Hi, Great contest! I participate for quite a few times already. I found some questions in the qualification round harder this year than previous ones.
Anyway, I was just checking http://www.go-hero.net/jam/14/unknown which shows the unidentified submissions in the qualification round. It seems that some people have submitted by mistake the input file or twice the output file, as their code. Fortunately, this has never happened to me before. But I guess it might happen to me and to many other people as well. This has minor influence when considering the qualification round, but it might have a bigger effect in more advanced rounds. And the point is, that it seems quite easily preventable. Just an idea/suggestion if you don't mind to consider: The submission system could check both files submitted. If it recognizes the output file is assigned as the source, it can simply switch between the source and the output automatically. Also, Since the input file is known, it can verify that the source code is different than the input file. If they are the same, it might notify the contestant that his/her source code is probably wrong. A short signature can be added in the first line of both input files and output files, so the submission system knows immediately if some input file is submitted (even inputs for other problems), or if an output file is submitted to the source. This way, the response from the system can be more informative than just Correct (even if the source code is not the right file) or just Incorrect (even if the files are merely switched). Thus, people who were correct are less likely to fail due to an unimportant(?) mistake. Thanks for organizing this contest. It is awesome! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Code Jam" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/google-code/40924f32-9e5a-4fc6-bda2-05d746d5517f%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
