Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message shortly, but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, so here goes.
We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules for penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. The rule that will apply is as follows:
Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you correctly solve (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each incorrect small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the alternative in beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, but due to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we realized that different people had been competing under different rules. We advanced the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in other words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty time rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the version in the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants had seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 contestants, and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative consequences for anyone.
Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the penalty rules based on the *last input* you correctly solve, instead of the *last small input* you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who liked the original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so we're changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) changing our Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not affect the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll agree that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
Things change and change, but the "dead" cannot come back to life.
As a Chinese student, my country and Vietnam have been both friends and enemies for many times (like Britain and France). When they fought, tens of thousands of soldiers died. But when they became friends again like now, those soldiers could not come back from graves. Had there really been a "Heaven", they would have been in a greater agnoy when they saw the two countries became reconciled than that when they died . So in China people sometimes say that don't become a soldier who devotes his life to "nothing".
Of course, GCJ is nothing political. But the change of rules really hurts!
Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message shortly, but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, so here goes.
We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules for penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. The rule that will apply is as follows:
Penalty Time = Total submission time of the last input you correctly solve (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each incorrect small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the alternative in beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, but due to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we realized that different people had been competing under different rules. We advanced the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in other words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty time rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the version in the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants had seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 contestants, and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative consequences for anyone.
Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the penalty rules based on the last input you correctly solve, instead of the last small input you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who liked the original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so we're changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) changing our Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not affect the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll agree that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
> Things change and change, but the "dead" cannot come back to life.
> As a Chinese student, my country and Vietnam have been both friends and enemies for many times (like Britain and France). When they fought, tens of thousands of soldiers died. But when they became friends again like now, those soldiers could not come back from graves. Had there really been a "Heaven", they would have been in a greater agnoy when they saw the two countries became reconciled than that when they died . So in China people sometimes say that don't become a soldier who devotes his life to "nothing".
> Of course, GCJ is nothing political. But the change of rules really hurts!
> Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message shortly, but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, so here goes.
> We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules for penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. The rule that will apply is as follows:
> Penalty Time = Total submission time of the last input you correctly solve (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each incorrect small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
> If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
> We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the alternative in beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, but due to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
> This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we realized that different people had been competing under different rules. We advanced the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in other words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty time rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the version in the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants had seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 contestants, and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative consequences for anyone.
> Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the penalty rules based on the last input you correctly solve, instead of the last small input you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who liked the original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so we're changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) changing our Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not affect the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
> Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll agree that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
> Things change and change, but the "dead" cannot come back to life.
> As a Chinese student, my country and Vietnam have been both friends and enemies for many times (like Britain and France). When they fought, tens of thousands of soldiers died. But when they became friends again like now, those soldiers could not come back from graves. Had there really been a "Heaven", they would have been in a greater agnoy when they saw the two countries became reconciled than that when they died . So in China people sometimes say that don't become a soldier who devotes his life to "nothing".
> Of course, GCJ is nothing political. But the change of rules really hurts!
> Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message shortly, but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, so here goes.
> We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules for penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. The rule that will apply is as follows:
> Penalty Time = Total submission time of the last input you correctly solve (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each incorrect small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
> If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
> We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the alternative in beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, but due to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
> This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we realized that different people had been competing under different rules. We advanced the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in other words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty time rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the version in the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants had seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 contestants, and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative consequences for anyone.
> Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the penalty rules based on the last input you correctly solve, instead of the last small input you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who liked the original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so we're changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) changing our Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not affect the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
> Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll agree that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
> Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message shortly,
> but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, so here
> goes.
> We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules for
> penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. The
> rule that will apply is as follows:
> Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you correctly solve
> (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each incorrect
> small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
> If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
> We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the alternative in
> beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, but due
> to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
> This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we realized
> that different people had been competing under different rules. We advanced
> the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in other
> words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty time
> rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the version in
> the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants had
> seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 contestants,
> and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative consequences
> for anyone.
> Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the penalty
> rules based on the *last input* you correctly solve, instead of the *last
> small input* you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who liked the
> original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so we're
> changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) changing our
> Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not affect
> the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
> Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll agree
> that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
> > Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you correctly solve + ...
> The word "Total" seems be lacked in the "Final Penalty Time Rules"
> stated in the code jam front page?
> On 8月1日, 上午7时08分, "Bartholomew Furrow" <fur...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Dear Code Jammers,
> > Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message shortly,
> > but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, so here
> > goes.
