About This Contest Thu Oct 14 09:00:22 PM EDT 2010 You should have the following 5 handouts: (1) This Contest Help File: one page, this handout. (2) Schedule: one page, with room numbers. (3) Help Files: explains contest in detail. (4) Demo Files: demonstration code. (5) Problems: not given out till start of contest. You may use any printed matter you bring to the contest, but CANNOT use a web browser or any electronic device of your own during the contest (except of course for personal communications unrelated to competition). The most important thing for new teams is that they run their program against the Sample Input and verify that their program produces the Sample Output, BEFORE they submit. For program `ppp', this is most easily done by typing the Sample Input into ppp.in, running `make', and looking at the program output in ppp.out. Remember, `make' sends ppp.in to your program's standard input and copies your programs standard output to ppp.out; you MUST NOT open any files in your program. The command `help' will display this file. You have also been given a printout of the important help and demonstration files. This is a `formal' contest. The command help formal_contest displays more details about formal contests. To display a list of the help files available use the command `help index'. Note that if something in the index has the name `help/topic' you use the command `help topic' to view it. The contest managers will log in for you. You will NOT be given a password. If you have an xterminal, the xcsh command will make more windows: see `help xterminals'. The contest managers will inform you in writing which account you will be using. It is your responsibility to double check that the contest managers have logged you into the right account. The command `hpcm_get' will get a demonstration problem into your directory ~/demos/count (where ~ denotes your home directory). Read ~/demos/count/README and ~/demos/ count/Makefile and practice submitting the demonstra- tion problem. Hpcm_get will also get all the contest problems into your `~/problems' directory AFTER the contest official- ly starts. At the contest start time you will be given a printout of all the problem descriptions. The command `help problems' will display a list of all the problems AFTER the contest starts. Also see `help solving'. The command `scoreboard' will display the scoreboard. The time of a problem is the time between the start time of the contest and the time a solution is submit- ted. See `help scoreboard'. There is no time penalty for an incorrect submission for this contest. To send a question to the contest manager DO NOT try to e-mail the manager directly. Instead edit the ques- tion into a file qqq and use the command: hpcm_sendmail < qqq Output of the print commands (see `help print') will be brought to you. Please do NOT try to find the printer. For more information see `help print'. You CANNOT use the alternative submit commands that make `in-submit', `inout-submit', or `solution-submit'. You CANNOT use a web browser. You may use any printed material you like, but cannot communicate electroni- cally with the world outside the contest. The `javahelp' and `stlhelp' commands give access to on-line Java and C++ STL documentation: see `help java' and `help c++'. The day after the contest proper, the contest will be converted to a different type of contest. You will then be given your account name and password, and can log in and in a sense continue the contest. `in-submit', `inout-submit', and `solution-submit' will be allowed. The judging will be completely automatic. You will be able to print by making a ~/PRINTER file: see `help print'. The scoreboard will use the submission type (`submit', `in-submit', `inout-submit') of incorrect submissions in place of time. A correct submission with no previous incorrect submissions will have a score of 100.0, and the penalties for incorrect submissions depend on submission type as follows: incorrect `submit' 10% incorrect `in-submit' 20% incorrect `inout-submit' 30% See `help scoreboard', feedback contests, for details. Good Hunting!