2007 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest ...

[Dr. Stephen Blythe]

As many of you are aware, SIUE usually participates in the anual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, and this year will be no exception. In recent years, SIUE teams have done quite well in the "Midwest" regional contest, frequently placing teams in the top ten of the region.

The contest essentially is comprised of teams competing to code as many (successful) programs as they can in a given time frame. The program specifications (usually about 7 +/- 2) are handed out at the beginning of the contest and teams are then given 5 hours to successfully code as many solutions as they can.

Any undergraduate who has taken (or is taking) a Computer Science course can compete in these contests - whether you are a Freshman, a Senior, or somewhere in between. Teams are comprised of 3 programmers, with each school typically sending 2 teams.

If you are interested, please send me e-mail (sblythe@siue.edu), and I'll include you in our pool of contestants (if you've already sent me e-mail indicating your interest, there's no need to do so again). The contest itself will be an all-day event on Saturday, November 3; this year's contest will be held at Webster University (in southwest St. Louis). We will also be holding several team practice sessions between now and then to familiarize our teams with the types of program specifications they will encounter at the contest.

We'll begin reviewing example contest problems and placing individuals on teams during the week of 9/24.

Please also visit http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc/ for more information about the contest, or just contact me (sblythe@siue.edu).

-Dr. Blythe

[Shaun Martin]

Do you want students to email you their schedules so it would be easier to organize practice times?

[Dr. Stephen Blythe]

For those interested, there will be two meetings this Friday (September 28) to start setting up teams and practices for this year's programming contest. The two meeting times will be 3:30PM and another at 4:30 PM in EB2029. The two meetings will essentially be the same, so you only need to attend one of them (although you are welcome to attend both).

Hope to see you there!

  -Dr. Blythe