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 Languages and
Environments
The teams may use C++, C#, Java or Visual Basic to create their
programs. The environment will be Visual Studio which is compatible with all the
programming languages allowed. Since Java uses special classes for terminal
input, certain classes for input will be provided for students to use.
The programs are not designed to be GUI interfaces because of
the time limitations. All programs created will be simple terminal IO. The
problems that these programs are designed to solve are complex enough without
adding a GUI interface into the mix.
Installing
Visual J# 2005
The link to the left is to an ISO (compressed disk image) of
Visual J# 2005. You can download the image, but it will need to be decompressed
and burned to a hard drive or CDrom. Then it can be installed. If you have Nero
or Roxio, you probably already have the decompression capability. If you don't,
see Mrs. Caso for assistance.
How
can I prepare for the BW High School Programming Contest?
Look at the links to the left. They have copies of previous
problem sets, links to the contest web site, and other helps-and-hints.
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Problem
Sets and Difficulty
The problems that students are asked to solve are not easy, but
at least one is designed to be completed quickly. There will be six problems to
solve which will have detailed directions and specifications.
Some of the specifications include a certain format for the
input. Because of the way the system is set up to grade and time the progress,
those specifications must be met.
A sample problem is always given during the orientation in the
morning before the actual contest begins. That way, any bugs in the system can
be found and worked out before the timed contest starts.
How
have we done in the past?
It depends on the year and the language that the team used. In
2005 we had 2 teams. Both used Java. It was our first time competing and we
placed 17th and 18th out of 25 teams. It was a sobering learning experience.
In 2006 we had 1 team that used Java and they placed 7th in a
field of 21.
In 2007 we had two teams. One used Java and one used Visual
Basic. The Java team had experience from the year before and placed 5th in the
contest. The Visual Basic team, with no previous experience, placed 10th. That
was out of 22 teams!
In 2008 we had 2 teams and both worked in Java. Unfortunately,
they found the problems to be even more challenging and we came in 9th and 23rd
out of the 24 teams in the competition. In defense of team 2, they had no prior
experience.
So, we're looking forward to doing better in 2009 with a
new pair of teams.
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CONTEST PREP LINKS
