Computer Science Canada

CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:45 pm ]
Post subject:  CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Hm, so the CCC is on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. Shocked How many of you feel prepared for it?

DWITE is on February 23, 2011 if you still need practice.

I still feel un-prepared. Confused
So, tell me how are you guys preparing for it, and what programming language do you guys plan to use?

Discuss...

Author:  Tony [ Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:15 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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/

Author:  RandomLetters [ Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:09 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Great blog post!

I'm still in the habit of churning out code that is "about right" and then debugging it. Although the code makes sense it is slow X(

The CCC keeps mentioning efficiency and speed but I can not find any grading information on it. How is the time graded? Is there a limit (ie, 15 seconds) that has a penalty if you go over or do you get more points the faster it is? Is this even important as long as it does not time out?

Author:  Tony [ Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:35 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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.

Author:  bbi5291 [ Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Tony @ Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:35 pm wrote:
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.
I cannot emphasize the importance of this enough. Partial marks can make the difference between making the honour roll and not making the honour roll. Partial marks can make the difference between making the honour roll and making stage 2. Partial marks can make the difference between making the IOI and not making the IOI. And partial marks can, and do, make the differences between IOI medals. If you cannot find a nice solution to a problem, code up an ugly, inefficient, hackish solution --- after all, if you can solve the problem at all, that's already commendable, and nobody expects you to have good coding style when your time is so constrained (and plus your coding style is not marked anyway, although some people think it should be). Who knows, you might get 5 points out of 15 on problem 3, and beat all the kids who didn't bother to submit anything for problem 3, and hence get on the honour roll.

Author:  A.J [ Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:10 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Having said that though, keep in mind that these questions are intended to be solved in the given time limit for the given constraints. One very useful tip when considering how efficient your code should be is to consider the bounds of the input data (this might also tell you what the required complexity is).

Unlike real world problems, where a solution doesn't necessarily exist, use the fact that all the problems are written solely for one purpose: to test your ability in solving them.

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Tony @ Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:15 pm wrote:
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/


Thanks Tony, the blog entry provides some nice tips Smile
I also registered on the USACO training website, but then found out that it did not support C# submissions (though I can still try the problems). It's because I'm planning on using C# for the CCC (even though I'm new to it).

Also, I'm definitely looking forward to the next DWITE contest Wink

I have another question as well: What are some methods for solving questions that involve lots of visual stuff? For example, Problem S4 - Animal Farm, which can be found here:
http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/computing/2010/stage1/seniorEn.pdf

Any tips on solving this particular question? I saw a few solutions for it, but I would appreciate it if some of you here can tell me your methods.


Thanks,
z_cross_fire Razz

Author:  Tony [ Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:45 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

1) You recognize that as a graph problem. That comes from experience. Once you map the problem description to a graph, there are many standard ways of solving many types of questions.

2) Use paper -- http://compsci.ca/blog/super-paper-programming/

Author:  hamid14 [ Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I'm ready as I'll ever be. Using Java FTW. Razz

Author:  A.J [ Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:14 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

@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).

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

A.J @ Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:14 am wrote:
@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).


Embarassed
I'm sorry about that.
The idea about dual graphs seems a little complicated. I will definitely look into it.
Anyways, thanks for replying. Smile

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:37 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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!

Author:  techietim [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

ultimatebuster @ Mon 28 Feb, 2011 7:37 pm wrote:
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.

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

techietim @ Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:39 pm wrote:
ultimatebuster @ Mon 28 Feb, 2011 7:37 pm wrote:
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.

Author:  mirhagk [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:08 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

So does it have to be a specific language so that waterloo can mark it?

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

ultimatebuster @ Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:51 pm wrote:
techietim @ Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:39 pm wrote:
ultimatebuster @ Mon 28 Feb, 2011 7:37 pm wrote:
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.


It's kinda late to prepare now, but you can have a look at the past contests. Right now, I am having a look at the programs I have made before.
Also, this is an interesting read, written by Cyril Zhang (yes, it is the same guy that tops DWITE):

http://cyrilzhang.com/?p=1142

Author:  Cyril [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:12 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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!

