Programming Competition

The Contest Rules (subject to change, please check this website occasionally)

1.    Each team must consist of one to three students currently enrolled at the high school they represent.
 
2.    One faculty advisor from each school must accompany the school’s team(s).
 
3.    Each team will be allowed to bring only ONE language reference book and scrap paper and pencils to use during the competition.

4.    Each team will be asked to solve the same set of problems. 

5.    Each team will submit problem solutions in the form of source code. Solutions will be stored in the team's folder on the St. Joseph's University server. Access to the team's folder will be granted at the beginning of the competition and will be revoked at the end of the competition.  

6.    Each team will be assigned an area where the members may work on algorithms and discuss problems.

7.    There will be no communication between the teams during the competition. Except in the case of an emergency, there will be no communication with the team’s faculty advisor. 

8.    All solutions must be coded using disk based text files for input. Programs output must be sent to the console output device and must strictly follow the format of the sample output provided with each question. 

9.    When a team considers a problem solved they will formally submit the program using the program PC^2. The judges will then grade the submission and return a message (with in a few minutes) indicating the correctness of the submission via PC^2. (The use of this program is described in the PC^2 Contestants Guide document, and will be reviewed at the pre-competition briefing). Incorrect solutions may be corrected and re-submitted.

10.    Any modifications of system parameters, including passwords, will result in disqualification. 

11.    No Internet or e-mail access is allowed during the competition, nor is the use of headphones, or cell phones, or any other electronic device.     No external storage devices (flash drives, CD’s, DVD's, etc) may be used during the competition. Violations will result in disqualification.

12.    The first, second and third place teams will receive awards; a team must submit at least one correct solution to be eligible for these awards. 
  
The Grading System

1.    The contest will consist of a set of problems. Although some problems are more difficult than others, from a grading viewpoint all problems carry equal weighting.

2.     A solution will be deemed correct if for any set of valid inputs, it produces the correct output. The input data set used by the judges to test the program will be different from the input data set used by the contestants.

3.    Only fully complete and valid solutions that are formally submitted will be credited to a team. 

4.    A 20 minute time penalty will be imposed for each incorrect submittal. 

5.    Teams will be ranked in the competition by the number of correct solution they submit to the judges. The team that submits the greatest number of correct solutions will be the winner of the competition. 

6.    In the case of ties, the team with the lowest total team time will be the winner.  Team time is the sum of the penalty times imposed for incorrect submittals (20 minutes per incorrect submittal), plus the time elapsed from the start of the competition until each correct problem solution was submitted to the judges. Thus if a team submitted two correct solutions at 50 and 150 minutes into the competition, and also submitted three incorrect solutions, their total team time would be 260 minutes.

7.    The decision of the judges will be final.

How to Enter a Team in the Competition

If you have not previously participated in the competition, send an email to [email protected] indicating your desire to do so.

The competition accepts a limited number of teams. Applications should be submitted in a response to an email sent to you from [email protected] in early April of the year of the competition.  It will contain instructions on how to enter teams into the completion. 

Please include:

• Name and phone number of the team’s high school.
• Name and email address of the faculty advisor that will accompany the team.
• Number of teams you would like to enter

A response to your application will be sent by email. 

Teams accepted into the competition must send a second email to [email protected] listing the addresses and names of the team members as they would like them to appear on the certificate of participation (maximum of three per team).

Faculty advisers are encouraged to work with a group of candidate team members. Although a maximum of three students may actually compete, others may work with the group prior to the competition and may serve as an alternate if needed. 

A school may enter more than one team. If the total number of teams entered exceeds the number we can accommodate, a team will be eliminated from the school, or schools, who have entered the most teams on an last-entered-first-out basis until the total number of teams is consistent with the number we can accommodate.

Competition Day Procedures

The day will begin with a registration period in the Business and Technology Center (BT) building, and end in the late afternoon after a post-completion awards ceremony. During the contest refreshments, WIFI access, and the competition scoreboard will be available to the faculty advisors in room 1-10 of the Business and Technology Center (BT) building. The schedule for the day is given below.

Competition Day (May 20, 2024) Schedule

10:45–11:30 a.m.: Registration (food available from 10:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) 

11:30 a.m.–12:10 p.m.: Meeting and system familiarization

12:15– 3:00 p.m.: Contest

3–3:30 p.m.: Head over to McGann for food, and final grading

3:30–4 p.m.: Awards

• Problem Set 2023
• Problem Set 2019
• Problem Set 2018
• Problem Set 2017
• Problem Set 2016
• Problem Set 2015
• Problem Set 2014
• Problem Set 2011
• Problem Set 2010
• Problem Set 2009
• Problem Set 2008
• Problem Set 2007
• Problem Set 2006
• Problem Set 2005
• Problem Set 2004

The following development environments will be available:

NetBeans Version 8 - Java (click for example)

It will run on a Windows PC platform. The documentation on the Java AP classes will not be available.

Each participant will receive a Certificate of Participation after the competition.

Trophies will be awarded to each school of the first, second and third place teams. The name of the winning school will be engraved (archived) on the competition trophy and the trophy will reside at the high school for the next academic year.

St. Joseph's University Greater New York Regional Computer Programming Competition

Your school is invited to participate in a programming competition:

Who?       A team of up to 3 high school students

When?     A Wednesday in mid May beginning with registration at 10:45 a.m. and ending after an awards ceremony at 4 p.m.

Where?   St. Joseph’s University Long Island Campus

How?      Enter a team into the mid May competition. See above for specific details, rules, and sample problems. Email questions to: [email protected].

Why?      Fun, prizes and academic challenge!

Contact your computer teacher for details!

2023 Jericho High School
Kenneth Lee, Jocelyn Wang, Weijie Li

2019 Stuyvesant High School
Sam Rosenstrauch, Ivan Galakhov, Ethan Morgan

2018 Jericho High School
Hammaad Khan, Jiahui Guo, Dennis Lo

2017 Ward Melville High School
Henry Nelson, Kyle Sferrazza, Andrew Kirillov

2016 Stuyvesant High School
Yicheng Wang, Dennis Yatunin, Charles Zhang

2015 Oceanside High School
Daniel Adler, Matthew Crocco, Michael Lucido

2014 Stuyvesant High School
Calvin Lee, Gideon Leeper, Philip Steinmann

2013 Stuyvesant High School
Benjamin Kurtovic, Joshua Hofing, Sebastian Conybeare

2012 Stuyvesant High School
Blake Elias, Vinay Mayar, Mikhail Ruddy

2011 Bethpage High School 
Jerry Kim, Agop Shirinian, Christopher Stratis

2010 Half Hollow Hills High School West
Levent Alpoge, Brandon Kessler, Alexander Mastrogiannis

2009 Bethpage High School 
Kyle Dayton, Stephen Kappel, Kevin Sackel

2008 Plainview Old Bethpage High School 
Michael Maxant, Theodore Tzanetos,  Daniel Weisz

2007 Half Hollow Hills High School East
Joshua Nackenson, Zachary Stolzenberg, Ryan Zelen

2006 Half Hollow Hills High School East
Zach Goldberg, George Leontiev, Ryan Zelen 

2005 Smithtown High School
Orie Alpern, Nick Gallo, Frank Scarfo

2004 Smithtown High School
Orie Alpern, Nick Gallo, Frank Scarfo

2003 Smithtown High School
Alec Berntson, Dan Friedman, Steven Melendez

2002 Longwood High School
 Timofei Gerasimov, Craig Pratka, John Zhao

2001 Ward Melville High School
Stephen Dawson-Haggerty, Sam Gambrell, Nathan Luryi