----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:45 pm CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Hm, so the CCC is on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. :shock: How many of you feel prepared for it? DWITE is on February 23, 2011 if you still need practice. I still feel un-prepared. :? So, tell me how are you guys preparing for it, and what programming language do you guys plan to use? Discuss... ----------------------------------- Tony Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:15 pm 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/ ----------------------------------- RandomLetters Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:09 pm 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? ----------------------------------- Tony Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:35 pm 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. ----------------------------------- bbi5291 Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:16 pm Re: 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.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. ----------------------------------- A.J Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:10 am 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. ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:34 am Re: 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/ Thanks Tony, the blog entry provides some nice tips :) 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 :P ----------------------------------- Tony Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:45 am 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/ ----------------------------------- hamid14 Wed Feb 09, 2011 2:26 pm Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- I'm ready as I'll ever be. Using Java FTW. :P ----------------------------------- A.J Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:14 am 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). ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:32 am Re: 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). :oops: I'm sorry about that. The idea about dual graphs seems a little complicated. I will definitely look into it. Anyways, thanks for replying. :) ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:37 pm 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! ----------------------------------- techietim Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:39 pm Re: 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! 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. ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:51 pm Re: 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! 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. ----------------------------------- mirhagk Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:08 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- So does it have to be a specific language so that waterloo can mark it? ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:12 pm Re: 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! 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 ----------------------------------- Cyril Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:12 pm 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! ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:15 pm Re: 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! Wait!??!?!?! So, we aren't allowed to guess outputs? There goes my few points..... :shock: ----------------------------------- Cyril Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:21 pm 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 ;_;), 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. ----------------------------------- mirhagk Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:22 pm 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. ----------------------------------- Cyril Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:25 pm 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. ----------------------------------- mirhagk Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:28 pm 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. ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:31 pm Re: 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. 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 ;) , while I will be struggling NOT to get ZERO. :lol: ----------------------------------- mirhagk Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:39 pm 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. ----------------------------------- Cyril Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:42 pm 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? ----------------------------------- ccontest Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:44 pm 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 ----------------------------------- Cyril Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:47 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Tell them that some problems require more than 64 MB... ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:56 pm 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. ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:04 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- @Cyril, and mirhagk Thanks for warning me about it. I appreciate that. @Everyone Good Luck! :D ----------------------------------- A.J Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:06 am 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. ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:57 am 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 ;) ----------------------------------- mirhagk Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:27 am RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- It's only like 4 and a half hours till it starts. YAY!!! ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:51 am RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Mine starts in 10 min ... ----------------------------------- Helldemon80 Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:01 am Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- ehh mines in about an hour.. ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:30 pm 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. ----------------------------------- Tony Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:45 pm 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. ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:12 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Yeah. I'm eagered to actually see if my J4 and J5 are correct lol. ----------------------------------- Shanethe13 Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:48 pm 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. ----------------------------------- mirhagk Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:12 pm 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. ----------------------------------- RandomLetters Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:49 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Oh the last question :( ----------------------------------- JavaNewB Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:31 pm 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 ----------------------------------- z_cross_fire Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:31 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- I think I only got 2 right. :( 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'. ----------------------------------- UnnamedT Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:46 pm 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. ----------------------------------- bbi5291 Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:17 pm 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.) ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:26 pm 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 :P ----------------------------------- Helldemon80 Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:52 pm Re: 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 :P 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 :D. 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... ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:01 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- 5 nested for loops (maximum of 6! loops, however.) :P 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 :P ----------------------------------- helLOHELlo Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:17 pm 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 :-( ) 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... ----------------------------------- mirhagk Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:49 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- ugh I can't wait to discuss specifics lol. ----------------------------------- JavaNewB Tue Mar 01, 2011 7:57 pm 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 ----------------------------------- Tony Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:24 pm Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- so when can we discuss the specifics Does Friday, after 3pm, sound reasonable to you guys? ----------------------------------- mirhagk Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:30 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- yes that does, thank you tony. ----------------------------------- crossley7 Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:32 pm 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 ----------------------------------- A.J Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:05 pm 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. ----------------------------------- UnnamedT Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:20 pm Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- YES A.J I would love to know how to do S5 But gotta w8 till the Friday... ----------------------------------- Helldemon80 Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:32 pm Re: 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. Please do that A.J :D ----------------------------------- mirhagk Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:39 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- sounds good AJ, can't wait to see it friday ----------------------------------- helLOHELlo Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:45 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Sounds good AJ ----------------------------------- saltpro15 Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:08 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- 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! ----------------------------------- Helldemon80 Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:24 pm Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- 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! 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.. ----------------------------------- mirhagk Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:07 am 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? ----------------------------------- Tony Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:16 am 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. ----------------------------------- bbi5291 Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:39 am 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.) ----------------------------------- MarkTwo Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:53 am 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.) Would you pls send me the testdata, or the problems? I felt extremely uncertain about my progs... :cry: I'm so worried I must've made lots of mistakes :cry: pls... ----------------------------------- Shanethe13 Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:29 am Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Would you pls send me the testdata, or the problems? I felt extremely uncertain about my progs... :cry: I'm so worried I must've made lots of mistakes :cry: 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. ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:30 am RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- What do you get for Junior contests if you get a high score? ----------------------------------- antybash Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:03 am Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- ... 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. ----------------------------------- A.J Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:03 pm 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. ----------------------------------- bbi5291 Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:12 pm Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- 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. 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. ----------------------------------- Dratino Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:51 pm 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. ... 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. What do you get for Junior contests if you get a high score? I believe it was $100. 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.) ----------------------------------- helLOHELlo Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:02 pm 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 :-) ALSO I just find out that the unoffical solution website has post the problems and input/output files.. and some of their solutions ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:38 pm RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- Have you guys seen this? 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" ----------------------------------- trintith Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:36 pm 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!) ----------------------------------- Tony Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:04 pm Re: RE:CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------- antybash Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:38 pm Re: CCC 2011 - Are you ready? ----------------------------------- ...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