ACM ANNOUNCEMENTS March 20 Hello! This note is to confirm that you are on the mailing list for ACM Programming Competition practices. For additions to and deletions from the list, please e-mail to eugene@csee.usf.edu. The next meeting will be on March 29 (Friday) at 5pm, in ENB-337. Before the meeting, please look up the information about the competition at the following web sites: http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc/ (main Web site for ACM Competition) http://turing.gcsu.edu/~gadkins/contest.html (2001 regional competition) http://faculty.erau.edu/collinsj/home.html (2002 regional competition) The first homework task is to look at the two problems handed out at the first meeting and try to solve at least one problem, using one of the allowed languages (C/C++, Java, or Pascal). If you have not gotten the hand-out with the problems, you can pick it up from my office. -- Eugene -- March 30 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on April 5 (Friday) at 5pm, in the ENB-116 lab (note the room change). The practice after that will by on April 19 (Friday) at 5pm. Note that we have no practice on April 12. The current homework is to solve BOTH problems given on March 19 ("Are we there yet?" and "Hey, you're not Marion Jones"); this homework is due on April 5. The deadline for submitting it is the beginning of the practice, that is, 5:00pm. You should e-mail your solutions (both source and executable) to William Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu), who has volunteered to check the solutions. You should download one of the compilers approved for the ACM Contest (Java JDK, Borland C++, or Borland Delphi), and use it for solving the homework problems. You should not use any other compilers (such as g++ or Visual C++) for the homework problems. You can get a free command-line version of Borland C++ from "www.borland.com", or from "www.csee.usf.edu/~eugene/acm/borlandC++.exe". The "readme.txt" file for Borland C++ includes essential setup information, and you may need to read the beginning of "readme.txt" in order to set up the compiler. The approved compilers do not include an editor, and you can use any editor of your choice. The ENB-116 lab will have the standard Windows editors and Xemacs. If you wish to download Xemacs, you can get it at "www.xemacs.org" or at "www.csee.usf.edu/~eugene/acm/xemacs.exe". If you prefer to use some other editor during practices, please e-mail me the software for installing it, and I will install it in ENB-116. -- Eugene -- April 8 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on April 19 (Friday), at 5pm, in the ENB-116 lab. Note that we have no practice on April 12. The homework is to solve the three problems from the last practice ("Duck," "Dude...where's my gas," and "Let me count the ways"); it is due on April 19 at 5:00pm. You should e-mail your solutions (source and executable) to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). You should use one of the approved compilers (Java, Borland C++, or Borland Delphi). If you do not have the homework problems, you can pick them from my office. You should submit homework problems even if you solved them during the last practice. The criteria for homework submission may be stricter than the criteria used during the practice. The testing will involve more complex test files and penalty for "inexact" output formatting (e.g. missing spaces). If you solve a problem during the practice and submit it as a homework, you get credits for both practice and homework. -- Eugene -- April 23 Hello! Although we have voted to have summer ACM practices on Wednesdays at 1pm, I has not been able to book a lab for this time slot. Instead, I have booked it for Wednesday evenings, 5:00-8:00pm. IF YOU CANNOT (OR STRONGLY DISLIKE TO) ATTEND SUMMER PRACTICES AT 5:00 ON WEDNESDAYS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The next ACM practice will be on May 8, at 5pm. Note that we are changing the day of the practices, and that we will have no practices before May 8. The web page for our ACM Programming Practices is now available at www.csee.usf.edu/~eugene/acm. The page includes the homework problems, results of practices and homeworks, old test files, and some related software (Borland C++, XEmacs, and Vim). The current homework is to solve the three problems from the last practice ("Playing the percentages," "Puzzling numbers," and "Shuffle off to... Milledgeville"); it is due on May 8 at 5:00pm. You should e-mail your solutions (source and executable) to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). You should use one of the approved compilers (Java, Borland C++, or Borland Delphi). If you do not have the homework problems, you can pick them from my office. The problems are also available from the ACM Practice webpage, at www.csee.usf.edu/~eugene/acm/probs.html. -- Eugene -- May 9 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on May 22 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the ENB-116 lab. Note that we have no practice on May 15. The homework is to solve the three problems from the last practice ("Bingo was its name-o," "The smart Alec cashier," and "Charity begins at home-page"); it is due on May 22 at 5:00pm. You should e-mail your solutions (source and executable) to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). As usual, you should use one of the approved compilers (Java, Borland C++, or