Ecoo 2009

[saltpro15]

well I know this year's ECOO contest still isn't for another month or so, but I like to think ahead :p, anyone know where I can find some good practice questions? I've been told ECOO is very different from other contests and I'd like to get used to it before we have to write it.

[A.J]

This site contains the past years' questions :
http://www.ecoo.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=61

[saltpro15]

well, I shall get started on these, thanks A.J.

[A.J]

these questions are a bit different than usual contest problems...
The way the contest is set up is also different...

[saltpro15]

yeah... i've read a few of these... holy crap, boardwide question 1 is harder than anything I've ever seen on USACO or CCC I don't think this contest is going to go well...

[A.J]

saltpro15 wrote:

yeah... i've read a few of these... holy crap, boardwide question 1 is harder than anything I've ever seen on USACO or CCC shock I don't think this contest is going to go well...

the questions can't be compared to those of USACO or CCC...they are different

try looking at more of them, then you'll get a feel of what they are like

[saltpro15]

so, after reading quite a few of these I have determined that :
1. roughly 99% of these are math based instead of algorithm based

2. I am going to bomb this thing

[A.J]

saltpro15 wrote:

1. roughly 99% of these are math based instead of algorithm based

thats not true...only a few of them requires (if any) a little math...

saltpro15 wrote:

2. I am going to bomb this thing

don't be so sure...these questions just need some getting used to

[DanielG]

the questions on ECOO tend to be more ad-hock than the usual algorithmic problems of USACO and CCC.

[phleet]

From what I saw of ECOO Last year (wrote regional and finals, since we were the only team from our board):

Program stupid solutions first: The test cases are generally NOT worst case scenarios as they almost always are in CCC. If you're running low on time, opt for heuristic techniques vs trying to fix a bugged algorithm. Make a program to take an educated guess. That got us from 4th to 2nd in the last 5 minutes of regional - got us to finals.

Spend more time planning and less time coding. There are only 4 problems, you have a team and only one of you can work the computer at a time anyway. Get used to working on paper.

If in doubt, use doubles instead of floats, we almost didn't qualify for regionals because one of our answers was 0.001 off due to float precision errors =_=

I would say do problems that aren't simply stock algorithms that are typically used in Dwite and CCC (DFS, BFS, Prim's etc) - ECOO CS ones tend to be problems that don't fit perfectly into one of these algorithms. So yeah, I agree with DanielG.

Learn to make the executive decision. If your teammate can't get their code working and you have a solution ready to go that you're 90% sure will work, kick them off the computer and go to work.

Do the easiest problem first - There are time bonuses exactly like DWITE.

[saltpro15]

ok, thanks for the advice guys

[McKenzie]

A lot of good advice. Also, be warned, up-front, that unlike other competitions you are expected to be able to use graphics as well.

One important piece of advice: practice working as a team with your team. I have seen many teams with great programmers on it fail because of poor teamwork. The more you practice together the better you get. I mean get your team together with one machine and try an old problem set. Learn how to share the time, and to work on paper. Seems obvious, but so few train this way.

[A.J]

McKenzie wrote:

A lot of good advice. Also, be warned, up-front, that unlike other competitions you are expected to be able to use graphics as well.

One important piece of advice practice working as a team with your team. I have seen many teams with great programmers on it fail because of poor teamwork. The more you practice together the better you get. I mean get your team together with one machine and try an old problem set. Learn how to share the time, and to work on paper. Seems obvious, but so few train this way.

nice hearing from you again Mr.McKenzie

I agree, teamwork is essential in contests like ECOO. I am making our teams practice this year. In fact, I am trying to run a 'mock ECOO' with a realtime judge and everything .

[saltpro15]

what do you mean by graphics?

[McKenzie]

saltpro15 @ Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:12 pm wrote:

what do you mean by graphics?

basic shapes, lines, ovals, dots, squares.