Last month, we resurrected Cemetech programming contests with Cemetech Contest #14: TI-BASIC Connect 4 AI Challenge (https://www.cemetech.net/news.php?id=768). In that short contest, designed by Cemetech members jonbush (https://www.cemetech.net/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=10880) and earthnite (https://www.cemetech.net/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=10179), entrants were tasked with writing an AI to play Connect 4 in pure TI-BASIC. We congratulate JWinslow23 (https://www.cemetech.net/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=8090) for winning that contest, and are happy to announce a longer, more elaborate contest. Cemetech Contest #15 is entitled Crypto Golfing, and is a multi-part contest. Starting today, and continuing every Tuesday until January 12th, we will release encrypted data with possible hints for a new challenge. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a program to decode each piece of encrypted data, be it a string, a number, an image, or something else, in as few bytes as possible. The top two overall winners will win a TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition and a TI-Nspire CX (with the first place winner getting first choice).
As in previous Cemetech contests, we'll have a number of categories; the sizes of entries from each category will be weighted at the discretion of the judging panel.
- TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus TI-BASIC, ASM, C, or Axe: Programs in any of these languages for any calculator with "TI-83 Plus" or "TI-84 Plus" in its name will be accepted, including the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition and TI-84 Plus CE. Hybrid TI-BASIC and z80 ASM programs must use only the libraries available in Doors CS or Doors CSE, to make grading easier.
- TI-Nspire CX and HP Prime: Lua entries for the TI-Nspire CX and CX CAS as well as PPL programs for the HP Prime will be accepted.
- Computers: Java, Javascript, C++, Rust, Haskell, and Python: For those who focus on computer programming these days, computer programming solutions will be accepted in the languages listed. Want to write in another language? Let us know what that language is in the attached Cemetech topic, and we'll consider it.
The usual rules apply:
- Contestants may not release any code or binaries before the end of the contest, including asking for programming help publicly or privately. Violators will be disqualified. Projects that have already been released in any form (excluding a contest project topic) already are not eligible for the contest.
- The contest will run until January 19th, 2016, at 11:59:59pm Eastern Time. No late entries will be accepted. Entries to any of the five challenges will be accepted up until this deadline. The earlier you submit each challenge's solution, the higher your score!
- All contestants must maintain a topic in the Contests subforum on Cemetech (http://www.cemetech.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=50), including a first post that mentions the programming language(s) you'll be using. You can also post the size of your entries and when you complete them. Do not post algorithmic solutions, code, or hints.
- Submit entries by emailing them, in a zip file, to contest at the Cemetech domain name. Be sure to provide your Cemetech username in the subject or body of the email so we know who you are! Each Cemetech member can submit a single entry in one or more of the accepted language + platform combinations.
- Judging will be performed by a team picked from among the Cemetech administrators and members; all judges are disqualified from entering the contest. Results will be posted no later than ten days after the end of the contest.
- Algorithmic grading will be performed, based on the size of each entry's source code (or for assembly, assembled binaries) and how early the entry was submitted. Speed will not be graded.
- As with the Contests #12 and #13, we are very proud to offer two brand-new calculators as prizes. The grand prize winner will be awarded one TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition or one TI-Nspire CX, as chosen by the winner. The second-place winner will receive the remaining calculator. Additional Cemetech swag may be added to the prizes at the Cemetech staff's discretion. All participants will earn Cemetech flair in the form of signature bars and respect.
So what are you waiting for? Get coding, solve Challenge 1, push yourself to learn something new in the process, and win some calculators!
Challenge 1: GSVHVXIVGNVHHZTVRHLOWDRAZIWMore Information(http://www.cemetech.net/img/icon/dl.gif) Contest #15 Rules (https://www.cemetech.net/files/contest15/rules.txt)
(https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15.png)
Both of the two remaining of these six generously-donated calculators will be awarded as prizes. A special thanks to our anonymous donor for making this contest possible!(https://www.cemetech.net/img/news/cc12_prizes.jpg)
Oh, that's nice, I'll enter for sure. Provided I can figure it out...
So I assume it's kinda like Code Golf but with cryptography instead? It should hopefully be popular, since in the past, code golf contests on Omni were.
Interestingly enough, the deadline date is identical to CW Contest II :P (except by five hours)
Ohh.. that first challenge is hard O.O
DJ_O: Yep! It has the additional challenge that you have to figure out what the algorithm actually is before you can write a minimal solver for it.
