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From: shebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: programming contest for beginners? - (nf)
Message-ID: <4866@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Aug-87 11:03:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: utah-cs.4866
Posted: Wed Aug 26 11:03:43 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Aug-87 04:21:47 EDT
References: <18100004@infbs.UUCP> <4873@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: shebs@cs.utah.edu.UUCP (Stanley Shebs)
Organization: PASS Research Group
Lines: 16

We have a sort of a programming contest in our ug/grad expert systems class.
For about the last half of the quarter, the students work on an rule-based
system to steer a robot rover around a simulated Titan (a moon of Saturn)
landscape.  Sort of like Rog-O-Matic, but the simulator is designed to
be somewhat more friendly to deal with.  Anyway, at the end of the quarter,
we have an elimination-style tournament (complete with pizza), in which
four rovers compete at a time (i.e. in the same simulation, so they have to
race for samples and maybe zap each other).  The prizes are t-shirts.
It takes all afternoon, but is quite exciting, what with students cheering
for their rovers, watching them fall off cliffs, wander in circles, and try
to collect samples of themselves!  Definitely the highlight of an otherwise
grueling class...  Of course, the official grading of this project is done
individually and separately, so the competition is strictly for fun.

							stan shebs
							shebs@cs.utah.edu