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Cyril @ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:12 pm wrote:
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!


Wait!??!?!?! So, we aren't allowed to guess outputs?
There goes my few points..... Shocked

Author:  Cyril [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:21 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

You're definitely allowed to guess outputs, but your school might have a policy against it. Cheating would be if you get 15/15 and your code indicates that you've seen the official test data or something. When I wrote the Junior contest for the first time in 2006 (...I'm so old ;_Wink, I got something like 7 extra points by random guessing, but the school I was writing it at annulled those points after reading my code. My advice: if you're stuck, write something that resembles an algorithm.

Author:  mirhagk [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:22 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

lol. well if you just display every possible answer, then they can't say you don't have the right answer, you just didn't format it right. Presentation error.

LOL.

Author:  Cyril [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:25 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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.

Author:  mirhagk [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I'm so excited guys, I can't wait to do this, even if I totally bomb it and crush my dreams.

I'm good at programming, but some of these problems get me stuck. If the questions are like the ECOO ones though, I should be okay.

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Cyril @ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:25 pm wrote:
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.


What do you mean by presentation errors? Indents, spelling mistakes and stuff? If you could tell more about your mistake, that would be great!
Also, you will definitely get into stage-2 this time Wink , while I will be struggling NOT to get ZERO. Laughing

Author:  mirhagk [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:39 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

like not doing new lines when they tell you to, or adding an extra newline or something like that.

Author:  Cyril [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:42 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

My mistakes are rather boring, but since you asked, I'll tell you about them:

In 2006 (Junior), my program for #3 wrote "1 ways" instead of "1 way".

2007 (Junior) was a good year.

In 2008 (Senior), I submitted the wrong versions of my code for #1 (non-functional) and #5 (non-DP).

In 2009 (Senior), I got pwned by #5 fair and square.

In 2010 (Senior), I used the wrong algorithm for #3 and made a careless error for #5.

An extra newline at the end is probably okay, since they're just looking at screen output. But why risk it?

Author:  ccontest [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

STUPID RTP allows only a maximum of 64 MB of memory...

If there is a problem that requires more than 64MB of memory, it's a guarantee i can't get full mark on that question.

Although I want to use C++, our school doesn't allow it and I need to use RTP. lol

Author:  Cyril [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:47 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Tell them that some problems require more than 64 MB...

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I have no training in any algorithm or so whatever. I learned programming by myself lol. I was able to solve the 2010 J5 using a variation of Bread First Search that I came up by myself, and keep on trucking. Honestly i haven't dont much to prepare lol.

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:04 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

@Cyril, and mirhagk
Thanks for warning me about it. I appreciate that.

@Everyone
Good Luck! Very Happy

Author:  A.J [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:06 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Well, I have probably made the most irresponsible mistakes. For two of the CCC`s I wrote in high school, I forgot to save a program into the folder that`s being collected, costing me Stage 2 in grade 10 and last year.

The whole point of these contests is to gain experience, and most importantly have fun. On that note, good luck to all of you.

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:57 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

That's true, A.J. A small mistake can have a big impact on someone, but the important thing is to learn from those mistakes.
And yes, it is necessary to have fun as well Wink

Author:  mirhagk [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:27 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

It's only like 4 and a half hours till it starts. YAY!!!

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:51 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Mine starts in 10 min ...

Author:  Helldemon80 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

ehh mines in about an hour..

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:30 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Just finished the junior contest. I solved all problems, I think.. Well my custom test cases all worked out with my program. J1 - J4 took me 40 min and J5 took me 1 hr before i realize i was completely wrong, another hour to rewrite, which worked. Also I don't even understand my own algorithm, but it worked with my own test case, although it might only get a partial.

The wording for J4 is weird, i don't know what some cases will be outputted as, so I went with my own interpretation, which might get a partial.

Author:  Tony [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:45 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

P.S. a customary reminder that we are barred from discussing CCC questions for ~ a few days, as some schools have scheduling conflicts and administer the contest at a later time.

I know that it's a big event and it's exciting to exchange notes and talk about solutions and approaches, but please wait a bit.

