Overview  |   How to Compete  |   Rules  |   Active Challenges

How To Compete

Registration
In order to compete in an NSA Marathon event, one must first register. One may register at any time during the two-week submission phase. In order to register, you will need to click Register next to the appropriate event within the Active Challenges list and agree to the rules of the event. Once registered, you may view the problem statement by clicking the Problem Name from within the Active Challenges list. Problem statements will be made available to all TopCoder members once the competition starts. Registration is not required to view them.

Problem Statements
During the challenge, the types of problems and the associated scoring mechanism will vary for each problem. A description of the scoring mechanism will be provided in each problem statement. Competitors will have to understand the scoring mechanism in order to effectively compete. The problems will be designed such that a perfect solution may be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. This allows for competitors to work throughout the challenge to continually and competetitively improve their submissions. Each problem in the event series may have different memory usage constraints, processing time constraints, and scoring criteria. These specifics will be outlined in the problem statement form for each event in the series.

Submitting Solutions
All members registered for a specific NSA event will see a Submit option for that event. Clicking the Submit link will take you to a page that will allow you to paste in a solution, select the proper language and either submit (for compilation and testing) or save your code. When the Submit button is selected, the code will be immediately compiled. Any compilation messages or errors will be shown in the Messages Area. If the compilation was successful, the submission will then be placed on a queue for automated testing. When a submission has been processed, you will receive an email indicating such and your place in the standings will be adjusted accordingly. During the submission phase, overall ranking and preliminary score are the only pieces of information that will be made available. A given competitor will only be allowed to submit once every 2 hours - other than that there are no restrictions on the number of submissions that each competitor may perform.

Clicking the Test Examples button will immediately compile and place your submission on a queue for automated testing of just the example test cases. Detailed feedback will be made available when the tests are complete, including processing time, score, and any output from the program. Competitors may submit test examples once every 15 minutes. The competitor's rank and overall score will not be updated.

In this event, all competitors are encouraged to improve their solutions and resubmit iteratively throughout the two weeks of the submission phase. The most recent submission is always the one that counts, so if you make a submission that does not score as well as a prior submission, the most recent will still be the one that counts in the standings.

Languages

• C++
• Java
• VB.net
• C#
• Python

Note: The language must be appropriately selected on the submission screen.

Hardware
Each compiler/tester has the following specifications:

• Two single core 3.6GHz 2MB L2 Cache Intel Xeon (Irwindale) Processors
• 4 GB RAM

Viewing Match Standings
At any time during an NSA event, TopCoder members may view the latest standings of that event. This will show the current score (for the latest submission) for each member who has registered for that event, their rank, and the number of submissions they have performed during the event. Clicking on the submission count will display the date, time, and point-in-time score of each submission for a given participant. Note that some events may use "relative scoring", where scores are based upon how submissions perform in comparison to other competitors. Point-in-time scores are not retroactively updated as a result of this scoring mechanism.

Match results
Once the submission phase of NSA event has ended, system testing will begin. During System Testing each competitors' submission will be run through a suite of system test cases--typically many more than the regular tests during the submission phase--and assigned a score based on the rules outlined in the problem statement. Only this final score will be used in determining the results of each match.

Once system testing is complete, the final results will become available by clicking the Results link. Competitors will be able to see the test cases, other competitors' submissions, and the testing results.

Competitors will have 24 hours from the end of the system testing phase of each event to submit any scoring appeals. All appeals must be submitted to service@topcoder.com in order to be considered. Prize winners will be notified via email at the conclusion of the appeals period for each event.

Competition Series Schedule

Schedule
Competition	Registration	Deadline
Competition 1	December 2, 2009 13:00 GMC/UTC -5	December 16, 2009 13:00 GMC/UTC -5
Competition 2	December 28, 2009 13:00 GMC/UTC -5	January 11, 2010 13:00 GMC/UTC -5
Competition 3	January 30, 2010 13:00 GMC/UTC -5	February 2, 2010 13:00 GMC/UTC -5
Competition 4	February 17, 2010 13:00 GMC/UTC -5	March 3, 2010 13:00 GMC/UTC -5

Prizes
The prizes for each of the events will have the following structure and will be only for US Citizens:

Place	Prize
1st Place	$1,500
2nd Place	$750
3rd Place	$400
4th Place	$250
5th Place	$100

Placement will always be dependant on final score at the end of each event. The rules for calculating final score will be specific to each problem and outlined within the problem statement of each series event.

Forums
Competitors should regularly check the forum associated with that specific series event during the length of the submission phase. Any issue resolution or problem clarifications will be posted to this forum. It is the responsibility of each competitor to check for any information or updates in this forum during the length of each event. A forum will be created for each event in the NSA series.