University of Chicago Practice Contests
Participating in a UChicago Practice Contest
The University of Chicago holds ICPC-style 5-hour practice contests most weekends (typically Saturday mornings) in preparation for the ICPC World Finals. The contests are run with PC^2, and we are happy to include other ICPC teams in these practice contests. All you will need is the PC^2 client, and an account on our system.
ICPC teams interested in participating in the UChicago Practice Contests should contact Borja Sotomayor to set up an account on our PC^2 system.
Setting up PC^2
To participate in an ICPC practice contest, you will need to install PC^2 and point it to our server. Please follow these instructions:
- Download PC^2 9.2.1.
- Un-tar the file. This will create a "pc2-9.2.1" directory. In this directory, edit the pc2v9.ini file and, in section [client], set the server option to the following value:
willow.cs.uchicago.edu:50002
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Start the team client by running the following:
./bin/pc2team
- Enter the username and password provided to you by the UChicago team.
- If you are unfamiliar with PC^2, you may want to read the Team Guide.
During the practice contest
While the practice contest is in progress, we will be hanging out in the #uchicago-icpc channel on the Freenode IRC network. If you run into any trouble during the contest, please let us know there.
Problem sets
Problem sets are composed of problems from ICPC regionals around the world. We have the following site-specific rules and judging criteria:
- Regardless of what is specified in the original handout, solutions must always read from standard input and write to standard output.
- "Time Limit Exceeded" judgements will be given to solutions that run for more than 120 seconds.
The problem set for a practice contest is posted online a few minutes before the start of the contest. We will send out an e-mail to all participants with a link to the handout. Upon request, we can also send the handout further in advance to a team's coach so that he/she can print several copies in advance, and place them in a sealed envelope so the contestants will not see them until the contest starts
After the practice contest, we will also post the test cases and, if available, solutions to the problems.