[Trial]Contest 1 - VB (.NET & Legacy) - Prime Numbers

[Ex-FB]

Here's a humble suggestion.... instead of using timings as a measure of winning, how about having a competition between different programs in a sort of playoff.

For example. The problem could be to guide a robot around a randomly generated maze shooting at other player robots, or a game of Othello/Reversi, where programs play each other in a leauge.

Of course both of these would require some intermediary code (provided as part of the challenge) that would provide as an interface, and maybe a standard file format (which should be easy to set up) that this intermediary code could read and a standard output file that it would write back, ready for the next turn.

But I'm sure given the resources available here you'd have no end of volunteers for such a project.

Just a thought.. :)

[Electroman]

Posted by Ex-FB
Here's a humble suggestion.... instead of using timings as a measure of winning, how about having a competition between different programs in a sort of playoff.

For example. The problem could be to guide a robot around a randomly generated maze shooting at other player robots, or a game of Othello/Reversi, where programs play each other in a leauge.

Of course both of these would require some intermediary code (provided as part of the challenge) that would provide as an interface, and maybe a standard file format (which should be easy to set up) that this intermediary code could read and a standard output file that it would write back, ready for the next turn.

But I'm sure given the resources available here you'd have no end of volunteers for such a project.

Just a thought.. :) That actually plays on what we have for the next one :eek:. Mind the pitting the entries against each other isn't in it, would be a good idea for a future one though, will make a note :D.

[NoteMe]

Originally posted by Ex-FB
:p Don't worry, It doesn't really bother me too much. I'm guessing that maybe the person who asked you was one of the people who tested my executable :)


Well I must admitt that I have tested most of the guys code...and I know that you are not the only one that was on this thought....One guy actulay told me that he thought it was my idea beacause one of the first posts I had in this thread....the one with all the primes lined up in 4 coloums......;)

[Ex-FB]

Originally posted by NoteMe
Well I must admitt that I have tested most of the guys code...and I know that you are not the only one that was on this thought....One guy actulay told me that he thought it was my idea beacause one of the first posts I had in this thread....the one with all the primes lined up in 4 coloums......;)

:p Not to worry. I still have plenty more ace's up my sleeve ;)

[Ex-FB]

Originally posted by NoteMe
Well I must admitt that I have tested most of the guys code...and I know that you are not the only one that was on this thought....One guy actulay told me that he thought it was my idea beacause one of the first posts I had in this thread....the one with all the primes lined up in 4 coloums......;)

P.S. Did anyone get faster than mine?

[NoteMe]

Originally posted by Ex-FB
P.S. Did anyone get faster than mine?


Well I didn't look at all of them...but you where the fastest of the ones I tested...but you where also the one that I tested that added most primes to one line...;)...

[EricDalnas]

I feel like the timeline for this contest was a little too long...

[Merri]

Yeah, a week less would have been fine for this simple project. Of course there is a chance for people who haven't yet noticed this thing and would like to join, but still... quite long. If one wanted to, he could really perfect the prime number finding. And of course, even the most brain injured is able to find out a fast algorithm :D

[wossname]

Originally posted by Merri
And of course, even the most brain injured is able to find out a fast algorithm :D

Yeah, Bodwad has already submitted his entry. :lol:




j/k pal.

[manavo11]

Originally posted by Merri
And of course, even the most brain injured is able to find out a fast algorithm :D

Stop it :cry: :cry: :cry:

[BodwadUK]

I need to resubmit :D

[Merri]

Aw, darn, still five days to go :(

Have everyone submitted their work so the contest could be ended earlier? :D

[NotLKH]

yep!
Darn Listbox has sapped all my motivation.
:(

[BodwadUK]

not yet:)

[Slaine]

Not submitted mine yet - still tweaking

[Ex-FB]

Gotta find time to go back and change it in line with the new rules.

Don't know if I will have the time to do it though.... busy busy busy.

[Ex-FB]

Well, had a quick hack at it, don't have time to waste on it making it any faster, wasted to much time already. It's done and dusted.

Cheers.

[NotLKH]

the time is now 24 September, GMT - 5, 7:30 PM.
tickticktick..