You could still talk about the contest, just don't mention the specifics about what the questions are, or how they can be solved. ultimatebuster's post above seems fine.

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:12 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Yeah. I'm eagered to actually see if my J4 and J5 are correct lol.

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Just finished writing the senior. I feel pretty confident: I got solutions for all five at least. The main thing I'm worried about is efficiency.

Author:  mirhagk [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:12 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Yeah Just finished it like an hour ago, literally changed one thing 30 seconds before the end to change one problem from getting only the most basic test cases to being able to solve any of them, (and alot beyond as well).

I also realized something about one problem that could make it fail on the tests, but it may or may not come up in the test cases (although it probably will).

So now I'm scared, I personally feel good about myself, knowing I programmed them pretty well, but there are better programmers than me in my division I know for sure.

Author:  RandomLetters [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:49 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Oh the last question Sad

Author:  JavaNewB [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

sigh....I spent like 40 min on the third question, found an efficient algorithm then failed the implementation, so i only had time to finish 1, 2, and 4 and 3 is probably 90% correct

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:31 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I think I only got 2 right. Sad

S1 was pretty easy. It only took me 5-10 minutes to do it. I finished S2 in 20 minutes, but then realized that it was time consuming for larger inputs. So, I had to re-do S2. After that, I made some guesses to the rest of em'.

Author:  UnnamedT [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I was very surprised at this years Senior and Junior CCC.

I did Senior and I managed to solve the first two problems in 25 minutes and I did S4 in upwards of 30 minutes. The real killer was problem 3, considering the size of possible inputs.

This year's CCC was too easy.

Author:  bbi5291 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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.)

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:26 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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 Razz

Author:  Helldemon80 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

ultimatebuster @ Tue 01 Mar, 2011 6:26 pm wrote:
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 Razz


Pretty much its how fast your code runs given the input. Using excessive amounts of loops can definitely make a program slow, I don't know how many loops you used but it could mean loss in efficiency.

Anyways finished the CCC, Senior Division. First two were way too easy to be a senior question, and the 4th one i had an algorithm for, but couldn't implement it (i fail..). That was my last CCC, I only really did two in my high school including this one. I wish i got into coding much earlier into high school...I feel if I had way more experience I could do well in these contests. ECOO coming up so that's to look forward to Very Happy.

Edit: Well I actually did implement the algorithm for the 4th one (I think) but the right answer wouldn't come up, always missed it by a few numbers. I might have missed a spot to check, I'll check once everyone is done the CCC i guess. This is really bothering me...

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:01 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

5 nested for loops (maximum of 6! loops, however.) Razz I could either do that or come up with nothing. Well I know how i should do it now.. but it's kinda too late Razz

Author:  helLOHELlo [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:17 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I did senior for the first time..

did junior last year and had lots of stupid mistake(got 1 for j1, but 15 for j4 and 13 for j5 last year Sad )

I'm not very happy about what i did actually, since i spent way too much time on s4 (like 1hr and a half)
i finish s1,s2,s3in 1hr, but s3 is not that complete... i will miss some test points

as for s5... i just wrote something for input and output and some wired code(i understand them at the time, but i cant' recall the reason now...) I don't expect actually get anymarks from s5 anyways..

Still, i enjoyed it...

Author:  mirhagk [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:49 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

ugh I can't wait to discuss specifics lol.

Author:  JavaNewB [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

my first doing the CCC lmao, ummm cuz last year was my first year doing programming so I didn't feel like i knew enough things...
well, i barely did 4 questions but this will be my last time as i am in gr 12
so when can we discuss the specifics

Author:  Tony [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

JavaNewB @ Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:57 pm wrote:
so when can we discuss the specifics

Does Friday, after 3pm, sound reasonable to you guys?

Author:  mirhagk [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:30 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

yes that does, thank you tony.

Author:  crossley7 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:32 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I got s1 and s2 no problem then did s4 quickly but found out later it missed a key part to the problem, so only got 1 test case right and then spent an hour on 3, realized I was doing it wrong, fixed in another half hour and didn't bother with 5 since I only had 20 minutes left and would have only got a partial solution anyway. Will be neat to see how everyone solved these.

