00100	                    MEMORIAL DAY PROGRAMMING RACE
00200	
00300		On Memorial  Day,  May  31,  1971,  the  Stanford  Artificial
00400	Intelligence  Project  will sponsor a programming race.   The contest
00500	will be primarily for users of the Project's time-sharing system, but
00600	requests  by  potential  contestants  to use other facilities will be
00700	considered.  About 30 display consoles will be available.
00800	
00900		The race will  begin  at  noon.     At  this  time  envelopes
01000	containing  the  problem will be distributed.  The winner will be the
01100	person who completes the problem with the lowest composite time score
01200	determined as follows:
01300	
01400		composite-time  =  (time  from  receipt of problem to time of
01500	start of use of the console) +
01600			2.0*(time  from  start  of  use of console to time of
01700	completion of creation of first version of program - this  time  ends
01800	with completion of first edit) +
01900			4.0*(time from completion of first edit to successful
02000	completion of the problem) +
02100			20.0*(computer time charged  by  the  system  to  the
02200	user)
02300	
02400		Any user whom the system charges more than 10 minutes will be
02500	disqualified.
02600	
02700		SAIL, i.e. ALGOL, is an appropriate language for the problem.
02800	
02900		The  problem  has  already been done twice.  In one case, the
03000	elapsed time was eight hours and the run time 20  minutes.    In  the
03100	other case, the elapsed time was 4 hours and the run time 27 seconds.
03200	We expect the winning elapsed time to be less than 2  hours,  perhaps
03300	much less.
03400	
03500		If  there  is  sufficient  interest, there will be a separate
03600	division for machine language programmers in which  running  time  of
03700	the final program will be given a much larger weight.
03800	
03900		To   enter,  leave  your  name  with  the  secretary  of  the
04000	Artificial Intelligence Project, Stanford extension 4971.
04100	
04200		Spectators will be welcome.   The AI Project  is  located  at
04300	1600 Arastradero Road between Page Mill and Alpine Roads.
04400	
04500		In case of a system crash or other emergency, the judges will
04600	make appropriate ad hoc rules.
04700	
04800		Suitable  prizes  and/or  trophies  will  be  awarded  at   a
04900	celebration later in the afternoon.