:wave:

[Merri]

The time is now 25th September, GMT +2, 2:35 AM

Tick to you too :D

[Merri]

Two hours to go until the deadline! :D


And no, I haven't been staying awake all night because of waiting the results, I've had a week off and I messed my sleep rhythm so bad I have to stay awake long enough to fix it enough!

[wossname]

I'm going to wait until 0.2 milliseconds before the deadline to submit my final prog :D :lol:

[Pino]

Ok everybody the contest is now over :)

Hope you all got your entries in on time!

We will get the marks to you as soon as possible

[NoteMe]

Will the "time" for the app be published all at the same time, or will you add one and one and one...after you have tested it...that would be soooo much more fun...then maybe add the score for sexy ness afterwards...;)

Ohhh and DON'T let HeMan test my code....his computer ****s ups my algo way beyound the infinity...

[RobDog888]

When can we expect the result(s) to be posted?

Will you be posting the config of the "Test" machine used too?

[ntg]

Final revised project, VB.Net 2002. :wave:

Cheers,
NTG

[Acidic]

Originally posted by ntg
Final revised project, VB.Net 2002. :wave:

Cheers,
NTG

read the other threads on how to post the code

[ntg]

Originally posted by Acidic
read the other threads on how to post the code
I've posted for the contest already, just sharing some refinements.

Cheers,
NTG

[NotLKH]

Originally posted by ntg
I've posted for the contest already, just sharing some refinements.

Cheers,
NTG

Did I do something wrong?

according to you
' From Nth prime formula we know that the 1000 primes are below 7920.


Assuming you are reffering to "The Prime Number Theorem: approximating pi(x)" as seen on this page:

http://www.utm.edu/research/primes/howmany.shtml

The formula:

Consequence One: You can Approximate pi(x) with x/(log x - 1)

{Where log is actually the natural log, or ln}


seems to return 992.836 approximate primes below 7920.

So It would seem you can't know for a fact that there are 1000 primes below 7920, if you are using this formula.


:wave:
-Lou

[alkatran]

Originally posted by Electroman
That actually plays on what we have for the next one :eek:. Mind the pitting the entries against each other isn't in it, would be a good idea for a future one though, will make a note :D.

How would they interact?? :confused:

Oh, I know, you could have us all design a module which has a "main" function that you (with a small bit of coding) call with all the input data form the main loop. The output would be "move, shoot" etc.

I WANT IN ON THAT ONE!

In fact you should make movies of them fighting... muahaha

[Ex-FB]

Originally posted by alkatran
How would they interact?? :confused:

Oh, I know, you could have us all design a module which has a "main" function that you (with a small bit of coding) call with all the input data form the main loop. The output would be "move, shoot" etc.

I WANT IN ON THAT ONE!

In fact you should make movies of them fighting... muahaha

Exactly.... That would be a blast!

[RobDog888]

Even if we were to start in on that idea for the next contest, it
would take too long for it to be ready. I dont want to wait
months for the next contest. Maybe somewhere down the road.

Any other ideas for the next contest?

[Merri]

Maybe the fastest method of showing numbers 1 to 1000 in the listbox so that each item would be individual.

Nah, that'd be completely uncool. Anything related to timing controls you can't really change is uncool :D

Anyways, I'd recommend something simple, yet challenging. Pretty much like this prime numbers contest (a little harder though). Too bad these are rather hard to come up with... I didn't even have knowledge on prime numbers before this contest, I had heard something about them sometime before, but completely forgotten about them. And I can't come up with anything similar. The only related thing would be "count the first 1000 decimals of PI". Actually, that might be even hard to come up with... I have no idea at the moment how I'd start coding that!

There are something that could be done, more useful (as said by someone else already). Like, make a control that does something. Then this control would be rated by its useability, the quality of the code and overall feeling.

Atleast came up with some suggestions :)

[Pino]

Originally posted by RobDog888
Even if we were to start in on that idea for the next contest, it
would take too long for it to be ready. I dont want to wait
months for the next contest. Maybe somewhere down the road.

Any other ideas for the next contest?

its almost ready for you all to start ;)

[NotLKH]

Think you can give us an ETA on the results?

