The 2006-2007 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest

Sponsored by IBM

SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE REGION

Bucharest,  October 19-22, 2006

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering from the POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest had the honor to organize the 2006-2007 ACM Southeastern European Regional Programming Contest. There were 43 programming teams registered, from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Israel, Moldova, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine.

In the Southeastern European Region 43 teams were accepted from 31 universities and 7 countries.

Unfortunately three teams (Technical University of Moldova, University of Nis and Sarajevo School of Science & Technology) could not participate to the contest.

The judge team has proposed 9 problems to be solved in the contest during the 5 hours.

The first place was awarded to:

with 8 problems solved and a penalty of 1215 points.

The second place was awarded to:

with 7 problems solved and a penalty of 814 points.

The third place was awarded to:

with 7 problems solved and a penalty of 826  points.

The programming languages of the Regional Contest are Java and C/C++, while the available IDEs will be Visual C++ Express, Java Creator LE and Eclipse.

Some statistics

The set of problems was considered to be difficult enough according to the contest’s level.

The computers the contest was run on were IBM-PCs Pentium 4, interconnected through a network and running Linux and Windows XP. They were provided by FORTE Business Services. 

The site of the contest was the “Rectorat” building of the POLITEHNICA University.

The evaluation of the results and the scoring were based on the Personal Computer Programming Contest program (PC²), developed at the Computer Science Department, Sacramento, California State University. The use of PC² allowed a smooth run of the contest and facilitated the activity of judges and runners.

The 40 teams totaled a number of 170 students (including coaches and reserves). There were more than 10 staff members and more than 64 volunteers who contributed to the organization and run of the contest.

The first three teams received prizes sent by IBM Canada, IBM Roamnia and S&T Software.

Also the judges and contest management team received presents from IBM.

Contest Schedule

Thursday October 19th - Arrival and Hotel Check-in

12:00 - 20:00  Teams arrive and Hotel Check-in

 Friday October 20th - Contestants Meeting

08:00 - 12:00  Teams arrival and Registration

14:00 - 14:30  Opening Ceremony, AN 010 - Building „Rectorat”

·                        Nicolae Ţăpuş, Contest Director

·                        Ecaterina Andronescu Rector of POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest

·                        Martin Menzel Program & Technology Manager ISV  Developer Relations CEMAAS, IBM

·                        Gheorghe Marian, ViceRector of POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest

·                        Mihai Popescu, ViceRector of POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest

·                        Ion Ivan, General Director of Research and Education Ministry

·                        Laurentiu Oftez, Customers Sales Manager, IBM Romania

·                        Lorina Negreanu, Chief Judge

·                        Cristian Giumale, Judge

14:30 - 15:00  Break

15:00 - 16:00  Briefing with faculty advisors, students and volunteers

·                        Reviewing of the rules

·                        Introduction to the practice session

16:00 - 18:00  Practice Session

18:00 - 21:00  Bucharest Walking Tour

 Saturday October 21st – The Big Day! Contest

09:00 - 09:30  Check-in at contest site

09:15 - 09:30  Briefing with faculty advisors

10:00 - 15:00  CONTEST

19:00     Award Ceremony, Banquet

Sunday October 22nd Sightseeing day

08:00     Sightseeing Tour

The contest budget was raised using funds from IBM and local contributors. FORTE Business Services has provided the hardware infrastructure and technical support.

Ministry of National Education through POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest helped us with the accommodation for Romanian Students.

The companies: S&T Software, REL Computer, CISCO Romania, Microsoft Romania, UTI Systems, ORACLE, JVM Tehnologic, Coca Cola contributed with financial support.

Participation in the contest was free of charge. Also, the buffets, the banquet, and the tour of Bucharest City and Castel Bran were free of charge for the teams.

Upon registration, each participant received a contest folder containing: a contest badge, a set of the contest rules, a contestant's guide for PC², a timetable and a T-Shirt. During the Award Ceremony, Certificates of Participation or Recognition was given to all participants and volunteers. Everybody was very excited upon receiving the certificates, especially the volunteers, thus proving that the ACM idea of offering certificates was highly appreciated.

The day before the Opening Ceremony, IBM Romania organized a press conference, in NOVOTEL hotel, attended by more than 35 journalists from the Romanian mass-media. Many press releases were issued, both before and after the contest. Several newspapers published announcements or presentations of the event. National Romanian Broadcast companies transmitted information about the contest in their main news program.

         The members of the Steering Committee were:

·                     Nicolae Ţăpuş,

Contest Director, Head of the Computer Science and Engineering Department

·                     Ecaterina Andronescu,

Rector of  “Politehnica” University of Bucharest

·                     Martin Menzel,

Program & Technology Manager ISV & Developer Relations CEMAAS,IBM

·                     Ion Ivan

General Director of Research and Education Ministry

·                     Dumitru Popescu

Dean of the Computer Science and Automation Faculty

·                     Marian Gheorghe

Vice Rector of "Politehnica" University                                 

·                     Mihai Popescu

Vice Rector of "Politehnica" University                                 

·                     Laurentiu Oftez

Director System Sales Manager of IBM Romania

·                     Lorina Negreanu

Chief Judge of the Contest

            The members of the judging team were:

            We would also like to express our thanks to ACM and to IBM Corporation, FORTE Business Services for providing us with the hardware infrastructure, to the to the Romanian Chapter of ACM, to POLITEHNICA University, and to the local contributors: S&T Software, REL Computer, CISCO Romania, Microsoft Romania, UTI Systems, ORACLE, JVM Tehnologic, Coca Cola for their generous support for the ACM Southeastern European Regional Programming Contest.

            Our thanks also go to Mr. Laurentiu Oftez and Ms. Sofia Zainea from IBM Romania, and Cristian Constantinescu from FORTE Business Services, Victor Gradinescu from S&T Software, Aurel Stanescu from REL Computers for their continuous support to the developing of the contest in excellent conditions.

            We want to thank to the network management team lead by Razvan Rughinis and Bogdan Sass and contest Software support lead by Razvan Deaconescu from the Computer Science and Engineering Department of Politehnica University.

            Last, but not least, we would like to thank all the volunteers who helped run and organize the contest. Special thanks to Cosmin Stan and Anca Hamuraru, chief organizers.

            Without the help of all these people and organizations, it would have been impossible to make this event happen.

I want address special thanks to Marsha Poucher for continuous help and to Debbie Kilbride and John Clevenger.

            As proposal, the next  edition of the ACM Southeastern Europe Regional Programming Contest will be held at the Computer Science and Engineering Dept., “POLITEHNICA” University of Bucharest, ROMANIA. 

The decision of site for Southeastern Europe Region for next edition will be taken by Contest Headquarter in March 2007.

Prof. Nicolae Tapus

Regional Contest Director

Rank of the ACM Southeastern Europe Region 2006