Regulations
SWERC follows the ACM-ICPC regional contest rules.
Eligibility
The SWERC eligibility criteria are those outlined in the regional contest rules. In particular, all contestants must satisfy the 2018 eligibility decision tree. Contestants must be students registered at a university in the SWERC region, and must be able to prove this fact (with a student card, a proof of enrollment, or some other official document). Of course, participants and coaches do not need to be ACM members, nor do they need to sponsor the SWERC contest (except for the registration fee).
Contest material
SWERC follows the rules of the world finals. Specifically:
Contestants may not bring any printed materials or machine-readable versions of software or data to the Contest Area. Contestants may not bring their own computers, computer terminals, calculators, or other electronic devices to the Contest Area.
In particular, following the rules of the world finals, contestants are not permitted to bring custom keyboards; contestants may only use the keyboard which is provided to them (see environment). Teams who wish to use a different layout are allowed to put stickers on the keyboards that we provide. In this case, they must bring their own stickers, set them up during the practice or contest, and they must remove the stickers at the end and return the keyboard in its initial state, without any stickers or glue stains.
We allow teams to have a Team Reference Document (also called "notebook") following the world final regulations:
This document may contain up to 25 pages of reference materials, single-sided, letter or A4 size, with pages numbered in the upper right-hand corner and your university name printed in the upper left-hand corner. Text and illustrations must be readable by a person with correctable eyesight without magnification from a distance of 1/2 meter. It may include hand-written comments and corrections on the fronts of pages only.
For SWERC, the Team Reference Document should indicate your team name next to your university name. If a team has a Team Reference Document, then each team member may bring an exact, printed copy of the document. These printed copies must be printed by the team in advance: they cannot be printed on-site. The pages of each copy of the Team Reference Document should be stapled together (i.e., no loose sheets). The printed copies must be provided on Friday or Saturday at registration. The printed copies will be made available during the Practice Session and during the Contest, and can be collected by the contestants at the end of the contest. You can refer to the preparation instructions for indications about what the notebook can be used for.
As in the world finals, dictionaries are allowed. These dictionaries must be provided on Friday or Saturday at registration. Specifically:
Each team member may bring an unannotated natural language printed dictionary.
As in previous years, teams are allowed to bring mascots such as stuffed toy animals or party hats. They can also bring personal items as described in the world final regulations:
Examples are dice, protractor, rulers, small totems.
If you need any other item, please contact us to ask (see email address in footer).
Team members are requested to bring their own writing instruments to the contest floor (pens, pencils, eraser, pencil sharpener, etc.). However, they may not bring any writing materials (paper, etc.) to the contest floor: all paper will be provided by us. During the contest, all writing instruments and writing material must remain on the team's desk; team members are not permitted to take any writing instrument or writing material with them when they temporarily leave their desk during the contest.
All items brought by contestants and not provided at registration (writing instruments, personal items, mascots, etc.) must be brought on the contest floor for the practice session on Saturday and must remain there overnight from Saturday to Sunday. No new items will be accepted on the contest floor on Sunday.
Programming languages
The main programming languages of SWERC are C/C++ and Java. In addition, the contestants have the option of using Python. Prior to the competition, the judges will have solved all problems in C/C++, Java, and Python.
Scoring
The scoring rules are the ones described in the ACM-ICPC regional contest rules. We clarify that the total time of teams is measured in minutes (not seconds).
In case there is a tie, the following local tie-breaking rule is used (from the SWERC 2016 page): If two teams solve the same number of problems and have the same total time, the team that first submitted its last accepted problem is ranked higher. In case a tie still remains, the team that first submitted its second-last accepted problem is ranked higher, and so on. In the event that this does not resolve the tie, the ranks will be determined by chance.
Team composition
All teams who want to participate have to follow the registration procedure and pay the registration fee in advance, as described in the registration page. Teams must also check-in physically at the registration desk at the time indicated on the schedule or be disqualified. (We may arrange for your team to register earlier than the times indicated on the schedule: if you need this, please contact us in advance.) Following the regional contest rules, all team members must attend all contest activities unless an exemption has been granted to them by the contest organizers: otherwise the team risks automatic disqualification and forfeiture of any scholarships and prizes. The coach must be at least available by phone during contest activities, and it is strongly recommended that the coach attends the contest events along with participants.
Registration is open to institutions from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Israel. By special request teams from other countries may be allowed to participate in this region. Further, as per the regional contest rules:
An institution may send contestants to only one regional contest in a given year.
The rules pertaining to the number of teams that may be sent by each institution are described on the registration page.
Code of conduct
We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, or religion (or lack thereof). We do not tolerate harassment of SWERC participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate during SWERC, including talks, contests, and social events. Participants violating these rules may be expelled from SWERC without a refund at the discretion of the organizers.
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a SWERC organizer (they can be identified by their blue T-shirts and badges).
(The SWERC code of conduct is inspired by Conference Code of Conduct.)
Insurance and expenses
The SWERC organizers do not cover the accommodation, transportation, and other expenses of participating teams.
Each team should make sure that they have appropriate insurance (e.g., against accidents or diseases) to participate to SWERC. Insurance is the responsibility of the teams, not of SWERC organizers.
SWERC organizers do not accept any responsibility for the personal belongings of participants at the contest venue. In particular, contestants should be aware that some belongings, such as electronic devices, cannot be taken to the contest area (see contest material). Contestants are advised to leave such items under the responsibility of a trusted party (e.g., the team coach), or not to bring them at the contest venue altogether.
Intellectual property
The SWERC organizers do not assert copyright on any code written at SWERC, and do not require SWERC competitors or coaches to license their code in any specific way. Solutions submitted by SWERC contestants will not be distributed to third parties without the consent of their authors.
Likewise, in Team Reference Documents, we allow contestants to use third-party code that they have not written, including copyrighted code; and we allow them to use this code in their solutions to SWERC problems. However, it is the responsibility of contestants to ensure that their use of third-party code in Team Reference Documents and in SWERC solutions is compliant with any copyright requirements that apply to this third-party code. SWERC organizers accept no responsibility for any legal consequences arising from such use.