Hope to get all 5 next year

Author:  A.J [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:05 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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.

Author:  UnnamedT [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

YES A.J

I would love to know how to do S5

But gotta w8 till the Friday...

Author:  Helldemon80 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

A.J @ Tue 01 Mar, 2011 9:05 pm wrote:
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.


Please do that A.J Very Happy

Author:  mirhagk [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:39 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

sounds good AJ, can't wait to see it friday

Author:  helLOHELlo [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:45 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Sounds good AJ

Author:  saltpro15 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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

Author:  Helldemon80 [ Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

saltpro15 @ Tue 01 Mar, 2011 10:08 pm wrote:
spent 10 minutes on S5 before realizing it was a lot harder than I thought Sad No stage 2 again probably, it was fun writing the CCC for the past 3 years though!


bahahaha, I did the same thing. Except I didn't really start it as I was spending my time using the wrong algorithm for S4 -_-. But when i looked at it I was like "Wow, this is so easy", then i really read the problem and I was like "....oh". But even so it doesn't seem too bad (I haven't really spent too much time looking at it even now), ill probably look at it in the next few days..

Author:  mirhagk [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:07 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

to get into stage 2, does everything have to be perfect, like what is the normal score to get into stage 2?

Author:  Tony [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:16 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

It greatly depends on the year, problem difficulties, and who else is participating. Waterloo says "about 20" of top contestants.

Author:  bbi5291 [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Based on the unofficial scores I have collected, there appear to be three students at Woburn, four at Don Mills, and at least one at Massey who have at least 60 on the Senior contest. Taking this into consideration along with the fact that 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.)

(In the past, I have usually overestimated.)

Also, in the years when I've been to stage 2, the selection rule has always been that all official contestants with scores greater than or equal to X are invited, where X is the maximum value such that at least 20 contestants are invited. These 20 include the Beijing and Hong Kong people though. (Don't let this intimidate you too much --- the best Chinese coders, who are insanely good, have better things to do than write Canadian contests.)

Author:  MarkTwo [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

bbi5291 @ Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:17 pm wrote:
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... Crying or Very sad I'm so worried I must've made lots of mistakes Crying or Very sad pls...

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

MarkTwo @ Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:53 am wrote:

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


I'm pretty sure that within a week or so of the contest being written, the testdata and problems normally appear on the unofficial solutions website. Until then, I doubt anyone would want to release testdata out into the wild, since some people haven't written yet.

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:30 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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

Author:  antybash [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

bbi5291 wrote:
... 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.

Has the cutoff ever been greater than 60 in past years? 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.

Author:  A.J [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:03 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Well, the cutoff was 66 three years ago. That year was by far the easiest CCC. However, I doubt that the cutoff this year will be that much above 60; it is most probably 60 or somewhere in the high 50's.

Author:  bbi5291 [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

antybash @ Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:03 am wrote:
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.
In my experience: other people screw up too. For example, nobody got perfect on stage 1 last year; yes, the problems were hard, but they were also pretty standard. Robin and I overlooked a case on Animal Farm, and Jacob overlooked an optimization on Nutrient Tree. Another example is that in 2008, the IOI team was more or less controlled by who screwed up least (on stage 2). Aaron Voelker (Sane) is an incredibly good coder now, but he was at best third in Canada at the time, yet finished first overall; Hanson screwed up and ended up second, and Guru screwed up and ended up sixth.

So there may be a lot of people who seem as though they're capable of > 60 on DWITE, but that doesn't mean they'll actually get > 60.

Quote:
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.
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.

Author:  Dratino [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I agree that S1 through S4 were relatively easy compared to other years. If I can solve the first 3 problems in less than 30 minutes, it's probably too easy. I'm not exactly the best programmer out there.

antybash @ Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:03 am wrote:
bbi5291 wrote:
... 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.

DWITE is a pretty bad indicator of who will do well in the CCC.

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

I believe it was $100.

bbi5291 wrote:
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.

