1. RE: $100.00 Programming Contest
- Posted by "C. K. Lester" <cklester at yahoo.com> Mar 01, 2002
- 491 views
I hope nobody gets mad when I win all $100... > At the request of an anonymous donor, > we are going to have an official Programming Contest, > with $100 of MicroEconomy money for prizes.
2. RE: $100.00 Programming Contest
- Posted by "C. K. Lester" <cklester at yahoo.com> Mar 01, 2002
- 441 views
euman at bellsouth.net wrote: > You need to read the docs on this first CK. > > You cant enter but one contest. It's not stated specifically anywhere that this is the case. Rob, if I can't enter each contest, you need to make that provision more obvious! :) Thanks! ck P.S. Don't make me create extra emails just to trick all you people. P.P.S. I'm just kiddin' in that P.S. comment. :P
3. RE: $100.00 Programming Contest
- Posted by "C. K. Lester" <cklester at yahoo.com> Mar 01, 2002
- 467 views
euman at bellsouth.net wrote: > hmmm, the hard one > > Will this text file have white spaces or is it compact Well, you've gotta be able to differentiate between words, dontcha? So, I'm expecting white space. Euman, don't even bother entering the contest. I'm going to win. LOL. Just playin' wit' you guys. BTW! I'm announcing my own contest soon!!!
4. RE: $100.00 Programming Contest
- Posted by "C. K. Lester" <cklester at yahoo.com> Mar 01, 2002
- 446 views
Derek Parnell wrote: > I read this in the website > "Contestants may only enter one of the three contests below." > > Sounds kinda specific to me. That's very specific! I guess I missed it. :) Thanks, Derek!
5. RE: $100.00 Programming Contest
- Posted by Andy Serpa <renegade at earthling.net> Mar 01, 2002
- 458 views
>> I don't think the length of a sentence matters very much, > but I was thinking of testing competing programs on a > variety of inputs, from one to 5 typical length sentences. > It depends on how good the programs are. > I used to solve these sorts of ciphers by hand when I was a kid. If the input is too small, it will be nearly impossible for any program to do a good job (it would need a fairly sophisticated grammer analyzer), because the letter frequencies will basically be random. You need at the minimum a fairly large paragraph. I would recommend in the judging you use a big block of text, a somewhat big block of text, medium, medium-small, and small; or something like that. Even the smallest one should have 20 words or so, and the big one at least 500. Otherwise you won't be judging programming ability at all, but luck. And each block could be given a "percentage of correct words" (a subjective judgement might be: can a reasonable person READ this text even if a letter is off here or there) score, with an average taken of the five blocks so that the small (hardest) block is has the same weight as the big block. Highest average score wins. A system like that will also probably be subtle enough to negate the chance of a tie. (Unless a few people get 100% on everything, in which case speed is a reasonable tie-breaker.) Another judging system might be start with a big block, if the program gets 100% (or at least 90%, which any decent program should on a big block), then keep making it smaller until it fails. Whoever's program can handle the smallest block wins. In any case, I think some real thought should be put into how this is going to work. I think in the interest of fairness you give us a half-decent idea of the length and form of the input, and just exactly how it will be judged (after some due consideration). But I think a strict # of words correct is flawed because the bigger the block of text, the easier the task -- it would be weighted in the wrong direction that way... People keep talking about words, but substitution ciphers are about letters. If e=m, then e=m for all words in the input. So you don't need to figure out each individual word, just enough of them so you can make a reasonable decision on what letter equals what. If you could please clarify the rules on what external libraries or modules we are allowed? No .dlls, I assume? But we can use the 50,000 dictionary, I gather. What about Wordnet, or some other external database?
6. RE: $100.00 Programming Contest
- Posted by Andy Serpa <renegade at earthling.net> Mar 01, 2002
- 446 views
I just thought of something else: why judge the words at all? Just judge the solution to the cipher with a score of 1 to 26 (assuming all 26 letters appeared in the block, which they probably wouldn't for a small one)....