Contest

Team Roster
Final Schedule
 Computer Environment
Results
Photos

   Here you will find info about the contest itself, such as the team roster, the final schedule, the computer environment and, during the contest, photos and results.

 

Final Schedule (printable version)

Computer Environment

Judging System

  SWERC'2001 will use a software application developed at the Computer Science Department, University of Porto. This software is web-based and aims to become a full contest manager as well as an automatic judge for contests. It includes two main views:

• contestants view: allows contestants to
  • visualize the problems descriptions;
  • load a source program and submit it as an intended solution for a given problem;
  • ask questions to the judges;
  • read a FAQ page with answers to common questions;
  • access to the full list of questions and corresponding answers from the judges;
  • access the list of submissions that have been made since the beginning of the contest;
  • access the current classification.
• judges/administration view: allows the administrators and judges to
  • setup a new contest, by defining the teams, the passwords for the teams, the set of problems, the test cases and time limits for each problem, the languages used and corresponding compilation commands and flags, duration for the contest, etc.
  • assist in the judging process by validating the results of the automatic judge, thus making the evaluation final. Using this interface, judges can easily re-evaluate submissions if necessary;
  • answer to questions posed by teams;

  Access to the system is through login/password authentication. The system has builtin safety measures to prevent users from interfering with the normal progress of the contests. Submissions sent by teams are evaluated by having the corresponding programs compiled and run in a safe-process environment. Programs are only allowed a certain ammount of resources in terms of main memory, disk space and execution time. If a program exceeds any default limit, it is cancelled and a submission message error is produced.

Working enviroment

  At the contest, all teams have a similar working environment:

• Hardware: Pentium III 730 MHz with 128MB RAM and 17'' monitor; Keyboards have the portuguese layout, however teams are allowed to bring and setup their own keyboards during the coffee break on Saturday morning.
• Software: Linux Mandrake 8.1 with all usual goodies of Linux: Kde and Gnome window manager; mozilla and netscape browsers; emacs, xemacs, vi, jove, ..., text editors; same compilers as in the automatic evaluation system server.

  The browsers are pre-configured to be used with the submission system (14 points font size). The default profile is for netscape, however use of mozilla may be prefered in which case you just need to confirm its automatic profile conversion.

  Internet http access is restricted just to the automatic evaluation system server.

  The automatic evaluation system will run on a server machine, an AMD-Athlon 1600 with 756MB of main memory, with Linux Mandrake 8.1 distribution. The compilers and compilation commands will be the same on teams machines and judging server.

  There is a backup server to take over the main server in case of a system failure. Everything you send to the judging server will also go for the backup server (there may be just 30 secs delay).

Using the judging system

  All teams are given a login and password to access the contestants view of the system. Teams must, first:

1. access to page: http://swerc.up.pt/contest;
   you need to go through the authentication process, in principle, just once;
2. select the problem the team is going to solve (A, B, C,..., I);
3. load the source code of your program that solves the problem you selected, and then click on Submit.

  Once you have made a submission, the result of the automatic judge should appear almost instantaneously. This result is initially marked as in pending state to indicate that it has to be confirmed by a judge person. Once confirmed, the submission result is marked final.

  In about 99% of the cases the automatic judge makes a correct evaluation. We made a great effort to make everything consistent and robust, but problems may arise unexpectedly, such as a system resource failure, a mistake in a test case, etc. You shouldn't worry too much because the system is highly flexible in allowing the judges to re-evaluate submissions without a team beeing penalised for it, and thus undoing whatever went wrong first.

  Compilation commands and file extensions: all machines provide an alias for each language compiler with the flags already set as used in the judging server. Next, we list for each language the compilation command, corresponding alias and source file extension that shoud be used:

Language	Compiler	Command	Alias	Extensions
C	gcc 2.96.0	gcc -ansi -wall -lm file.c	mygcc	.c
C++	g++ 2.96.0	g++ file.cpp	myg++	.cpp or .C
Java	jdk 1.3.1	javac file.java	myjava	.java
Pascal	freepascal 1.0.4	fpc -v0w file.pp	myfpc	.pp

  The filename you use for your programs is irrelevant for the system. However, file extensions are crucial. The system won't recognize other extensions and won't try to guess the programming language you are using. It assumes that the file extension you give correctly identifies the programming language.

Manuals:

  The system includes the usual man-pages in Linux as well as the Gnu-Emacs info. To use info just type info on your shell, or type ``Ctrl-h i'' if you are using emacs. The java doumentation can be accessed in http://swerc.up.pt/javadoc.

Printing your programs:

  To print a copy of one of your programs, load it first and then press the button Print. Please do not leave your place to collect the printout from the printer, someone will bring it to you. You are only allowed to print your programs not the problem descriptions.

Problem descriptions:

  Even though each team member receives a paper copy of the problem set, the judging system allows you to access the problems description through your browser. Please select the problem and then press on the View button.

Asking questions:

  In case you need to ask a question to the jury, please select the problem to which the question is related and then press Ask. Once you have submitted the question, every team will have access to it as well as the answer given by the judges. Some questions may not be answered directly, because they have been already answered or because the judges feel it cannot be answered without giving away relevant information.

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