There's also no real need for official solutions - there are many ways to solve a problem, and having an "official" solution would be kind of strange. That being said, they could release some unofficial test data or something.

(Oh, and if anybody's wondering who I am, I'm Joe Zeng, from Don Mills Collegiate Institute, the same school as Cyril. I had an account here two years ago, but I haven't bothered to remember what the password was. Also, I decided to start afresh, without the whole "math, writing, and DDR" introduction.)

Author:  helLOHELlo [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:02 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I just knew my "unoffical" score
it's not very good
difinitely not to stage two and not honourable mention
but since i didn't expected i could go to stage two or honourable mention anyways...
i'm happy about it Smile

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

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:38 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Have you guys seen this?

Quote:

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


However on the contest it clearly had another line of command before the program quit due to DANGER.

Thiw is what i'm talking about as to "vague"

Author:  trintith [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:36 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

It was fun! Compared to some of the other years, I didn't think it was too bad. S1,S2 and S4 I finished within the first ~40 minutes. S3 took me 20 minutes just to get though. I'm curious as to what the correct solution for S5 is - can't wait until Friday! I thought I got 57 points, but I sent bbi an incorrect copy of S5, so I actually got an extra 4.5 points, I think. Hope the cutoff isn't too high...

(I'm new here, so hi!)

Author:  Tony [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

helLOHELlo @ Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:02 pm wrote:
ALSO
I just find out that the unoffical solution website has post the problems and input/output files.. and some of their solutions

Ok. I guess we can talk about the contest now.

Author:  antybash [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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

What I meant was a sort of analysis of the problems, much like AJ did for dwite, and Brian for the Mock CCC.

Anyways, I glanced over the test cases for S5 and it occurred to me the constraints in the problem set specifically said "4 <= N <= 1000". Yet the greatest test case that they tested one on was N = 25. This is well inside the constraints for a brute force style solution.

Author:  A.J [ Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:49 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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.

Author:  mirhagk [ Thu Mar 03, 2011 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I litereally saved myself from a brute force method on number three in the last 2 minutes.

I originally had the 5x5 cell, with each having links to the 5x5 cell in it.

This meant 5^m*5^m memory, which failed above m=4.

Then I realized in the last two minutes that certain cells did not need to be zoomed in (Alot actually) so I saved myself in the last two minutes.

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Drat. I think I may have screwed up question 3. I had a working solution, but I commented out one of my lines to test something, and I'm not sure if I ever uncommented it afterwards.

Author:  RandomLetters [ Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:18 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I'm curious to see what a fast solution for S5 is.

I screwed up S3 by forgetting to raise 5^m when modulus-ing OTL

Author:  A.J [ Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:48 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I posted solutions and analyses to this year's Senior pack.

Author:  Shah-Cuber [ Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

54 ... missed a few cases on S3 and didn't have enough time to finish S5. Guessing the Stage 2 cut off this year is going to be > 60.

Author:  Dratino [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

A.J @ Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:49 pm wrote:
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.

I'd be one of those people who brute-forced it and got a better score. And the wrong way, too. I feel sorry for those people who did get it right. It definitely was unfair.

Quote:
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.

Actually, I gained 2 points because of the corrected testcase, raising my score from 70 to 72 >_>

But yes, I agree that the maximum of 25 was kind of strange.

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:13 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Anyone know when they're going to release the results for this thing?

Author:  A.J [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:22 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

It will be another few weeks, I am afraid, as they haven't received all the results from the schools yet. After having received them, they then have to take a further look into the seniors and juniors who scored => 40 and => 55 respectively. So it will take a while.

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:21 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

What makes them change the score your teacher gives you? Assuming that your teacher did everything correctly.
Sorry I'm very new to this (so's my teacher lol).

Also 1 thing, for the senior input files, how do you read them? like s1 filename in command line? Or how does it work? I didn't take the senior one so I don't know.

Author:  A.J [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:22 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

They make sure that you didn't merely output the test data (i.e. cheated), etc... If your teacher didn't make any mistakes, you should be fine.

For the senior pack, input is from the file 'sX.in', where X is the problem number.

