Mission
The Ateneo Programming Challenge (APC) provides college students with opportunities to interact with students from other colleges and universities and to sharpen and demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills. The contest provides a platform for industry and academia to encourage and focus public attention on the next generation professionals as they pursue excellence.
Introduction
APC is an annual 2-category competition among, but not limited to, Computer Science, Information Management, Information Systems, and Information Technology students among institutions of higher education. The categories are:
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Individual Category. This category is a two-tier competition open among, but not limited to, Ateneo students. Participants first compete in a qualifying round. Those who qualified will advance to the APC Finals.
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Team Category. This is open to all students among institutions of higher education. Qualified teams shall automatically compete in the APC Finals.
Organization
Ateneo de Naga University, through its Department of Computer Science, is responsible for establishing the following committees:
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The Executive Committee formulates and reviews contest rules, policy and guidelines; oversees the conduct of the contest; resolves issues and appeals; recommends ways to make the contest attractive to participants; and selects the contest judges.
The Contest Director heads this committee along with the Chief Judge, and Systems Manager.
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The Secretariat creates and disseminates official communication, invitation, and information (i.e. letter to sponsors, judges and guests, contest guidelines); facilitates contest registration; documents the competition, and creates any similar documents thereof.
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The Program and Awards formulates and/or implements the flow of the contest, solicits sponsorship, and takes care of the tokens and certificates that will be given to the participants and winners.
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The Food and Logistics ensures the availability of food; and the reservation, preparation, and restoration of the contest venue and the necessary equipment before, during, and after the contest.
Team Composition
A representative of the sponsoring institution of higher education, typically a faculty member, must serve as or designate the team coach. The coach certifies the eligibility of contestants and serves as the official point-of-contact with the team prior to and during contest activities. A team may only have one coach.
The coach must fully register teams within the time set by Executive Committee which is no later than the earlier date of 10 days before the contest. A team is not eligible to compete in the contest until the contest director has accepted the team. Teams failing to comply with any of these requirements will be ruled ineligible to compete. Only registered reserves may be substituted for contestants. Such substitutions must be approved by the contest director before the contest begins.
Each team consists of three contestants. The team's contestants must satisfy the following eligibility rules.
Contestants Eligibility
Participants’ eligibility shall be determined by the following:
- Individual Category
- He/she is a bonafide student of Ateneo de Naga University;
- He/she submits a fully accomplished registration form;
- Knowledgeable in C, C++ or Java;
- Approval of the Executive Committee;
- Contest Fee
- Team Category
- Students must be enrolled in degree programs at the sponsoring institution.
- Official Certification from the sponsoring institution’s Registrar’s Office;
- Fully accomplished registration form;
- Contest Fee
The Contest
Each participant/team has access to one computer workstation, and is given a set of independent problems which may be solved in any order. (Note: For those registered in the team category, only 1 computer workstation is given). Each solution is a program in one of a set of available programming languages. APC will provide C, C++, and Java compilers only. IDEs will likewise be provided.
Participants may bring books, notes, or papers for reference, but may not use any electronic or programmable devices other than the single computer workstation supplied. No participants/teams are allowed to communicate with each other. Contest officials will assist participants/teams with system problems but all questions relating to the contest problem set must be submitted to the judges via the clarification mechanism (described in the ``Conduct of the Contest'' section below).
The competition runs for three hours and consists of five or more problems. The problems are drawn from high school and college mathematics and computing, as well as everyday knowledge and problem solving. Scores are available to spectators, except that they are not updated during the last hour of the contest (so as to ensure suspense about the final rankings).
Conduct of the Contest
When the participant/team feels that it has solved a problem, the solution (a program in C/C++ or Java) is submitted for judging. It is judged by compiling it and running it against blind test data. If it produces correct output for all test data, it is judged correct. If it produces incorrect output, it is judged incorrect. If it fails, either to compile, or to run without error, it is judged incorrect. The judgement is communicated to the participant in as timely manner as possible, and the participant may re-submit solutions judged incorrect. Re-submissions for problems already judged correct are ignored.
