Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cs.columbia.edu!blair From: blair@cs.columbia.edu (Blair Seidler) Newsgroups: comp.org.acm Subject: Re: Yet another posting...:) Message-ID: <1991May2.221106.5618@cs.columbia.edu> Date: 2 May 91 22:11:06 GMT References: <91120.075856TAINT021@ysub.ysu.edu> <9105020134.AA29577@enuxha.eas.asu.edu> Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science Lines: 27 In article glenn@curie.ces.cwru.edu (Glenn Crocker) writes: >hurwitz@ENUXHA.EAS.ASU.EDU (Roger A. Hurwitz) writes: > > It may not be as much fun, but why not make > these things software design contests, and judge the contestants on the > quality of their designs? Or change the format to give contestants more > time and judge the implementations on the famous "ilities". > [ some cute comments deleted ] > >Seriously, how would you have these contests judged? Have the judges >each take an enormous amount of time to thoroughly read and understand >each team's entries, then have them vote on the winner? The current >contests take quite a bit of time to judge, so you'd have to decrease >the number of problems. My point is not that you're wrong, just that >what you want may not be possible at a contest with 100+ teams.... > At the finals of the ACM Programming Contest, the results aren't announced until the following day. That should be enough time to judge on whatever grounds are desired. The real problem is that it is much easier to use the objective (does it produce the correct output) judging procedure than the subjective (would a good programmer have organized this code this way). -- Blair A. Seidler Teaching Assistant, Department of Computer Science (212) 853-6874 Columbia University "Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science does not even know that my opinions exist, and would ignore them if it did."