> > We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules for
> > penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. The
> > rule that will apply is as follows:
> > Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you correctly solve
> > (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each incorrect
> > small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
> > If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
> > We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the alternative in
> > beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, but due
> > to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
> > This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we realized
> > that different people had been competing under different rules. We advanced
> > the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in other
> > words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty time
> > rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the version in
> > the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants had
> > seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 contestants,
> > and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative consequences
> > for anyone.
> > Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the penalty
> > rules based on the *last input* you correctly solve, instead of the *last
> > small input* you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who liked the
> > original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so we're
> > changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) changing our
> > Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not affect
> > the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
> > Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll agree
> > that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
Why? "Total" would mean that the submission time for all problems/
inputs are summed up to get the total time. Otherwise, only the the
submission time for the last problem you solved in the end is
considered.
On 8月2日, 上午12时36分, "sumu...@gmail.com" <sumu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think the word "total" here doesn't really make sense... "submission
> time of the last [correct submission]" is precisely what they are
> using.
> On Aug 1, 10:26 am, xreborner <xrebor...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you correctly solve + ...
> > The word "Total" seems be lacked in the "Final Penalty Time Rules"
> > stated in the code jam front page?
> > On 8月1日, 上午7时08分, "Bartholomew Furrow" <fur...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Dear Code Jammers,
> > > Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message shortly,
> > > but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, so here
> > > goes.
> > > We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules for
> > > penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. The
> > > rule that will apply is as follows:
> > > Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you correctly solve
> > > (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each incorrect
> > > small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
> > > If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
> > > We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the alternative in
> > > beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, but due
> > > to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
> > > This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we realized
> > > that different people had been competing under different rules. We advanced
> > > the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in other
> > > words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty time
> > > rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the version in
> > > the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants had
> > > seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 contestants,
> > > and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative consequences
> > > for anyone.
> > > Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the penalty
> > > rules based on the *last input* you correctly solve, instead of the *last
> > > small input* you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who liked the
> > > original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so we're
> > > changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) changing our
> > > Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not affect
> > > the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
> > > Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll agree
> > > that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 1:04 AM, xreborner <xrebor...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Why? "Total" would mean that the submission time for all problems/ > inputs are summed up to get the total time. Otherwise, only the the > submission time for the last problem you solved in the end is > considered.
> On 8月2日, 上午12时36分, "sumu...@gmail.com" <sumu...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I think the word "total" here doesn't really make sense... "submission > > time of the last [correct submission]" is precisely what they are > > using.
> > On Aug 1, 10:26 am, xreborner <xrebor...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you > correctly solve + ...
> > > The word "Total" seems be lacked in the "Final Penalty Time Rules" > > > stated in the code jam front page?
> > > On 8月1日, 上午7时08分, "Bartholomew Furrow" <fur...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Dear Code Jammers,
> > > > Those of you who qualified for Round 2 should receive this message > shortly, > > > > but I wanted to set up a natural avenue for response and discussion, > so here > > > > goes.
> > > > We wanted to let you know that we have officially changed the rules > for > > > > penalty time in Google Code Jam back to what we originally intended. > The > > > > rule that will apply is as follows:
> > > > Penalty Time = Total submission time of the *last input* you > correctly solve > > > > (time is measured from start of contest) + four minutes for each > incorrect > > > > small submission (only for small inputs you eventually solve)
> > > > If you're interested in the reasons why we made this change, read on.
> > > > We had planned to use this rule all along, after testing the > alternative in > > > > beta contests. We implemented it in our code and altered our rules, > but due > > > > to a transcription error we didn't change our Terms and Conditions.
> > > > This inconsistency was pointed out to us after Round 1A, and we > realized > > > > that different people had been competing under different rules. We > advanced > > > > the top 840 people from both versions of the rule (848 in total): in > other > > > > words, if you would have advanced under either version of the penalty > time > > > > rule, you advanced to Round 2. After Round 1A we switched to the > version in > > > > the Terms & Conditions, since that was the one page all contestants > had > > > > seen. Aside from a slight increase in the number of Round 2 > contestants, > > > > and of course some confusion, our error did not cause negative > consequences > > > > for anyone.
> > > > Since Round 1 ended, we have confirmed that we are able to use the > penalty > > > > rules based on the *last input* you correctly solve, instead of the > *last > > > > small input* you correctly solve. We heard from many of you who > liked the > > > > original rules better, and the Code Jam engineering team agreed; so > we're > > > > changing our code back, changing our rules back, and (finally!) > changing our > > > > Terms & Conditions. This change is not retroactive, so it does not > affect > > > > the scoring for any rounds that have already taken place.
> > > > Sorry for the two quick changes to the penalty rules; we hope you'll > agree > > > > that this final decision will make the contest better for everyone.