Notification of accepted runs may be suspended at an appropriate time to keep the final results secret. A general announcement to that effect will be made during the contest. Notification of rejected runs will continue until the end of the contest.
A contestant/team may submit a claim of ambiguity or error in a problem statement by submitting a clarification request to a judge. If the judges agree that an ambiguity or error exists, a clarification will be issued to all contestants.
Contestants are not to converse with anyone except the personnel designated by the APC. Teams, however, are allowed to converse strictly with members of their team only. Systems support staff may advise contestants on system-related problems such as explaining system error messages.
While the contest is scheduled for three hours, the APC has the authority to alter the length of the contest in the event of unforeseen difficulties. Should the contest duration be altered, every attempt will be made to notify contestants in a timely and uniform manner.
A contestant/team may be disqualified by the APC for any activity that jeopardizes the contest such as dislodging extension cords, unauthorized modification or misuse of contest materials, or distracting behavior.
If irregularities or misconduct are observed during the contest, contestants should bring them to the attention of the contest officials so that action may be taken as soon as possible.
Scoring
A problem is solved when it is accepted by the judges. The judges are solely responsible for accepting or rejecting submitted runs. In consultation with the Chief Judge, the Contest Director (CD) determines the winners of the contest. The CD and the Chief Judge are empowered to adjust for or adjudicate unforeseen events and conditions. Their decisions are final.
The score is based on three components: the number of problems correctly solved, the time from the beginning of the contest to the submission of a correct solution for each problem, and the number of incorrect submissions to a problem for which a correct solution is eventually submitted. First, contestants/teams are ranked in order of the number of correct solutions. When two or more contestants/teams have the same number of correct solutions, they are further ranked by penalty minutes computed as the sum of:
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For each solved problem, the number of minutes from the beginning of the contest until the correct solution was submitted.
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For each solved problem, 20 minutes for each incorrect solution submitted before the correct solution.
There is no time consumed for a problem that is not solved.
Tie Breakers
It is possible for a tie to occur - exactly the same number of penalty points and number of questions answered. The following tie breaker will be applied only where prizes or finals berths are at stake:
Example Scoring
Consider three contestants/teams: Red, Green, and Blue. The contest starts at 1:00PM and the submissions are as follows:
- Red submits a correct solution to Problem A at 2:15.
- Green submits a correct solution to Problem B at 3:00.
- Red submits an incorrect solution to Problem H at 3:01.
- Green submits a correct solution to Problem A at 3:50.
- Red submits a correct solution to Problem H at 4:00.
- Green submits an incorrect solution to Problem C at 4:00.
- Red submits an incorrect solution to Problem G at 4:15.
- Blue submits a correct solution to Problem C at 5:00.
The scores are as follows:
- 1st Place: Red with 2 correct, 275 penalty minutes.
- 2nd Place: Green with 2 correct, 290 penalty minutes.
- 3rd Place: Blue with 1 correct, 240 penalty minutes.
Contest Fee
An amount shall be determined by the Executive Committee for the Registration Fee to cover the cost of the contest shirts, kits, food, and other relevant contest materials and services.
Problem Set Domain
Typically five to eight problems are attempted in a three hour period. The problems are of varying difficulty and flavor. Two problems are given that could be solved in an hour by a first or second year student, two that could be solved in an hour by a third year student, and one that will likely determine the winners. Our goal is that every participant/team solves two problems, that every problem is solved.
Most problems are based on real-life problems such as searching for a missing boat at sea, triangulating the location of a faulty transmitter, computing golf handicaps, stacking pipes of varying diameters in a fixed width bin, coding or decoding messages, printing braille, seeking an exit to a maze, processing satellite images, solving a math problem, and so on. The underlying algorithm is the problem, not the problem statement.
All problems are written in English and most are presented with no more than a page of text, a helpful illustration, a sample input set with an accepted output set.
Appeals
Disclaimer: Ateneo de Naga University, through its Department of Computer Science, works, at all times, for the best intent of the students. Any decisions or judgments are based on the information at hand, and are predicated on fairness to all.
After the conclusion of the contest and the results has been made public, contestants may file complaints or appeals if it is deemed necessary. |