Borland Delphi). If you do not have the homework problems, you can pick them from my office; you can also get them from the ACM Practice webpage, at www.csee.usf.edu/~eugene/acm/probs.html. -- Eugene -- May 25 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on May 29 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the ENB-229 lab (NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE). We had no practice on May 22 because of a scheduling problem; specifically, Engineering Computing mistakingly scheduled another class for our time slot. Please accept my apology for this problem. If you are attending the practices for an independent-study credit, May 22 attendance will count toward your credit. Although we had no practice, we do have a new homework, which is to solve the three problems distributed on May 22 ("The party's in Dolores's driveway," "Programming olympiad," and "Rectangular rectitude"); it is due on May 29 at 5:00pm. You should e-mail your solutions (source and executable) to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). As usual, you should use one of the approved compilers (Java, Borland C++, or Borland Delphi). If you do not have the homework problems, you can get them from the ACM Practice webpage or from my office. -- Eugene -- May 31 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on June 5 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214); the entrance into the lab is through ENB-220. The homework is to solve the three problems from the last practice ("Four in a row," "Pompeiian numerals," and "If it is a javelin, duck"); it is due on June 5 at 5:00pm. You should e-mail your solutions to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). As usual, you should use one of the approved compilers (Java, Borland C++, or Borland Delphi). If you do not have the homework problems, you can get them from the ACM Practice webpage or from my office. -- Eugene -- June 8 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on June 12 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). The homework is to solve the four problems from the last practice. As usual, you should e-mail your solutions to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). -- Eugene -- June 13, 2002 Hello! WE HAVE NO PRACTICE NEXT WEEK (JUNE 19). The next ACM practice will be on June 26 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). The homework is to solve the four problems from the last practice. As usual, you should e-mail your solutions to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). -- Eugene -- June 26, 2002 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on July 3 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). As usual, the homework is to solve the four problems from the last practice; e-mail your solutions to Will Frost (wfrost@csee.usf.edu). -- Eugene -- July 5, 2002 Hello! The next ACM practice will be on July 10 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). As usual, the homework is to solve the four problems from the last practice. -- Eugene -- July 11, 2002 Hello! WE HAVE NO PRACTICE NEXT WEEK (JULY 17). The next ACM practice will be on July 24 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). As usual, the homework is to solve the four problems from the last practice; it is due on July 24 at 5pm. -- Eugene -- July 24, 2002 Hello! WE HAVE NO PRACTICE NEXT WEEK (JULY 31). The next ACM practice will be on August 7 (Wednesday), at 5pm, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). As usual, the homework is to solve the four problems from the last practice; it is due on August 7. -- Eugene -- Aug. 8, 2002 Hello! WE HAVE FINISHED THE SUMMER PRACTICES. The last homework is to solve the four problems from the August 7 practice; it is due on August 14 at 5pm. If you are getting an independent-study credit for the ACM practice attendance, please complete the related registration paperwork with Ed Kellner. The ACM programming competition will be on October 11 and 12, at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida. You may find more information about the competition at http://faculty.erau.edu/collinsj. We will have two five-hour practices in the end September or beginning of October, before the competition. The time and place of these practices will be announced by early September. If you would like to participate in the ACM programming competition, please let me know. You can participate even if you have not attended summer practices; in this case, you will need to attend the two September practices. If you do not want to (or cannot) participate in the competition, please also let me know. If you would like to be removed from the competition-related mailing list, please send me an e-mail with "ACM Unsubscribe" in the subject. -- Eugene -- Sept. 18, 2002 Dear Students: THIS MESSAGE IS ABOUT THE ACM PROGRAMMING COMPETITION, WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE ON OCTOBER 11-12 IN DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA. I am sending this message to several mailing lists, and I apologize if you have received multiple copies. