General Information
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ACM NorthEastern European Regional Contest, 1996-97 |
General Information
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ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM ICPC) is the annual international competition between teams from Universities all over the world. The contest has been held since 1977 by the organization ACM well-known in the world of computing. More than 1000 teams from the major universities took part in the championship of 1995-96. The contest consists of 2 stages. At the first stage teams participate in 20 Regional Contests all over the world. The winning teams of the Regional Contests are advanced to the contest Finals which will be held in the beginning of March, 1997 in conjunction with the ACM Computer Science Conference "ACM Computer Week". |
| Three Russian Universities - Moscow State University, St.Petersburg State University and St.Petersburg State Institute of Fine Mechanical and Optics (Technical University) have participated in the competitions of past two years. The most successful results were archived in the season of 1995-96. The team of SPbIFMO won the 1st place in the Northwestern European Regional Contest, the team from MSU - 3rd place in the Southwestern European Region and the team of SPbSU - 4th place in the Southeastern European Region. Teams from MSU and SPbIFMO were advanced to the Contest Finals where, among 43 best student teams, they solved 4 out of 7 problems. By the decision of the ACM, the new North-Eastern European Region (NEER) has been organized since 1996. NEER includes Russia and all former SU countries except the Ukraine and Moldova, participating in the South-Eastern European Regional Contest in Bucharest. In 1996 the Contest will take place at St.Petersburg State Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics - the main site and at Altai State Technical University (Barnaul city) - Siberian subregion for teams from Siberian Universities and Universities from far-eastern part of Russia. Internet network will be used to ensure participation of Siberian Universities in real time. Teams from the major Siberian Universities will be gathered in the federal node of the Russian Universities Network RUNNet at Barnaul and will be participating under observing the representatives of the Jury, which will specially arrive to Barnaul. The Contest is dated to the annual all-Russia computer exhibition INWEKOM'96, organized by RESTEC company. General coordination of the Contest is maintained by the first Vice-Minister of the Russian Ministry of Education professor A.N.Tihonov. |
| Contest rules are similar to the rules used in the Contest Finals of the ACM ICPC. Each team of 3 students will be given one computer to solve proposed problems (usually 5-7 problems) within 5 or 6 hours. Checking of solutions is made during the contest. A solution is accepted when it works correctly on the given set of tests (the time is although restricted). If a program fails, the Jury reports it to the team and adds a penalty time for each unsuccessful attempt. During the competition participants and observers have access to the preliminary results of all teams. Competition takes place on PCs with at least 4Mb of RAM, i386-i586 and MS DOS. Following programming systems are accepted: Borland C++ 3.1, Borland Pascal 7.0. The team which solved more problems than any other team is considered to be a winner. In case of equal number of solved problems, the team with the lowest penalty time wins. A penalty time is a sum of time of solving of each problem plus 20 minutes for each unsuccessful attempt for solved problem. |
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Each University may send to the contest one team. A team consists up to 3 students. The regulations demand that at least 2 students be undergraduate students (i.e. be the first-fourth years students). As an accompanying persons a Faculty Advisor, a team Coach and a Reserve Participant may arrive. Students who have competed in two Contest Finals are not eligible. Contestants are not required to be student members of the ACM in order to be eligible to compete in the regional contest. Note however that all Contest Finals contestants are required to be student members of ACM by February 1, 1997. A Faculty Advisor (a member of the faculty of the institution) must certify team eligibility on the Registration. Each team designates a Team Coach (preferably not a contestant) who will be a team representative and a point of contact before and during the Contest. Reserve participant may replace one of team members before the Registration. Due to the rules of St.Petersburg Local Contest, only 5 teams from St.Petersburg - the winners of the local contest (April, 20, 1996) - are eligible to participate in NEERC:
These teams are allowed to replace 1 participant only. It is required to get a permission from the Organizing Committee to replace two or more participants. The host Universities and the Universities, participated in the Contest Finals of 1995-96, may send to NEERC two teams (SPbIFMO, Altai State Technical University and Moscow State University). Any other University may send to NEERC more than one team in the only case if the Organizing Committee has free resources. The University must notify the organizing committee about willing to send the 2-nd, the 3-rd, ... team. The earlier the organizing committee will be notified, the more chances will be for extra teams to participate. Teams are expected to participate at a site assigned to their country. Teams from Europe are allowed to participate in other European Regional Contests. Requests to change the location must be sent to both Contest Directors in written form with explainig the reason of the change. If a University can send to the Contest more than one team, all of them must participate at the same Regional Contest. |
| The official competition language is English. Because most of the contestants of this region speak Russian, contest tasks will be given both in English and in Russian. Participants should be aware that the Contest Finals are held in English only. It is recommended to the Universities to consider student's level of English while selecting team members. |
| Internet network will be used to ensure participation of Siberian Universities in real time. Teams from major Siberian Universities will be gathered in the federal node of the Russian Universities Network RUNNet at Barnaul and will be participating under observing the representatives of the Jury, which will specially arrive to Barnaul. |
| Each TEAM must pay a registration fee of 650000 RUR (six hundred fifty thousand russian rubles) (about 120 USD). A team which has not paid the registration fee is not allowed to participate. Two forms of payment are accepted: 1) Transfer money to SPbIFMO rubles account (available for Russian teams only); 2) Cash in rubles paid at the Registration desk on December, 2. In case of transfer money to SPbIFMO account it will be required to present a copy of payment order at the registration desk on December, 2. |
| Each team must fill out the Application Form and send it until October, 20 by fax (preferred) or material mail. The Form must be signed by the Rector of the University and the Bookkeeper. As soon as the Organizing committee receives the Application Form, the team will be sent detailed rules, sample problems and other Contest Information. A decision about extra teams will be taken by November, 1. |
| Announcement of results and the award ceremony will take place on the day of the contest. Winners are awarded prizes and diplomas. Each team receives a participation certificate of the regional contest of ACM ICPC 1996-97. Both subregions (St.Petersburg and Barnaul) will have common results protocol. Additionally, the Russian champion and the champion of Siberian subregion will be awarded. According to the results of the contest two best teams are advanced to the Contest Finals, which will be held on March, 2 in San-Jose, CA, USA. Traditionally, ACM covers one half of travel and accommodation expenses for those teams. As a prize of our Regional Contest, we will try to provide all the rest expenses for these teams. |
| Accommodation in St.Petersburg and Barnaul is paid by contestants. You can find more information about accommodation possibilities on the Contest WWW-pages. Organizing Committee can provide accommodation in student apartments to ensure the lowest accommodation expenses. We can guarantee accommodation only if it is preliminary reserved. Please, send your accommodation requests by e-mail to:
In the e-mail letter you should put your names, the date of arrival/departure and requests to the price and accommodation conditions. |
| Solving old problems is a good training for participating teams. We can recommend two problem set archives:
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Director of Northeastern European Region
Vladimir G. Parfenov
The head of division of applied mathematics and physics, PhD,
professor of department of computer technology SPbIFMO
SPbIFMO, 14, Sablinskaya, St. Petersburg, 197101, department of
computer technology
E-mail: parfenov@cts.ifmo.ru
Tel: +7 (812) 238 8730, +7 (812) 238 8769
Fax: +7 (812) 232 7622
Director of Siberian subregion
Vitalij I. Beregovoj
Vice-rector of Altai State Technical University, Ph.D.
E-mail: BVI@altgate.altai.ru
Tel: (3852) 26-77-40, +7 (3852) 26-09-12
Fax: +7 (3852) 25-57-76
Head of the Jury
Anton A. Sukhanov
E-mail: root@anton.spb.ru
Tel: +7 (812) 238 8530
Fax: +7 (812) 232 7622
Secretary of the Organizing committee
Nina A. Rubina
E-mail: nina@cts.ifmo.ru
Tel: +7 (812) 238 8598
Fax: +7 (812) 232 7622
Director of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest
Dr. William B. Poucher
Baylor University
Department of Computer Science
P.O. Box 97356
Waco, TX 76798-7356
Email: poucher@acm.org
Tel: +1 (817) 755-3876
Fax: +1 (817) 755-3839
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| Please, send your Application Form before October, 20 by fax +7
(812) 232-76-22 or material mail with confirmation by e-mail
(root@anton.spb.ru).
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