SIGN-UP: Text Compression/Decompression Contest

**RoD** · 09-29-2002

i want in : )

**skyruler54** · 09-29-2002

I am in..not sure how to do this yet...but should be fun..

**RoD** · 09-30-2002

i'm a newb but its supposed to be a challenge right!

**ygfperson** · 09-30-2002

Originally posted by Ride -or- Die
i'm a newb but its supposed to be a challenge right!

depends on your definition of a challenge...

basically, you write up a program that inputs text data (ie: words made of letters, maybe a hyphen, punctuation, spaces, newlines, and numbers) and outputs compressed data.

WARNING: when handling data with a byte value of 13 or 10 (carriage return and line feed) it may cause things to mess up on some systems. i know this from experience with my huffman compression program i wrote a while ago. whenever possible, try to write and read in binary mode.

i've added master5001 as a judge (which means no more judging positions) and all those who requested to be contestants as contestants.

remember, you can submit your stuff; or look over the contest info at http://contests.cprogramming.com/

Note: all judges must be competent in C and C++.
Note: the Creativity criteria counts double.

you're under no obligation. you don't have to send in anything, although i would like it. send stuff in even if you're not finished, or not sure it will go up against the others.

**Sentaku senshi** · 10-01-2002

Quick question. does the file have to be decompresable?

**Cshot** · 10-01-2002

Umm all right, sign me up. I'll whip out something real quick.

*** thinks to self:
void main()
{
goto compress;
....

**ygfperson** · 10-01-2002

Originally posted by Sentaku senshi
Quick question. does the file have to be decompresable?

yes. the compression must also be lossless; (ie: all data must be recovered intact).

you must provide some way of decompressing the file you compressed in your program.

**Cshot** · 10-01-2002

>> you must provide some way of decompressing the file you compressed in your program.

Oh, so we're supposed to code up a decompression routine also? But the creativity and efficiency of the decompression has no part on the score right?

**Sang-drax** · 10-01-2002

I made a text compression program about a year ago.

It is highly unportable though (written using DLLs, with a GUI written in Borland C++ Builder)

Is such highly specialized code permitted?

However, I guess it would it be cheating to participate with code made over a year ago.

**ygfperson** · 10-01-2002

Originally posted by Cshot
>> you must provide some way of decompressing the file you compressed in your program.

Oh, so we're supposed to code up a decompression routine also? But the creativity and efficiency of the decompression has no part on the score right?

efficiency, yes, creativity, probably not.

what good is a compression program when it can't decompress?

Is such highly specialized code permitted?

depends...

you cannot use any uncommon, 3rd party libraries. you can use code you have written before at any time. using DLL's will wreck your portability score. and there's the issue of actually compiling the program...

please don't send it that entry. though it's legal, chances are such an entry would get a low score.

**RoD** · 10-01-2002

i'm in , lets have some fun

**ygfperson** · 10-02-2002

yep. let's.

reminder that the thing is due a week from tomorrow, or October 10.

**BMJ** · 10-04-2002

Waaaaaaaait! *hold hand up*

I want to be a contestant too!

**ygfperson** · 10-04-2002

you're added, BMJ.

just a note: you can sign up at any time until the contest ends. even if you don't sign up, you can still submit something and have it be valid. i just prefer you sign up so i have an idea on how many people are participating.