Round 2 End && Dataset problems

There were a couple of problems with the dataset used to judge the submissions. In Question 2 I temporary forgot how to add numbers together, making the maximum possible score be 4/5. For Question 3, there was a mistake in describing the sample, and propagated itself into the test data. If the disconnect between the intend of the question and the data was not bad enough, the nature of the output made it so that any extra (or missing) line would shift all the answers by one.

Think of it as filling out a multiple-choice test on a scan-card, but by accident, you start filling in the answers from line 2, thinking it was line 1. It was that kind of bad. As discussed on the forums, a proper as intended solution should have scored 1/5 + partial points for most of the 2nd set. Though some teams managed to score more by coding at the data rather than at the intend...

I suppose I should have foreseen having problems, when the Starbucks employees told me to stop working on the questions and go home at 1am. A discussion with a friend illustrates the situation well:

• s.n.: it's insane, I haven't slept more than 6 hours a night
• Tony: oh, so that's no different from a typical Waterloo term
• s.n.: :)
• Tony: I'm on my 2nd set of triple expresso shots, it was a horrible idea
• s.n.: hahaha yeah, do NOT do that. Ever again.

Somehow, I've been managing to avoid having cardiovascular problems in my 20s.

Otherwise Round 2 went well. The improvements to the judge's marking speed were a huge success, crushing out scores for 151 submitting teams.

I don't feel like naming any particular top spots, as the scores were close, and the problems with the 3rd question have introduced quite a bit of variation. Still, it's the kind of teams/schools one would typically expect to see at the top based on the previous rounds.

There were a couple of schools new to the top 10 list that I wanted to point out though -- Lisgar Collegiate Institute and SATEC @ W. A. Porter C. I.. The latter has a school website that is absolutely unusable with JavaScript turned off. Someone from the No Pseudo Fishing team should let their school know about Web Accessibility (unobtrusive javascript in particular) and security. This little rant aside, congradulations.

Now if you excuse me, I need to go pass out. Any comments could be emailed to me or discussed on the forums.