Programming Contest

[Sidoh]

I was just thinking today that it'd be kinda cool if we had a friendly and informal programming contest amongst ourselves.  We could all come up with what we'd work on, but it would, of course, have to be something where we could develop a meaningful way to measure programs against each other.  For example, the time it takes to complete a case, number of cases solved per minute, or if it's an AI for a game or something, maybe we could do a tournament.

We could even do a series of programs or something.

Here are some ideas:

Sudoku solver
AI for simple games (ie, checkers, othello, etc)
Captcha solving
Anagrams
Automated theorem prover

Would anyone be interested in this?  I think it'd be fun!

[Blaze]

I like the first two ideas, and would totally submit an entry.  :)

[Chavo]

Interested, but won't have the time until May :P

[Sidoh]

Cool!  I'd be interested in doing a project over break, so if we get enough people interested in this, I'd love to get the plans rolling!

Any other suggestions?  I think the two Blaze said he was interested in would work really well.  We might want to reserve the AI until more people can participate.

[Blaze]

Captcha solving would be fun, too!  :)

[Sidoh]

Oh yeah, that's a great idea.  I'll add it to the list.

[Blaze]

Or, for even more of a challenge, make a captcha that is solved by the fewest other people that is legible at least 70% of the time.  First round, people make Captcha Generators, second round we try to solve everyone elses (with at least a 25% success rate) (or as many as you can)!  :)

[Sidoh]

Ah, that's a cool idea.  I think I'd have to go for something less ambitious for winter break, but I think that'd be really fun over summer or next semester if I have free time (lolololol).

[warz]

I don't recall the name of it right now, but there's a 'game' where you program your own robot thing to do battles with others. The robots run on some game framework, but I think you program the AI and stuff. That could be fun.

[iago]

ooh, I want to write an anagram solver!

That is to say, I already wrote one that's totally awesomely fast. :)

[MyndFyre]

I don't recall the name of it right now, but there's a 'game' where you program your own robot thing to do battles with others. The robots run on some game framework, but I think you program the AI and stuff. That could be fun.

Microsoft Robotics Studio?

[Chavo]

AI for battlebots? That takes all the fun out of it!!

[Warrior]

It would not be a contest if I participated. I will keep it fair to everyone and stay out of this one.

[warz]

I don't recall the name of it right now, but there's a 'game' where you program your own robot thing to do battles with others. The robots run on some game framework, but I think you program the AI and stuff. That could be fun.

Microsoft Robotics Studio?

Well, no, it wasn't a MS thing.

[nslay]

I was just thinking today that it'd be kinda cool if we had a friendly and informal programming contest amongst ourselves.  We could all come up with what we'd work on, but it would, of course, have to be something where we could develop a meaningful way to measure programs against each other.  For example, the time it takes to complete a case, number of cases solved per minute, or if it's an AI for a game or something, maybe we could do a tournament.

We could even do a series of programs or something.

Here are some ideas:

Sudoku solver
AI for simple games (ie, checkers, othello, etc)
Captcha solving
Anagrams
Automated theorem prover

Would anyone be interested in this?  I think it'd be fun!

Probably shouldn't pick projects that could be PhD thesis topics.  I think the most reasonable projects you suggested are "AI for simple games" or "Anagrams".  Everything else is masters/PhD level work.