I know there are lots of people who are capable of >60. Thus, I believe the cutoff will be above 60.

And on another note, problem setters usually post solutions to their contests. Why doesn't the CCC do the same? This has always puzzled me.

Adding to this discussion, I do agree s1-4 were too easy for CCC. Unfortunately, as with many people I somehow missed a few cases in s3 (I really can't wait until I found out why.) and my score was just under 60. And based on results from dwite I know there are lots of people who are capable of >60. Thus, I believe the cutoff will be above 60.

What do you get for Junior contests if you get a high score?

They always say they're going to do it, but I guess they're just too busy. Also, they know that there's that unofficial solutions site; they even link to it on the official page.

Note 2: J4 does not require "q 0" (or any other command) to be entered if the program terminates due to "DANGER".

ALSO
I just find out that the unoffical solution website has post the problems and input/output files.. and some of their solutions

...there are many ways to solve a problem, and having an "official" solution would be kind of strange...

Ah yes, this old argument again. Well, I believe that this shouldn't make too much of a difference f the largest testcase had been something a bit short of 1000 (like 600), but 25 is a bit too small. The O(2^K) bruteforce would have sufficed like antybash mentioned, and I don't think that this is fair to the people who solved #5 but made some error on another problem but still received a lower score than someone who bruteforced #5.

On top of this, there is an error with testcase #9 for #5. The input specifications state that there will never be a run of 1's of length four or more. However, on the 9th testcase, the last four numbers are all 1's. So the required answer of 2 could also be a 1 (as one could assume that all the lights switch off instantaneously).

These errors shouldn't have occurred on a contest as privileged as the CCC. Though I doubt rectifying these errors would have made any difference to the results of the contest.

...That doesn't mean that the cut-off is a 40 (if it were, everyone in my school would have made it).

Just got my mark: 63/75. Got S1-S4 right, but my attempt at S5 was a bit too slow to get more than couple of the test cases right in time. Got all the right answers, but some took more than a minute to calculate. I'm going to have to look at that linear solution someone alluded to in the other thread, it sounds interesting to say the least.

Great job to everyone who wrote the contest this year, it sounds like a lot of you are going to make it to stage 2!

Speaking of stage 2, as someone who has never been before, and stands a chance at going this year, how exactly does it work? Is it just a one-day contest, similar to stage one, except we have to use C or Pascal?

It might be worth mentioning that you will be given C++ STL documentation during the stage 2 exams. And yes, it's a lot of fun; you'll get to spend a week discussing things that would perhaps bore your "regular" friends. There is wonderful free food at the end.

However, the plaza right beside the university contains a huge variety of pretty good food.

Oh, and if people are wondering about my score: I got a 66. -9 for a sign error in one case on #4. Such is life!

http://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/computing/2011/stage1/2011CCCStage1Results.pdf