:wave:

[RobDog888]

I think that the next contest should be something that is
not too involved and something that requires the contestant to
think and be unique. Something that is not a search google and
copy and paste some code and then modify it a bit and call it
done. Also it should be a shorter deadline.

[Ex-FB]

Yeah, the whole timing thing is very difficult when you are measuring in milliseconds. if it was another timed one, I think it would have to be in the magnitude of minutes to calculate to make it measurable.

After all, if you time the prime generator individually you get wildly random results, if you stick the calc in a loop 1,000 times and average it out, you always get a much smaller number than all of the other individual timings because of the on-board processor cache which stores it after the first loop, so you can't even use that method....

As for the previous idea about programs interacting, you could do it in stages. Have a maze solving algorithm as the first comp, which avoids other players, then release the best ones for the next comp so people all start from the same point, then add guns, or multiple bots/tanks/whatever you want in the maze etc.
You could keep progressing it until you almost had an AI game engine.

As for othewr challenges, how about the best remake of an 80's arcade game (people can choose what they want to remake (Pacman, Space invaders, Asteroids etc.)) This would involve a number of different programming skills and would be quite fun for everyone after the comp to play around with.

Or how about a competition to make the most fun card game or one armed bandit.

Just some more random thoughts.

[Merri]

Hey, this contest did take time to think. Atleast for me. I didn't take a look to any previous algorithms until I already had about done my contest entry. I now know I ended up in using a method invented by someone else a looong time ago - in a slightly optimized manner.

[NoteMe]

Originally posted by Merri
Maybe the fastest method of showing numbers 1 to 1000 in the listbox so that each item would be individual.

Nah, that'd be completely uncool. Anything related to timing controls you can't really change is uncool :D

Anyways, I'd recommend something simple, yet challenging. Pretty much like this prime numbers contest (a little harder though). Too bad these are rather hard to come up with... I didn't even have knowledge on prime numbers before this contest, I had heard something about them sometime before, but completely forgotten about them. And I can't come up with anything similar. The only related thing would be "count the first 1000 decimals of PI". Actually, that might be even hard to come up with... I have no idea at the moment how I'd start coding that!

There are something that could be done, more useful (as said by someone else already). Like, make a control that does something. Then this control would be rated by its useability, the quality of the code and overall feeling.

Atleast came up with some suggestions :)

What about the "fibernatch numbers" (SP?) or the 100000 first desimales of the natural number e...;)

[Merri]

Those say completely nothing to me at the moment, so they sound real good :D

[RobDog888]

I'm not saying that. I'm trying to say that if we didn't have the
alogorithums out there what would people do. Yes, it still takes
talent to do whatever you did to make it so fast, but I was
focusing on the general consensous that everyone searched for
the best alogorithum and used that. What if everyone had to
come up with their own? Then the competition would not have
been to the millisecond and would be a little more spread out
based on creative concept and code.

[NoteMe]

Well there is an algorithm for everything...

[Merri]

Actually, I did include some other creative parts to my prime numbers project too. I made it show some "nice" animation generated by the prime numbers, added some minor extra useability stuff for using pleasure :)

Did you already forget it wasn't only about the speed of the code? ;)

[RobDog888]

No I didn't forget. I didn't even use a published concept on generating
primes. I used common sense approach even though it was a
little slower than yours. So I am counting on originality and
simplicity. I only used a few lines of code. I only used the number
2 and that was all. At first I had a progressbar and some stuff in
it but that was WAY to slow.

I had too much work to do so I couldnt spend allot of time on it
and thats why I almost didnt make the deadline. Now that I have
the time to think about it, I could have added code to add to the
listbox in the main loop instead of looping twice. :(

[Ex-FB]

Originally posted by RobDog888
I'm not saying that. I'm trying to say that if we didn't have the
alogorithums out there what would people do. Yes, it still takes
talent to do whatever you did to make it so fast, but I was
focusing on the general consensous that everyone searched for
the best alogorithum and used that. What if everyone had to
come up with their own? Then the competition would not have
been to the millisecond and would be a little more spread out
based on creative concept and code.

Er, actually the only bit of knowledge I used was that if a number has a divisor, then one of them must be prime. I didn't find an algorithm that matched mine until after I had worked it out myself.... :p

[Merri]

I didn't even use a published concept on generating
primes.

