Acm Ispc

[klopyrev]

In the University of Waterloo, how are the ACM teams chosen? Are they chosen specifically from Computer Science majors or can someone taking Engineering (Software Engineering, to be specific) be chosen for the team?

KL

[Martin]

Anyone can be chosen. I think they run a bunch of contests throughout the year that you can write so the people who choose the teams will know how good you are. Most (all?) people on the team are pretty highly ranked on TopCoder.com, so you might want to go there to get your name out (you
should be there to practice anyway). I'll ask some friends and find out more details for you though.

[klopyrev]

Thanks! I'll wait for your reply! And I already do have a topcoder account. Finally got to yellow today:P So happy!!!

KL

[bugzpodder]

Join in -- Two contests in Sept (don't worry about the one in June)
plg.uwaterloo.ca/~acm00
After both contests, the scores are combined
Top 3 qualified [usually] gets to be on Waterloo Black
Next 3 gets to be on Waterloo Gold

Pretty simple

[Dan]

Alot easyer at lakehead, if you whont to be on the team you just ask to be or if you don't they will bug you about being on the team intill the contest is done.

I have never been much for the acm or the type of contest they do so i have never been on a team here.

[bugzpodder]

Lakehead will probably get their ass handed to them during the regionals so theres no point in joining such a team. If you want to actually have a chance of going to the finals, you gotta do it in Toronto, Waterloo, Alberta, UBC.

[Naveg]

Hacker Dan @ Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:32 pm wrote:

Alot easyer at lakehead, if you whont to be on the team you just ask to be or if you don't they will bug you about being on the team intill the contest is done.

I have never been much for the acm or the type of contest they do so i have never been on a team here.

I'm not speaking as either a lakehead student, nor a waterloo student, but i would hazard a guess that it is easier to get on the lakehead team because the competition is much less. It seems to me that waterloo tends to attract a higher proportion of exceptional problem solvers than other schools do.

[Dan]

bugzpodder @ 23rd March 2007, 5:14 pm wrote:

Lakehead will probably get their ass handed to them during the regionals so theres no point in joining such a team. If you want to actually have a chance of going to the finals, you gotta do it in Toronto, Waterloo, Alberta, UBC.

Thank you bugz, it whould not be a ture topic with out you showing your masively infalted ego.

Naveg wrote:

I'm not speaking as either a lakehead student, nor a waterloo student, but i would hazard a guess that it is easier to get on the lakehead team because the competition is much less. It seems to me that waterloo tends to attract a higher proportion of exceptional problem solvers than other schools do.

I think you are missing the simple fact that lakehead has ALOT less students then waterloo. It is not realy a matter of one school having "better" or "smarter" studens just that one has more. If you have more studens obvesly you have more to pick from to make the same sized team. Staticaly speaking if you just had groups of random peoleop of the size of lakehead's cs deparment and waterloos team whould allways do better since they have more to pick from to make the same sized group.

To try to impleny waterloo's student base is better just becues there population is bigger is rather silly. I probly have about 5 to 7 peoleop in my year in cs at lakehead, not becues no one applys for cs at lakehead or becues lakehead is some how has "dumber" studens but becues it is a smaller school and has less spaces. This is both good and bad. Good in that we have class sizes of 4 some times and bad in that we can not fourm teams that are compsened of peoleop that are exteramly developed to such contests.

With the atituded that alot of waterloo studens on this fourm have, it is a whonder that they even bother having a competion and just don't award them selves a throphie for going to waterloo and be done with it. As i hitened at above i do not think the acm contests are a vaild showing of one true ablity nor the quality of education of the university.

P.S. feal free to flame away with baises staments about how going to any univeristy but waterloo means that you will allways be less then waterloo grads.

[Naveg]

No flaming needed Dan.

Once again, I don't even go to university yet. Simply as an outside observer, waterloo's reputation for success is far greater than that of any other university. And I doubt it's simply because they have more students. Ask yourself, why is it that they have more students? Perhaps the university grew quickly and could accomodate more people. But ask yourself again, why such quick growth? The likely answer, and the answer that makes itself apparent not only to waterloo students but also to outside observers like myself, is that waterloo has a superior program.

Contrary to popular opinion, I am not being paid (in dollars or grades or job offers) to say such things.

[Dan]

To get this more on topic:

I thought contest where sposted to be about having fun not wining?

To me it is much more fun to be the underdog team compsoned of a bunch of knowangle firends then to be the team that has to win to upholded it's redutation and can not take the time to have fun with it. As university studens every day is basicly a competion with our peers to come out on top and eventualy get the great job. So why most we take thess contests so seruiesely? I saw have fun doing what you like to do and not do it just to win and be exclusive to thos who whont to learn but are not at your skill level yet.

[Andy]

Princeton has far less students than waterloo, about 3000 total in undergrad i think. And yet they still kick ass. having less students is no excuse. What matters is the percentage of students that are exceptional. And based on entrance averages, somehow I doubt Lakehead is better than Waterloos.

[Dan]

Andy @ 25th March 2007, 5:57 pm wrote:

Princeton has far less students than waterloo, about 3000 total in undergrad i think. And yet they still kick ass. having less students is no excuse. What matters is the percentage of students that are exceptional. And based on entrance averages, somehow I doubt Lakehead is better than Waterloos.

Where did i say lakehead is better then waterloo? I side lakehead (or rather the acm club at lakehead) lets any one who whonts to join there acm team. In fact i never side anything about the preformence of lakehead's acm team. (Honstly i don't care). I also did not say that having few studens was an excuces for not doing good, i side that if you have more studens you have more to choices from, thous bigger univeritys popualtion wise have greater odds of having a better team if they slectective fourm teams to start with. To think that just becues waterloo is waterloo it will always do better then univeritys X, is just plain argoent and ingrorent.

Any how i think we should get back on topic of the acm contests or make a new topic for this debate.

I think we are missing the point by thinking wining or even doing well is the point of thess contest. The point is to learn and help others learn with you and of corses to have fun. You may have the best team in the world but if you learn nothing from the contest then there was no point to them. Univeristys are a place of education and learning, limiting who can be on the team is rather silly if we are to assume the point is educational (epstaly if you can have any number of teams).

This is why i have a general dislike for thess type of contests. Far to offten it turns in to an ego fest between peoleop and universitys when it should be about fun and learning. It is realtively easy to get the best studens in your university and put them on one team, but to take the best studens and dived them amogn your teams with weaker studens whould be far more educational. Shure your team will not do as well but the average team member is bound to have more fun and learn alot more.

[Brightguy]

Hacker Dan @ Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:45 pm wrote:

To try to impleny waterloo's student base is better just becues there population is bigger is rather silly.

Naveg didn't say that, though. Different universities attract different kinds of people; they aren't just random groups of people.

Hacker Dan @ Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:45 pm wrote:

it is a whonder that they even bother having a competion and just don't award them selves a throphie for going to waterloo and be done with it.

Oh we do that too, it's just that those awards aren't as impressive on the propaganda fliers.

[bugzpodder]

first of all since when the f*** did princeton kick ass? secondly even if they did kick ass, which for the record didn't, they are still supposedly one of the top ivy league schools that are suppose attract best students from all over the world, so i would expect them to in fact kick ass which sadly they havent even come close to.

[bugzpodder]

and no, the contest is all about winning. Its about schools competing who has the bigger balls and bragging rights (95% of the contestant in the world finals are male anyways). our leader gets pissed whenever we don't win, which is every year cept three, and of course unlikely to win anytime soon as well