Juju, Alexgt: Best of luck!
Hmm, by decoding, I assume it's a symetrical algorithm and you don't have to crack any keys? Also, I assume the result of the challenge is something meaningful in English?
Quote from: KermMartian on December 16, 2015, 12:14:39 AM
Submit entries by emailing them, in a zip file, to contest at this domain name.
Sending your entries at this actual domain name is probably not a good idea :P (I know, you meant Cemetech's domain name :P)
Quote from: Juju on December 16, 2015, 02:23:26 AM
Hmm, by decoding, I assume it's a symetrical algorithm and you don't have to crack any keys? Also, I assume the result of the challenge is something meaningful in English?
Correct on both counts.
Quote from: Juju on December 16, 2015, 02:23:26 AMQuote from: KermMartian on December 16, 2015, 12:14:39 AM
Submit entries by emailing them, in a zip file, to contest at this domain name.
Sending your entries at this actual domain name is probably not a good idea :P (I know, you meant Cemetech's domain name :P)
Good catch.
Juju and Kerm, you ruined it for me, I figured it out now! :P
I might enter with TI-BASIC, unless lirtosiast does too.
I am still trying to figure it out :P
Good luck to all! And thanks for front-paging this.
No problem. :) I waited a few days since I wanted the CW contest to remain at the top for at least a week before promoting more news.
Yeah, I don't think I will have time to figure it out so I don't think I will participate. I will keep on trying though :)
Yay, I solved it! Only my code is c :c
Woah this is a really cool contest idea! Will the hints be dropped here too? And do we need to send in entries before every tuesday or at the end?
And how is the encrypted data inputted?
The earlier you send them, the higher your score, but you can send all of the solutions together on the very last day of the contest if you so desire.
I'm happy to announce that another Tuesday is upon us, so Challenge 2 of Cemetech Contest #15 is also here! If you haven't completed Challenge 1 yet, you still have time, and the only thing you'll lose is the (up to) 5 bonus points you get by submitting your solutions quickly. Challenge 2 adds a few additional rules that we learned from seeing how people worked with Challenge 1:
- For Challenges 2 and 3, TI-BASIC, Axe, and Assembly programs should take the ciphertext in Ans and return the decoded plaintext in Ans as well.
- For Challenges 2 and 3, computer programs should take input from stdin and return output to stdout.
- If there are any constants or keys that affect how a particular cipher works (for example, the offset in a Caesar cipher), these should be defined in a modifiable way in the source, so that someone with the source code could change those constants without needing to modify anything else in the program.
Challenge 2: VPUOUGHUVYUOOSIUWOPSTTEPMRWNSEOBHMYGUYUVUGPGood luck!
Yay another challenge~
Quote from: jonbushIf you haven't figured out Challenge 2 yet, here's a hint:
%26
I'm Kerm Martian and I approve of this message. :D Good luck, everyone. I notice we haven't quite gotten as many entries as for the first challenge, so I hope everyone who is stuck on this one (or forgot to enter so far this week) will redouble their efforts.
[spoiler=Cancer Causing All-Caps and Smily abuse :P]
OMG O MY cING OMG O I GOT IT I GOT IGOTIGNUNVIRNGINRUVNIRQMVIDNCIMEOCNIM!!!!! :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: THANKS FOR THE HINT!!!
[/spoiler]
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO CEMETECH AND KERM! (not the solution btw)
Edit: 35 bytes in axe, although the IO is via stdIn / out and not ans <_<
Edit: stdIn stdOut hehe XD
c4ooo not to nitpick, but all-caps and smiley abuse (can probably cause cancer and) should be avoided. <.< I'm glad that you got the solution, though. Good luck for future challenges.
I wonder if anyone else on CW is still participating and how well they are doing so far?
