Hello Friends,

Can we have some sort of C/C++ code contest? That would be very interesting and exciting.

Senior members(especially Walt and Dave) may not participate(they can be in the selection committee and review.)

I dont have an idea though. Some interesting programs?
If you have any ideas, please post.

Thank you,
Paramesh.

I'm open to it, except for the
part. There are a lot of potential programs I've never dealt with and would be just as disadvantaged as a new programmer. My code might be neater is all -- I've read the formatting tutorial!

Didn't we have a contest discussion the past year or so and it just didn't get off the ground? I can't find the thread.

sure...why not

Ok then. ( I dont believe you still)
The contest is Open for all.

Any ideas?

Paramesh.

Here's the thread to the original programming contest.

If this does happen, I'd recommend either starting out easy or having several project levels. That way newbies don't get discouraged quickly and those out of practice (like myself) can get their "code legs" back.

How does a C/C++ code contest normally work?

how bout a junior member and a senior member work as a team...hehe
that way new members can learn to code better by workng with a good programmer...

id be down for that.

Yes, I remember. We only had one small contest initiated by Darrin, I think (and won by Dave).
I'd be totally up for it, although I'm not sure if we should always combine the 2 - C and C++. Sometimes this just gets new programmers to mix up the 2 languages and fail at learning the differences. And sometimes I just loose (maybe Walt will feel like asking me to format C++ output like he does with printfs again, if you know what I mean ).
Anyway, as long as there is a "judge" we can send the programs too, or if the site will have a special feature to allow us to post code which no one will see until the contest is over (cough-cough J), it shouldn't matter who will run in the contest. We will just see the code at the end, and the least perfect will learn from the more experienced - it's what we are here for, right?

Best regards,
Lucian

Hi all,

I thought of some ideas of how to conduct the contest:

Here we start:

Short time contests:
Single member contests: One in C programming and other in C++ programming.
There will be separate contest for C and C++ so that all dont mix up their code.

We can conduct two tests:
1. One is that we can have a instant online test. We can tell our members to come online at a specific GMT time. We can post a good question. Then all should submit the replies as soon as possible.

2. Or we can post a question at a specified time. Then all should submit the code results within a specified time limit say 5 hours after the question was posted. Then we may review the replies and announce within a day.

I have a doubt :
Can we hide the replies to a thread for a specific amount of time?
These are some general rules for the single member contests:

Here are some general faqs about this single member contests:
1. The contest will be in different levels. One for Newbies, moderate level and Difficult one. The Junior and new members can contest in all of these levels.]
The Members and regular members can contest only in moderate and difficult level. The senior members should contest only in Difficult level.
2 . The question will be stated clearly and no doubt may arise from the question. Hints will be given regarding how to proceed with the question.
3. So, One shall not ask questions regarding guidance for how to code the contest. They cannot post any part of their code and ask to help and solve the errors. All doubts regarding the code should be asked after the contest is over.
4. There should be no copying of code.
5. Members involved in helping others or getting help from others will be instantly disqualified from the contest.
6. Hence, There should be no private messaging during the contest.
7. All doubts regarding the code should be asked after the contest is over.
8. We can have one prototype for writing header and main files.
9. One shall not mix up C++ codes in a C contest. If the contest is a C contest, you should submit only C files and not C++ files.
10. We can have a separate forum for the contest(If J allows).
11. All should only submit final codes only. There should not be any beta code. So one can submit only once.
12. Once you submit your code, you can see all other's code. Until then sorry..
13. While submitting the final code, all should give proper explanation and proper commenting should be there in the code. The code should be properly formatted for better understanding. If anyone misses these, the chance for winning the contest will greatly be reduced.
14. No attachments are allowed. Only one header file and one main file is allowed since this is a short time contest.
15. There shall be no teams in a this single member contest.
16. All have to be reminded that this contest is friendly one and there should be no ill feelings. Also, dont worry if you lose a contest. You can always try again.
17. There will be three winners in the contest.
18. The winner shall not be heaped upon with reputation by other members.All the reputations are given by the admin only.
The winner 1 will be given 30 reputation.
the winner 2 will get 20 reputations.
winner 3 will get 10 reputations.

All the contesters will be given 5 reputation points.
19. add extra faqs here.


Long time contests:
The duration shall be a week or so.

1. We can have team contests. The contest may involve some simple but demanding projects. After the question is posted at a specific time, people can work in teams and submit their project within a week or so.

2. The team members are required to submit their team information before they participate in the contest. No one shall insist other members to join them in a team.

3. Most of the rules for the short time contests will apply for this contest also.


So if J can create a new forum Contest forum,

All can give contest ideas in the same "Contest-Idea" thread.
There should not be any new threads regarding ideas.

All questions regarding any doubts in these contests can be asked in the "faq section" thread.

All the decision taken my the coordinating committee will be final.

Finish.

Well. How is those ones?
Comment regarding those.
Add any new ideas if you have some.

Regards,
Paramesh.

Thank you for the detailed proposal Paramesh.

I prefer No. 2 and the time limit should be in days rather than hours since many have other things to do during the day and may be visiting the forum from different time zones. However, this is just my opinion and if the majority feels it should be for a few hours then that is what it will be.

This should be easy to do but I'll have to create a brand new mini-site; maybe at www.gidnetwork.com/contests/i-cpp-nnn.html for example, where nnn is the contest id and cpp is the language.

I normally don't allow or disallow new forums -- if the community wants it, I simply add it to the mix. However in the past, we have created forums because they were requested, only to find them deserted very soon after.

At the moment, I am working on some new (GIDNetwork) administration pages and I may not be able to do anything about this until about a week or two. So, keep adding your ideas here, especially about the web pages themselves and I will refer to this thread on and off. Once I am ready to actually do something, I will email a few of you involved in this discussion to help me design and test the web pages.