dyalogaplcompetition.com : Dyalog APL Problem Solving Competition 2015

Organization : Dyalog
Competition Name : APL Problem Solving Competition 2015
Applicable For : Students
Competition Last Date : July 16th, 2015

Website : http://www.dyalogaplcompetition.com/

APL Problem Solving Competition 2015:
Use the APL programming language and your problem solving skills to compete for cash prizes and a paid trip to the annual Dyalog user meeting in Sicily, Italy.

Don’t know APL? Don’t worry! Most of the winners of previous competitions were new to APL yet quickly learned enough to submit excellent entries.

Eligibility:
The competition is open to applicants everywhere.

However, to claim the cash prizes applicants must be able to prove full-time primary, secondary, college or graduate enrollment. You can be on a sabbatical as long as you will be returning to full-time student status within a year.

Prizes:
Grand prize:
$2,500 cash prize and an invitation to attend the 2015 Dyalog user meeting (to be held in Sicily, Italy from September 6-10, 2015). At the user meeting the winner will receive their prize and have the opportunity to present their winning work. Travel costs up to $3,500 plus $500 for incidental expenses and all user meeting fees will be provided by Dyalog.

Second prize:
$1,250 cash prize

Third prize:
$750 cash prize

Phase I prizes:
The top 20 Phase I participants will each receive a $100 cash prize.

Phase II participation prizes:
20 participants who submit entries for Phase II of the competition will be selected to receive a $100 cash prize.

Non-student prize:
One non-student participant will win a complimentary registration to Dyalog’15.

Judging and eligibility:
While anyone is welcome to participate in the competition, only verified full-time students are eligible to win any of the 43 cash prizes and trip to the Dyalog user conference.

Phase I and Phase II count for 1/3 and 2/3 respectively of the judging for the Grand, Second and Third place prizes. The competition judging committee will determine the finalists, provided that they are eligible to win and have adhered to the competition rules.

Important dates:
July 16 – Competition closes. All submissions must be complete by this date.
Week of August 3 – The 43 winners of the competition contacted
September 6-10 – Dyalog user meeting in Sicily, Italy

Joining the competition is as easy as…

Step 1: Sign up
Sign up for the challenge or log in using your Student Competitions account.

Step 2: Download the APL software
Dyalog provides an educational licence, free of charge, to all those in full time education. Apply for an educational licence here.

When applying for a licence, you need to specify the operating system that you’ll be using; the options are Microsoft Windows or Linux. However, for the first time this year Dyalog can also be run on a Mac. If you want to use Dyalog on a Mac, then please state in the “Other Comments” section of the application that you need the Mac version.

Note: You need OS X Yosemite operating system on the Mac for Dyalog to run (it won’t run on an iPad or older OS X).

This is the first release of the Mac version of Dyalog and it’s still in Beta testing. There’s currently no documentation. In addition, Dyalog on the Mac is Dyalog version 14.1 – this is also still in Beta testing and documentation for the functionality introduced at 14.1 is incomplete.

Step 3: Complete Phase I
In Phase I of the competition you will be introduced to APL as you tackle 10 small problems that can each be solved using a single line of APL code. Sound easy? Start the challenge to find out! You can download a copy of the Phase I problem descriptions here. (Or hone your APL skills before you get started!)

Step 4: APL Phase II
Things start to heat up in Phase II. Here you will be challenged with a set of problems of varying complexity. You’ll code your solutions and upload a file containing the code. You can download the Phase II questions here before you get started.

You will need the following files in order to solve the Phase II problems and submit your solution:
** Contest2015.dws – the Phase II workspace
** Contest2015.dyalog – the Phase II UTF-8 template file

Step 5: Wait for your results!
On August 10th the winners of the competition will be announced on the competition website.

Entry conditions:
** All applicants must submit to the terms and conditions as stated by Student Competitions.
** Applicants can only compete with one entry in the competition. However, each applicant is able to modify their solutions and solution file for each of the two phases of the competition.
** Applicants must apply individually.
** Applicants must provide truthful and accurate information regarding contact and personal information.
** All entry material should be presented and submitted in English.
** Applicants must ensure that all solutions and answers were produced and owned by the applicant.
** We cannot be held responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to the website after the competition is over, your submission and its contents may be used at the discretion of competition organizers.
** Only entries that are duly received by the closing date will be eligible for the judging. We cannot accept responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed or damaged. Proof of sending an online entry is not proof that we received it.
** Entries not submitted in accordance with these terms and all other rules and directions, or entries that are incomplete or illegible (at the sole discretion of the competition organizers) will be excluded from the competition.

Contact:
If you have a question to do with entering the APL Problem Solving Competition, and the answer is not given on this page, then please send an e-mail to dyalog_apl@StudentCompetitions.com.