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THIS COMPETITION, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, AND I WILL PUT YOU ON THE LIST FOR FUTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS. If you are not interested in the competition, please disregard this message, and then I will remove your from the ACM practice mailing list. I am organizing USF teams for participation in the ACM Programming Competition. This competition will be at the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida, which is in about three-hour drive from Tampa. The on-site registration for the competition and other related events begin in the evening of October 11 (Friday); the competition itself will be on October 12 (Saturday). The competition involves solving programming problems in teams of three, using either Visual C/C++ 6.0 or Java 1.4, under Windows 2000. You may find additional information about the ACM Competition at http://faculty.erau.edu/collinsj. A university can send any number of teams, and each team must consist of exactly three students (neither more nor less). If you are presently an undergraduate student at USF, with at least a half-time load, you can be a member of a USF team. If you are a USF graduate student, you can be a member only if you satisfy the following two conditions: - You do not have a Masters degree (or equivalent) - You have been a graduate student for less than two years; that is, you have started your graduate program no earlier than December 2000. Furthermore, each team can include only one graduate student, which means that the number of participating graduate students is limited by the number of undergraduate participant, specifically, at most one graduate participant per two undergraduates. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE COMPETITION, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Please include your name and e-mail, and specify whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student. Note that you can participate in the competition even if you did not attend summer practices. All participants will need to attend two thirty-minute organizational meetings, two five-hour practices, and the competition itself, according to the following schedule: September 23 (Monday) 5:00-5:30pm Organizational meeting, ENB-337 September 28 (Saturday) 12:00-5:30pm First Practice, Logic Lab (ENB-214) October 5 (Saturday) 12:00-5:30pm Second Practice, Logic Lab (ENB-214) October 9 (Wednesday) 5:00-5:30pm Organizational meeting, ENB-337 October 11-12 (Friday-Saturday) Competition A tentative plan is to leave on October 11 (Friday) around 4pm, spend a night in a hotel in Daytona Beach, and drive back on October 12 (Saturday) evening after the competition, using a car pool. The CSE department will cover the related expenses, including the registration, hotel, and mileage compensation for the cars used in the car pool. The competition organizers will provide free food. -- Eugene -- eugene@csee.usf.edu (813) 974-4757 ENB-312 Sept. 22, 2002 Hello! I wish to remind you that the first organizational meeting for the ACM Programming Competition will be tomorrow (Monday, September 23) at 5pm, in ENB-337. If you would like to participate in the competition, but cannot attend this meeting, please let me know. If you do not want to participate in the competition, and would like to be removed from this mailing list, please send me an e-mail with "ACM Unsubscribe" in the subject. -- Eugene -- Sept. 27, 2002 Hello! I wish to remind you that the first practice for the ACM Programming Competition will be tomorrow (Saturday, September 28) at 12 noon, in Logic Lab (ENB-214); the entrance into the lab is through ENB-220. -- Eugene -- Sept. 30, 2002 Hello! The problems and test files from the September 28 practice are now available on the web at www.csee.usf.edu/~eugene/acm/probs.html. The next practice will be on October 5 (Saturday); it will again be at 12 noon, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). If you had problems with the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 editor or compiler during the practice, please "experiment" with it before the next practice, and make sure that you are completely comfortable with this environment. I wish to remind you that the deadline for registering the teams is October 4. We should register as soon as possible, to avoid potential last-minute problems. If you definitely plan to participate in the competition and have decided on the composition of your team, please let me know, and I will register your team. If you do not want to participate in the competition, and would like to be removed from this mailing list, please send me an e-mail with "ACM Unsubscribe" in the subject. -- Eugene -- Oct. 3, 2002 Hello! I wish to remind you that the second ACM practice will be on Saturday (October 5, at 12 noon, in the Logic Lab (ENB-214). If you cannot attend this practice, please let me know. I have registered the following four teams: USF 1: Bryan Johnson, Aneesh Karve, and Plamen Stoyanov USF 2: Saar Carmel, William Frost, and William Grosbach USF 3: Kevin Albrecht, Matthew Boonstra, and Daniel Miller USF 4: Layinah Bouayad, Brian Escalante, and either Parag Kanade or Srinivas Mandalapu I have asked the organizers about the availability of software, and received the following answers. If you have other questions, please e-mail the to me, and I will e-mail them to the organizers on Monday. Note that the software will include only standard Windows editors (WordPad, NotePad, and Visual C++ editor). If you are not familiar with these editors, please get some experience with them before the competition. The on-line help for Visual C++ may or may not be available. Question: According to the web site, all hardware and software will be provided. Could I ask you to confirm that we do not need (and are not allowed) to bring any hardware or software? Answer 1: Please don't bring computers to use for the contest, we will provide all hardware and software. Answer 2: NO HARDWARE or SOFTWARE WILL BE ALLOWED INTO THE CONTEST AREA. Anyone found with media, or anything the judges determine to be a programmable calculator or computer, will have the items removed and the team possibly disqualified. Question: Will the available software include any editors (such as Xemacs or Vi) in addition to the Microsoft Visual C++ editor? If yes, which editors will be provided? Answer: No additional software editors beyond those provided by the applications (Visual C++, Java, FreePascal) and those provided by windows (WordPad, NotePad), will be available. Question: Will Microsoft Visual C++ include standard on-line help, or will the help be disabled? Answer: To be determined by judges. Plan accordingly. -- Eugene -- Oct. 8, 2002 Hello! I wish to remind you that the organizational meeting for the ACM Competition teams will be tomorrow (Wednesday), at 5pm, in ENB-337. If you cannot attend this meeting, please let me know. I also wish to let you know that the problems and test files from the October 5 practice are now available on the web at www.csee.usf.edu/~eugene/acm/probs.html. I have asked the organizers about the available hardware, and received the following (quite ambiguous) answers. Note that the rules do not allow the use of any calculators. Question: Do you prohibit the use of non-programmable calculators? Answer: No calculators are allowed except what is available through windows. Question: Will you provide printers during the competition? Answer: There are printers in each lab that the teams may print to. Question: How large is the main memory in the competition computers? Answer: I would assume at least 128meg but more likely 256. Question: How large are the computer screens? Answer: The computers are new Dells with flat screens I would guess 19 in. Question: Do the computers have usual keyboards, or any type of split/ergonomic keyboards? Answer: The keyboards are standard design. -- Eugene -- Oct. 14, 2002 Hello! Congratulations on your results during the ACM Competition! Although we did not win this time, we did significantly better than in the previous years, and I hope that we will be able to continue this trend. I wish to remind you to submit all your travel receipts as soon as possible; the receipts should include gas, food, and parking fees (if any). Please write your name in pencil on the back of each receipt, and sort the receipts in chronological order. If you have trip-related expenses different from gas, food, and parking, let me know. If you do not have receipts for some of your expenses, please e-mail me the list of these expenses. I also plan to have an (optional) follow-up meeting to discuss the competition results, problems, and their solutions. I tentatively plan to schedule it on Saturday in two weeks, after the mid-semester midterms and before the 2/3-semester midterms. If you would like to attend but have related time constraints, please let me know. -- Eugene -- Oct. 18, 2002 Hello! If you have not yet submitted your original receipts for the trip to Daytona Beach (October 11-12), could you please submit them to me as soon as possible? If you do not submit your receipts by Tuesday (October 22) evening, there may be a risk that you do not get your money back, or get it with a significant delay. You should provide the originals (not photocopies) of your receipts for gas, food, and parking fees (if any). You may give your receipts to me, slide them under the door of my office (ENB-312), or put them into my mailbox in the department. If I do not need some of these receipts in the process of the paperwork, I will later return them to you. -- Eugene -- Oct. 21, 2002 Hello! The department has prepared reimbursement forms for the ACM Competition trip, and each participant should now sign these forms. Could you please stop by my office as soon as possible to sign the forms? If you cannot sign the forms by Wednesday afternoon, please let me know. -- Eugene -- Oct. 23, 2002 Hello! We will have a follow-up meeting on November 2 (Saturday) at 12 noon; the meeting will be in ENB-337 (not in the Logic Lab). The purpose is to discuss solutions to the competition problems and plans for the next-year practices. I will also distribute the "Certificates of Achievement" for participation in the competition. If you would like to attend but cannot make it on November 2, please let me know. If you do not plan to attend, please stop by my office and pickup your certificate. -- Eugene -- Nov. 1, 2002 Hello! I wish to remind you that the follow-up meeting for the ACM Programming Competition will be tomorrow (Saturday, November 2) at 12 noon, in ENB-337 (not in the Logic Lab). -- Eugene -- Dec. 24, 2002 Hello! If you have not yet received reimbursement for the ACM Competition trip, please let me know ASAP. Also, let me know if you wish to get back your receipts for the trip expenses. If I do not hear from you by January 10, I will shred your receipts. If you have received the correct reimbursement and do not need your receipts, you do not need to reply to this message. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! -- Eugene --