Braindead. That's how I was during the programming round of the GigaHertz Competition at NTU. As if it's not bad enough, my other 2 team-mates were also dumbfounded. Of course, I shook it off instantly and we worked on our codes. But there was a big problem: We couldn't get our program to save the output to a text file. Maybe I should just give you an example of the question.
A group of soldiers wanted to cross to the other side of the wall. To do that, they had to go through a tunnel vent. Consider the followings:
i) The first 2 numbers of the input data are the length and breadth of the vent.
ii) The soldiers are shaped as rectangles, with the last 2 numbers of the input data as their length and breadth.
If the soldier can fit into the vent, data output must be "Yes". Else, data output must be "No".
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Example:
[Input]
12835 3992 2742 5560
21893 3329 2210 3103
9320 15829 5284 13057
38573 28464 17475 18364
19475 29475 13975 31048
[Output]
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
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Simple? Yes, of course. But try doing it using only your brain when given 50 outputs. That wasn't so bad as I found out. Easily scored 200 points for that. But this question also has a second part for 400 points. To create the output of 300 inputs. That was when I started my tedious task of doing it slowly. Took 30 mins for that, and got 400 points and a pair of teary eyes to show for it. Even my group leader was impressed. Since then, I was labelled as the "Human Super-Computer".
At least the food was great. A big buffet for all. And also try-outs with the X-Box consoles they set up over there. All in all, I had a great experience and exposure during the competition. Will be looking forward to GigaHertz 2004. This time, I'll be ready.
When the competition was over, I realised I was late to meet up with a friend for a job interview. Taking a cab was a sensible decision. $15 from NTU to Redhill. But we got the job alright. So currently, 2 jobs in hand: The Subscription Promoter @ Orchard and a freelancer CD-R retailer. Both commission-based. Will be starting tomorrow. What a month I'll be having.
*Ponders*
Whoa.