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:06 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Does that mean the marker has to change the input file name to sX.in every time? That seems annoying and error prone.

Author:  A.J [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:08 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Well, I created a program to do it for me for some of them, and for others I merely ran them on my roommate's online programming judge. But yes, you would have to change the file name each time.

Author:  apython1992 [ Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Wow this sounds like a lot of fun...I really wish I knew about it in high school.

Author:  A.J [ Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:30 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

You know it's never too late to get into problem solving. There are tons of online judges and contests that you could write. I personally know of many people who have done this.

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

<a href="http://code.google.com/codejam/">Here is one of them!</a>

Author:  mirhagk [ Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:04 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

wow, thats actually beautiful, thank you.

They accept any programming language that has a free compiler, so using VS2010 C# is allowed. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:55 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Stage 2 cut-off is 40/75.....

Author:  A.J [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:49 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Haha, if only. The actual cutoff is closer to 60, or 59. You are thinking of the cutoff to have your code reviewed by the University of Waterloo again.

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 1:51 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I just got my result....I got a 30.
Part marks are not awarded for questions 1,3,4,5.
And yes, the cut-off is 40.

Author:  A.J [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:00 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

No, the cut-off for Stage 2 is not 40. I already know of at least 30 people with a score of => 40. On the marking instructions it states that all senior participants with a score of => 40 must have their code sent to the University of Waterloo. That doesn't mean that the cut-off is a 40 (if it were, everyone in my school would have made it).

Author:  saltpro15 [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

A.J @ Mon Mar 07, 2011 wrote:
...That doesn't mean that the cut-off is a 40 (if it were, everyone in my school would have made it).


A bit off topic but are those the same people who (almost) knocked us out of qualifying for ECOO provincials? It would seem they have improved quite a bit!

Author:  A.J [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:44 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Well, they were close to 60, but a few typos kind of limited their scores to around mid - late 50's.

But yes, they have improved (I must say that I am really happy with that).

Author:  z_cross_fire [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:40 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

@A.J.
Oh yes, you were right!
I re-checked with my teacher, and he said it was the mark that was required for him to send the solutions to UW.

By the way, are the students from your school trained for contests like that, or are they naturally insane coders? Razz

Author:  A.J [ Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

One thing you should know about Waterloo Collegiate Institute is that all our clubs are student run, especially Computer Science club. So, every year there should be that one student who is willing to organize everything, right from contests to trips to contests. We don't really have any CS teachers (well, non-student CS teachers anyways). Having said that, WCI consists of students who either just started coding this past year, or who have been coding for about 2 to 3 years (it has been like this for the past 4 to 5 years).

Author:  ultimatebuster [ Tue Mar 08, 2011 7:50 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

What's up with the province lacking CS teachers? I have no CS teacher here, and I'm the only programmer in school... and the only contest writer..

Author:  DemonWasp [ Tue Mar 08, 2011 8:02 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Almost none of the teachers who happen to teach high-school CS actually have any CS background. The majority are business or math teachers, and on occasion I've heard of phys.ed. teachers being assigned to CS classes.

Long story short: anyone with a CS degree can make more money programming, by a long shot. Also, in my experience, the kind of people who are interested in CS aren't typically interested in getting up in front of a class to teach.

Author:  mirhagk [ Tue Mar 08, 2011 9:32 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I'm lucky enough to have a math teacher who has a compsci background. it's great, he's a total nerd like me

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:31 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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?

Author:  A.J [ Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:45 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Well, Stage 2 consists of 2 three hour contests, each taking up one day. Each of these contests will have 3 questions, marked out of 100 points per question. So your total score will be 4*Stage 1 score + Stage 2 score (that's a grand total of 900 points).

