Regulations

SWERC follows the ICPC regional contest rules.

Eligibility

The SWERC eligibility criteria are those outlined in the regional contest rules. In particular, all contestants must satisfy the 2022 eligibility requirements. 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).

Contest material

What you will be provided

Each team will have a desk. On each desk there will be a computer equipped with keyboard and mouse (see environment) and some paper (the contestants can ask for more paper if needed).

All teams that handed in a Team Reference Document (see notebook) during the registration on Thursday or Friday, will find it on their desk for the practice session and for the contest. After the end of the contest on Sunday, the teams should collect their notebooks.

Each team will receive water and some snacks.

What you can bring

You can and should bring writing instruments to the contest area (pens, pencils, eraser, pencil sharpener, etc.).

Each team member may bring an unannotated natural language printed dictionary.

Contestants are allowed to bring mascots (e.g., stuffed toy, party hat, talisman, small totem) or small objects (e.g., dice, protractor, ruler, keychain).

If you need any other item, please contact us in advance to ask.

All items brought by contestants (writing instruments, dictionaries, small objects) must be brought to the contest area for the practice session on Saturday and must remain there overnight from Saturday to Sunday. No new items will be accepted in the contest area on Sunday.

What you cannot bring

Contestants may not bring any printed materials or machine-readable versions of software or data to the contest area.

Contestants may not bring any kind of paper (or equivalent writing material) to the contest area, we will provide all the necessary paper.

Contestants may not bring their own computers, mobile phones, calculators, mice, keyboards, or other electronic devices to the Contest Area.

Custom keyboard layout

Contestants are not permitted to bring their own keyboard. On the other hand, 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.

Notebook

Each team can 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 and team 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.

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.

Programming languages

To solve the problems of SWERC you can use the programming languages: C, C++, Java, Kotlin, Python (see environment). The judges guarantee that all the problems appearing in the contest can be solved both in C++ and Java.

Scoring

The scoring rules are the ones described in the 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 tie-breaking rule is used: 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.

Behavior during the contest

During the contest, contestants should spend the vast majority of the time sitting at their desk. It is allowed to briefly walk around (remaining close to the team's desk) without asking for permission. Contestants must ask for permission to go to the toilet.

Whenever contestants leave their team's desk, they cannot take any writing instrument or material (e.g., pencil, pen, paper) and they cannot communicate with any member of another team. Contestants can bring with them the problem statements when they leave their team's desk.

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. The rules pertaining to the number of teams that may be sent by each institution are described on the registration page.

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.

COVID-19

Currently, there are no restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as things might change in the future, please keep up to date with the potential policy changes.