Rules of the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

RULES OF THE FIRST PHILIPPINE NATIONAL INTER-COLLEGIATE
PROGRAMMING COMPETION (ACM ICPC PHILIPPINES 2007)


1.0 Language of the Contest

1.1 The language of the Contest is English.
1.2 All written contest materials will be in English.

2.0 Team Composition

2.1 A team consists of three (3) bonafide students of a higher institution recognized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
2.2 For the national competition, the student must be an undergraduate student of a four or five-year course.
2.3 The student contestant must be enrolled during the current schoolyear (SY 2007-2008) and must have at least a half-time load.
2.4 A representative of the sponsoring institution of higher education, typically a faculty member, must serve as or designate the team coach.
2.5 The coach certifies the eligibility of contestants and serves as the official point-of-contact with the team prior to and during contest activities.
2.6 A team may only have one official coach.
2.7 A team is not eligible to compete in the regional contest until the contest director has accepted the team’s registration..
2.8 Teams failing to comply with any of these requirements will be ruled ineligible to compete.
2.9 Only registered alternates may be substituted for contestants.
2.10 Such substitutions must be entered in the Official Registration List by the contest director before the contest begins.
2.11 To be eligible for the ACM ICPC Asia-Regional Contests, the student contestant must satisfy the eligibility rules published in the ACM ICPC website (http://icpc.baylor.edu/)

3.0 Contest Attendance and Attire

3.1 All team members must attend the following contest activities:
3.1.1 Opening Ceremony
3.1.2 Contest Proper
3.1.3 Awarding Ceremony
3.2 The coach is expected to attend or be available by phone during contest activities.
3.3 Failure to attend any of the designated contest events may result in automatic disqualification and forfeiture of any awards and prizes.
3.4 Team members and their coaches should wear proper attire during the contest.
3.5 The following are not considered proper attire: wearing sleeveless shirts, short pants, slippers (or flip-flops).
3.6 During the contest proper, team members and coaches shall wear the color-coded t-shirts issued to them during onsite registration.
3.7 Failure to wear proper attire may result in automatic disqualification and forfeiture of any awards and prizes.

4.0 Conduct of the Contest

4.1 Solutions to problems submitted for judging are called runs. Each run is judged as accepted or rejected by a judge, and the team is notified of the results.
4.2 Notification of accepted runs may be suspended at an appropriate time to keep the final results secret. A general announcement to that effect will be made during the contest. Notification of rejected runs will continue until the end of the contest.
4.3 A contestant may submit a claim of ambiguity or error in a problem statement by submitting a clarification request to a judge. If the judges agree that an ambiguity or error exists, a clarification will be issued to all contestants.
4.4 Contestants are not to converse with anyone except members of their team and personnel designated by the regional contest director.
4.5 Systems support staff may advise contestants on system-related problems such as explaining system error messages.
4.6 While the contest is scheduled three hours, the contest director has the authority to alter the length of the contest in the event of unforeseen difficulties.
4.7 Should the contest duration be altered, every attempt will be made to notify contestants in a timely and uniform manner.
4.8 A team may be disqualified by the contest director for any activity that jeopardizes the contest such as dislodging extension cords, unauthorized modification of contest materials, distracting behavior, wearing improper attire, and other improper activities or behavior.
4.9 Six problems will be posed. So far as possible, problems will avoid dependence on detailed knowledge of a particular applications area or particular contest language.

5.0 Contest Computing Environment

5.1 The programming languages of the contest will include C/C++ and Java.
5.2 Each team will use a single workstation.
5.3 The regional contest director is responsible for determining that teams have reasonably equivalent computing resources.
5.4 The following are the computer hardware specifications:
Pentium 4 PC
5.5 The operating system is Microsoft Windows XP
5.6 Keyboard substitution will not be allowed.
5.7 Network shared printers will be made available during the contest proper.

6.0 Team Notebooks
6.1 A team is allowed to bring into the contest area, three copies of a team notebook, one copy for each contestant.
6.2 The notebook must be a three-ring binder that can hold 8.5" x 11” letter-size pages. Each notebook should have the name of the school and the name of the team prominently indicated on its front cover.
6.3 The notebook must have four sections, each section starting with a tabbed divider, labeled NOTES, HANDOUTS, REFERENCE, and WORK.
6.3.1 NOTES -- contains at most four (4) pages of single-sided hand-written notes.
6.3.2 HANDOUTS -- contains only those handouts provided by the Asia-Manila ICPC staff. These handouts may include hand-written comments and corrections.
6.3.3 REFERENCE -- contains up to twenty-five pages of printed notes, single spaced, single sided, in 12 point font of the team's choice, with one-inch margins on all sides. These notes must be the same for all three members of the team.
6.3.4 WORK -- contains a reasonable number, but not more than 100 pages, of blank bond paper and graphing paper, all letter-size, for the team member to use as scratch papers during the contest.
6.4 The notebook may have a plastic pouch containing pencils, pens, erasers, ruler, compass, protractor, and triangles.
6.5 The team members may not bring a calculator to the contest, but the team may use the calc.exe program that is provided by Windows XP.
6.6 Each team member may bring a dictionary for translation purposes. The only marking allowed on the dictionary is the identity of the owner.

7.0 Scoring
7.1 A problem is solved when it is accepted by the judges.
7.2 The judges are solely responsible for accepting or rejecting submitted runs.
7.3 In consultation with the judges, Contest Director determines the winners of the contest.
7.4 The contest director and judges are empowered to adjust for or adjudicate unforeseen events and conditions.
7.5 The decisions of the judges are final.
7.6 Teams are ranked according to the most problems solved.
7.7 For the purposes of awards, teams who solve the same number of problems are ranked by least total time.
7.8 The total time is the sum of the time consumed for each problem solved.
7.9 The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the submittal of the accepted run plus 20 penalty minutes for every rejected run for that problem regardless of submittal time.
7.10 There is no time consumed for a problem that is not solved.
7.11 It is the responsibility of the Contest Director to specify any additional tie-breakers.
7.12 The tie-breaker policies must be announced to contestants before the contest begins.

8.0 Certificates and Awards
8.1. Certificates of Achievement will be given to all qualified participants and their coaches.
8.2 Individual medals will be given to team members who will win the following awards:
8.2.1 1st Place (Champion)
8.2.2 2nd Place
8.2.3 3rd Place
8.2.4 Trophies will be given to teams who will win the following awards:
8.2.4.1 1st Place
8.2.4.2 2nd Place
8.2.4.3 3rd Place

9.0 Complaints, Appeals, and Remedies
9.1 If irregularities or misconduct are observed during the contest, team members or coaches should bring them to the attention of the Contest Director immediately so that action may be taken as soon as possible.
9.2. The decision of the Board of Judges regarding awarding of prizes is final.

10. Minor Changes/ Corrections

10.1 Minor changes or corrections (if there any) to this document shall be announced before the start of the Contest Proper and shall be posted on notice boards within the Contest venue.

FOR YOUR GUIDANCE.

(Sgd.) Rafael P. Saldaña, Ph.D.
Contest Director
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
October 20, 2007