Author:  bbi5291 [ Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Shanethe13 @ Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:31 pm wrote:
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?
Great job! Quick facts:

  • The languages supported at stage 2 are C, C++, and Pascal, and almost everybody uses C++.
  • Stage 2 is a 5-day (from Monday to Friday) all-expenses paid trip to the University of Waterloo (not sure how excited you should be about that xD). On two of those days you will have the competition; on the other days you will have lab sessions and listen to talks given by distinguished UW professors.
  • In the past there have generally been three problems per day in three hours; however, the format may change, as it did in 2009, when there were four hours given for three problems, and, since the IOI now has one easy full-feedback problem on each of its two days (in addition to three hard problems per day), maybe CCC stage 2 will start reflecting that (who knows really).
  • Unlike stage 1, stage 2 does not allow books and written materials during the competition.
  • If you think of stage 1 and stage 2 as being "exams", think of stage 2 being worth twice as much as stage 1 for the purpose of determining your final "mark" (or, as you might call it, your "IOI index"). Usually stage 2 problems are out of 25 each, for a total of 150 marks (so 75 from stage 1 and 150 from stage 2). In 2009 the stage 2 problems were out of 100 each, and the IOI index was 4 * stage 1 + stage 2 (300 + 600). It's not an important detail, anyway.
  • On Friday evening there will be an awards banquet. Every contestant will be either a bronze, silver, or gold medallist, and receive a plaque indicating this. There are four gold medallists. The numbers of silver and bronze medallists are not fixed; rather the cutoff between silver and bronze is wherever Troy thinks there is a "gap" in the list of scores. Each gold medallist will receive $500 and an all-expenses paid trip to the IOI (which is in Thailand this year, I think). Each silver medallist will receive $250.

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:49 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Oh wow, that sounds like a lot of fun: now I really hope I end up in the top 20 Very Happy

And an all expenses paid trip to the University of Waterloo?! That'll be such an adventure, driving 20 feet down the street from my house!

Well, I hope to see some of you there if we all make it!

Thanks for the info bbi!

Author:  Cyril [ Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:55 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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.

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!

Author:  bbi5291 [ Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Cyril @ Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:55 pm wrote:
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.
Stop lying to them Cyril. I ate the same boring meal at the closing ceremony three years in a row, and I recently got to eat it again. -_-

Author:  Cyril [ Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:21 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Ahaha. Stage 2 is not designed for repeat students (remember how many of our lectures overlapped), and that particular meal, once per year, isn't bad at all. And it's still more lavish than everyday food (or UW caf food).

But I'm biased, you see; I find food inherently wonderful. So maybe we'll never agree.

Author:  A.J [ Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:24 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Well, if it is anything like UW's caf food, I wouldn't want to eat it once a year...

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

Also, I was planning on visiting Stage 2 (I haven't really met a lot of the people here).

Author:  Cyril [ Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:39 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Nah, it's like... baby spinach tangerine salad, chicken breast with gravy/mashed potatoes/mushroom/three slices of bell pepper/arugula, and strawberry chocolate (cheese?)cake. Same room as the MCTIC banquet, minus the awesome cheese display, but naturally, the food is slightly more expensive.

Author:  Tony [ Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

A.J @ Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:24 am wrote:
However, the plaza right beside the university contains a huge variety of pretty good food.

You're new here, aren't you? Laughing

I mean it in a way that the plaza food gets quite tiring after a few years.

Author:  A.J [ Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:45 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

I have lived here for about 4.5 years. However, I have only been eating the plaza food for about half a year, so I guess I am not that sick of it yet.

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Cyril @ Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:55 pm wrote:
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!


Ouch, that has to hurt. Did you solve S5 properly, too? Well, I'd imagine so, you are Cyril after all... Razz

I looked over my code for S5 again, and noticed that I did nearly the same thing. I made a typo in one of my heuristics, that would have cut the running time down enough that it would have gotten 15/15. I guess that doesn't count though, since a brute force is hardly anything to be proud of.

Author:  antybash [ Sun Mar 20, 2011 5:29 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

When do the results usually come out for stage 1?

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

Did Waterloo take down the results, or did their site rollback or something? I'm getting a 404 error for all results-related pages for 2011.

Author:  A.J [ Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:53 am ]
Post subject:  RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

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

Author:  Shanethe13 [ Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready?

A.J @ Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:53 am wrote:
http://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/computing/2011/stage1/2011CCCStage1Results.pdf


Ah, thanks! I must have been trying to access it while they moved the page around, since now everything seems to be working.


: