Spring 2023 Codeathon

February 24, 2023, 6:30 PM — Wired Cafe / Discord

Georphoe Lin

Code-A-Thon: 24 February 2023 - 25 February 2023

We will be offering a hybrid event this year, both on Discord and in person. If you feel comfortable attending in person, we will be in Wired Cafe from 6:30 to 10:00 PM on the 24th. Note that we only are able to set up in the Wired Cafe on Friday and that if you would like to continue on Saturday this must be done via Discord. The kickoff is February 24th at 6:30 pm. The competition will open Feb 24th at 7:00 pm and goes until Feb 25th at 7:00 pm. All announcements during the competition will be sent via Discord (see link below to join).

Discord: http://discord.gg/uRRAmYD

How It Works

When the contest starts at 7 pm on February 24th, you will have a 24 hour time window to submit your answers to algorithm based questions. Think of it as an exam that opens at 7 pm February 24th, but is not due until 7 pm the next day.

Different questions are worth different amounts of points, depending on their difficulty. For each question, there are test cases that test your solution against a variety of inputs. The percentage of test cases that you get correct determines how many points you get for that problem. (i.e. if a problem is worth 20 points, and your program works on half the test cases, you would get 10 points).

Each problem statement will have a section called "Constraints". This means the problem writer has guaranteed that the test case input will only be in the format / number range specified. You do nnot need to validate / check the constraints in your program. The focus is on solving problem and figuring out algorithms, not writing user-safe software :P

When reading input for the problem, just read in the input as if someone was typing in the console of your IDE (likely the same way you have read input for most of your programs, aka standard input).

Prizes

Those that place first in a division will recieve a $100 gift card. Second place winners will recieve a $75 gift card. Third place winners recieve a $50 gift card. You are only eligible for prizes if you are competing in the correct division (or a higher one, limit of 1 prize per person). If you are in CSCE350 and try competing in the 146 division, you will not be eligible for prizes in the 146 division. Note: Prizes not claimed within 1 month are forfeited automatically and are given back to the ACM club.

Ethics

It has always been open internet, and mainly an exercise of problem solving skills, but like other years we discourage sharing answers and solutions, instead we emphasize idea sharing and a socially positive environment for everyone. Thanks to OpenAI, we must make one exception. Use of ChatGPT for the Code-A-Thon is explicitly forbidden. Anyone found using it will not be eligible for prizes. All competitors will be expected to be able to explain how their code solves the problem. If you are suspected of using ChatGPT and are unable to reasonably explain how your solution code works and solves the problem, you will similarly be ineligible for prizes.

Extra Credit

If your course is offering extra credit for competing in the Code-A-Thon, we will send a sign-in sheet on Discord. You must sign in with this in order for us to link you to the class you are in for extra credit.

Links to Contest

The division you compete in is based on which of the following courses you are currently in (or last completed if not in any of the following). For example, if you are currently in 145, or have taken it, but are not in 146, and have not taken 146 yet, 145 is the division you may compete within for prizes. If you have yet to take 145 or are not a CSCE major, feel free to jump in for 145. If you have programming experience and aren't sure, ask an ACM @exec on Discord and we will help you out.

i.e. If in CSCE240 currently, go to the 240 division. If you finished CSCE240, but have not taken CSCE350, go to the 240 division

Join This Semester Here:

Tiebreaks

Tiebreaks will be decided as the Hackerank default, as in the first to reach the score will be given precedence.

Previous Year

Here are the contests for Fall 2022 if you want to practice:

Here are the solutions for the Fall 2022 Problems (some problems from lower division come from upper division, so check both if you are in lower):