Neither did I. There is no exact concept of what I did. The way I did it was that I used the extended common sense I have ;)

Btw. I just got one more idea for optimization! Aw darn! Why did I get it NOW?

[ntg]

Originally posted by NotLKH
Did I do something wrong?



Assuming you are reffering to "The Prime Number Theorem: approximating pi(x)" as seen on this page:

http://www.utm.edu/research/primes/howmany.shtml

The formula:

Consequence One: You can Approximate pi(x) with x/(log x - 1)

{Where log is actually the natural log, or ln}


seems to return 992.836 approximate primes below 7920.

So It would seem you can't know for a fact that there are 1000 primes below 7920, if you are using this formula.


:wave:
-Lou
Right. I found something here (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimeCountingFunction.html) initially and clicking away I came up to a web that provided another formula, can't seem to find it now though :rolleyes: so I stand corrected. My initial source could be ammended to use a different number, but that may not be necessary considering that the values of pi(x) are pre-calculated and widely published on the net.

Cheers,
NTG

[RobDog888]

Yes, extended common sense. I have it to. This is what the contest
should be based on. Not published mathematical alogorithums. :)

Guess we should see what alogs everyone used before we (I)
make any more judgements. :D

I used no division/multiplication or anything of a higher
mathematical operator.

Can't wait to see the results.

[manavo11]

Well, it makes sence to not just have contests on just mathematical algos that everyone can already find cause they are all over the net... Just keep in mind that it's the begining and this was kind of a "test" contest to see how everything goes :)

[RobDog888]

I have that in mind. I hope for the next contest we keep on the
same lines of something that will appeal to a wide range of
members.

Any word on the progress of evaluating the entries is going?

:)

[manavo11]

One of the things that needs working out. I hope/believe it will be sorted tomorrow (or later, however it is for everyone) :)

[RobDog888]

Thanks for the update manavo11.

[manavo11]

Originally posted by RobDog888
Thanks for the update manavo11.

NP :)

[Electroman]

Yea sorry for the delay, I was hoping to get the the next contest released Sat'day after the last one ended but I've been really busy and didn't even get time to log in :(.

I will create the new thread for it by the end of the day and I can also tell you that it won't invlove any timing at all ;) :D.

[RobDog888]

I got a good suggestion for another contest - GUI Design. Give
a list of required controls and basic functions for a form and have
the contestants come up with the control layout and program the
functionality? Totally creative, now one can copy, winner can be
judged on functionality and design. How about that?

[NotLKH]

Well,
did I miss something?
Who Won?

http://www.vbforums.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=1797398

[alkatran]

Originally posted by RobDog888
I got a good suggestion for another contest - GUI Design. Give
a list of required controls and basic functions for a form and have
the contestants come up with the control layout and program the
functionality? Totally creative, now one can copy, winner can be
judged on functionality and design. How about that?

That's an interesting idea. I do love taking bad interfaces and shining them over. It's good times!

[NotLKH]

NoteMe's entry has 900+ Views?
Already??

So, Most Viewcounts is the winner???


:wave:

[Ex-FB]

Just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who ran this competition.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. :thumb:

[NotLKH]

lol!
NoteMe's loopy!

:D

HOW HIGH IS HE GOING!!!

:p

[Electroman]

Posted by NotLKH
lol!
NoteMe's loopy!

:D

HOW HIGH IS HE GOING!!!

:p I think he has his browser stuck on that window and is using a refresh plugin, mind he claims he isn't :).

[Electroman]

You may notice I've just created the thread for the next contest :D.

[cyborg]

I would also like to thank you for hosting thins contest! It's really fun!

Who won?

[NoteMe]

Originally posted by NotLKH
lol!
NoteMe's loopy!

:D

HOW HIGH IS HE GOING!!!

:p


Loopy?...can't I for once be Snoopy...he is sooo cute....


WEll I have no idea what happend...when I saw the page the first time it was 200....then I sat down and saw David Letherman and when I came back everyone was on MSN asking....and it was up in 2000....freeky...

[wossname]

Originally posted by NoteMe
then I sat down and saw David Letherman...

:lol: he's such a tool...
http://www.minitools.co.uk/products/leatherman/images/super.jpg