Society for the Discontinuation of Game On

[chalker]

Again, this is all very helpful. I think it's time to point out the general process for getting a new event, and solicit some of this energy and passion I see in this thread to be applied to it. The process is as follows:

1. Write up draft rules using the template available here: http://soinc.org/sites/default/files/up ... 21-15.docx
2. Circulate the rules amongst people like myself who are intimately familiar with SO for feedback
3. Submit the rules to regional and state tournament directors and ask that they try it out as a trial event. It really helps if you have supporting resources / documentation / etc to help event supervisors out.
4. Once several states have tried it, state directors will submit it to the national committees for testing at the national tournament
5. once we pilot it at nationals, it can get placed into the rotation as a regular event

Note this process can take several years. I'm happy to help with many of the steps, but really need someone to take the lead with the first few steps.

[iwonder]

I'd be more than happy to write the rules up if you (or anyone, really) could help with soliciting regional/state directors to try it out. At present I only know 2 of them

[samlan16]

Does anyone think this will be worse than Pentathlon?

Nowhere near as bad, but bad enough that one could rip off the name of this forum from the Society for the Discontinuation of Pentathlon.

[patil215]

I'd be more than happy to write the rules up if you (or anyone, really) could help with soliciting regional/state directors to try it out. At present I only know 2 of them

I'd love to help you draft some rules. Message me if you'd be willing to collaborate.

[TwelveSquared]

If I may add my experiences with KSU's Programming Contest:

It's similar to iwonder's version of the contest, but with a slightly different design and purpose: the day is divided into 5 rounds, with a single problem per round. Two-person teams have ~30 minutes to write a program from scratch in a language of their choosing(we used C++, but most used Java/Python/etc). Each problem normally involves a significant amount of thought to solve, but only requires <50 lines of code to execute. When a team completes the task, they call over one of the proctors, who will have them run the program, and will dictate a number to enter. If the program outputs the right number for 5 of these inputs, they've completed that round. Teams are scored based from how long it took them to write the solution, faster the better.

There are a few things here that should probably be avoided by SciOly, but a few positive things as well:

-It rewards speed over competency, which I don't think is favorable for our theoretical CS event. A good programmer isn't necessarily defined by how fast they can write code, but rather how effectively they can solve problems. So i think an SO event ought to focus more on CS theory, which iwonder already pointed out.

-It proves that, while grading by a machine is more optimal, it's also certainly possible for it to be done by a human, even one who isn't a computer wizard.

Hope this helps.

I'd be more than happy to write the rules up if you (or anyone, really) could help with soliciting regional/state directors to try it out. At present I only know 2 of them

I'd love to help with this- PM me if you need a third man.

[balsa]

i concur, I believe game on to be exceedingly puerile, while Fermi teaches the valuable scientific skill of

[jonpao523]

I love the discussion of making a new event that was going on in this thread, but it seems like it's died out recently. Is anyone here actually working on putting together a concept for a Programming Problem Solving event or planning on doing it over the summer? If so, I'd love to help in any way possible; if not, I suppose I will get started on it!

[samlan16]

I love the discussion of making a new event that was going on in this thread, but it seems like it's died out recently. Is anyone here actually working on putting together a concept for a Programming Problem Solving event or planning on doing it over the summer? If so, I'd love to help in any way possible; if not, I suppose I will get started on it!

Do you know anyone qualified to be national supervisor of the event? If so, someone needs to get in touch with him or her to get the ball rolling. I personally do not know too much about programming events, but I could help write provisional rules if needed.

[chalker]

Do you know anyone qualified to be national supervisor of the event? If so, someone needs to get in touch with him or her to get the ball rolling. I personally do not know too much about programming events, but I could help write provisional rules if needed.

Just to clarify, there doesn't need to be someone identified as a 'national supervisor' for a new event. Anyone can take up the mantle and lead the effort at this point.

[jonpao523]

I love the discussion of making a new event that was going on in this thread, but it seems like it's died out recently. Is anyone here actually working on putting together a concept for a Programming Problem Solving event or planning on doing it over the summer? If so, I'd love to help in any way possible; if not, I suppose I will get started on it!

Do you know anyone qualified to be national supervisor of the event? If so, someone needs to get in touch with him or her to get the ball rolling. I personally do not know too much about programming events, but I could help write provisional rules if needed.

I know a couple people, but I haven't personally reached out to them and I doubt that any of them would be willing to do it given how busy they are. Also, I feel like crowdsourcing the ideas for this event would show to NSO that the event we are making is backed by the science olympiad community.

On a slightly different note, here's my current idea on how such an event could be run. It would be two parts - one being a written test on general compsci topics (stuff like syntax, boolean algebra, and programming concepts that would give the competitors specific things to study while also giving the proctor room to write tests based on what they know best) and the other being questions meant to be solved with code. This can be problems like UIL Compsci test or Project Euler, and the score is based off of both how many problems are solved correctly and how efficient the code is (i.e. how many lines of code). That way, there is something for both partners to work on, assuming this is a 2 person event. Those are just some really rough ideas that have been floating around in my head recently; what does scioly think? Also, do you think formulating this new event justifies making a new thread?