1996 Competition Questionnaire

We received 55 responses to our questionnaire (competitors must be tired of answering the same old questions). There were less complaints about the food - we must be doing something right. There were complaints about the keyboards and mice however. The 486s are showing their age a little. (Some comments didn't put it quite so politely.) However, playing with the internet on the Pentium machines was popular. Some figured that there should be bonus points for the informatically challanged and we're considering the idea.

The early start on Sunday was not popular. We'll see if we can start at 10AM next year and finish the prize giving at 5.00PM. I.e. the timetable would be

10AM - 3PM competition session
4PM  - 5PM prize-giving

This obviously depends on getting the marking program to work faster.

Some other things that were liked

The refreshments during the competition (thanks to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company for the 200 cans - hopefully Mars will sponsor us next year, so Monsieur Cotter can save a trip to the SuperMarket).
Meeting other programmers and the atmosphere.
"Knowing that I'm not the saddest person in the universe"
The easy questions, 1A and 2A.
The Challenge.

Things that weren't liked

The fact that wrong filenames or saving the wrong version results in zero marks.
"The guy in the wierd green blazer" - Who on earth could that have been?
The incorrect test cases for problem B. These were however marked again.
Lack of girls (maybe you should let your sister use your computer)
"5 hours is too long"
"5 hours is too short"
Questions 1C and 2C