Yea its abnoctus and best not abused :P
It reminds me of my favorite MC PvP server avicus (avic.us iirc). They have good players / maps ect but when ever anyone uses one capital letter all the mods yell at him :P So after a long haitus i joined and shouted out something in caps about being excited to come back, i was greated by like 3 "Watch the caps please" messages :-\
c4ooo: Please try to avoid posting hints about the cipher. Note that the rules posted for the last challenge specify that things like constants should be changeable in the source. :)
For the past two Tuesdays, we have announced increasingly difficult challenges as part of Cemetech Contest #15: Crypto Golfing (https://www.cemetech.net/news.php?id=773). This five-part contest tasks programmers with solving cryptography puzzles, then creating programs that can decode messages in the cipher used for each challenge. We received an overwhelming number of entries written in many different calculator and computer languages for Challenges 1 and 2, although the field has started to thin. Since another Tuesday is upon us, Challenge 3 of Cemetech Contest #15 is here! If you haven't started entering the contest yet or if you haven't completed one of the existing challenges, you still have time, and the only thing you'll lose is the (up to) 5 bonus points you get by submitting your solutions quickly. Challenge 3 is the last pure-text cipher, and if you're still stuck with it on Friday, we'll be publishing an extra hint on Friday afternoon at 5pm, Eastern Time.
Challenge 3: OEEJCYKL WK AU LTMY L WXOJWN
Good luck! To repeat the incentive, besides prestige and glory: a TI-Nspire CX and a TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition await the top two contestants.
(https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15.png)
" I GOT IGOTIGNUNVIRNGINRUVNIRQMVIDNCIMEOCNIM!!!!!" is random text and i clearly stated that "HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO CEMETECH AND KERM!" was not the solution. :P If you mean what i said in IRC to juju, i can understand, although to me it seemed basically a restatement of your "%26" hint ;)
Edit: conflict solved over PM's :)
I would agree that we should keep hints to a minimum. The challenge is the fun part of this contest so if someone posts the solution online, then for this particular kind of contest it might ruin the fun. :)
*bump* Contest #15, Challenge #3 hint time:
You wouldn't put calculators on your salad
*bump* Noting how much people are struggling with Challenge 3 and with jonbush's agreement, we have decided to release one additional hint at this time: Challenges 1 to 3 have all used ciphers that can be found in the "Classical Cryptography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cryptography_classical)" template on Wikipedia. A special congratulations to the >=2 contestants who solved the challenge before this hint!
I'm a little late on this but it sounds like a fun challenge, I'll see if I can take a try at it. :)
@KermMartian you should probably note that said wiki page does not render all of its content in mobile <_<
@KermMartian so I guess I can get a senseful answer with OneTime-Pad? :trollface:
Quote from: KermMartian on January 04, 2016, 08:36:08 PM
*bump* Noting how much people are struggling with Challenge 3 and with jonbush's agreement, we have decided to release one additional hint at this time: Challenges 1 to 3 have all used ciphers that can be found in the "Classical Cryptography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cryptography_classical)" template on Wikipedia. A special congratulations to the >=2 contestants who solved the challenge before this hint!
Will contestants who solved the challenge before the new hint was given get bonus points?
DJ_O: As noted at the beginning of the thread, solving the challenges closer to the announcement of the ciphertext gives you up to 5 extra points.
The second-to-last challenge is here, and I think it's one that you guys will have fun with. Instead of providing a ciphertext for Challenge 4, we are providing a 95x63-pixel monochrome image (of an Enigma machine!) in three formats: .8xi, .8ci, and .png. Solutions must take at least one of those formats and produce a plaintext (not image) output from the image. Programmers working on the color calculators can assume that any .8ci passed to the program will also only have black and white pixels in the top-left 95x63 pixels of the image, and those writing computer programs should only look at the top 95x63 pixels of any image passed to the program. As with the previous challenge, we will publish a clue on Friday afternoon at 5pm ET, but we encourage you to try to solve it before Friday to earn maximum points.
Challenge 4: (https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15_chal4.png)
Download:
(https://www.cemetech.net/img/icon/dl.gif) Contest #15, Challenge 4 input image (PNG) (https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15_chal4.png)
(https://www.cemetech.net/img/icon/dl.gif) Contest #15, Challenge 4 input image (8xi) (https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15_chal4.8xi)
(https://www.cemetech.net/img/icon/dl.gif) Contest #15, Challenge 4 input image (8ci) (https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15_chal4.8ci)
(https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15.png)
*bump* Hint time: The encoding scheme used in this challenge can encode no more than 63 characters.
*bump* hint time #2: Not every member of a group has equal value, and numbers that come around, wrap around.
Edit:
The fifth and final challenge of Cemetech Contest #15 is here, which means you have just over one week to submit all five solutions for the contest. Like Challenge 4, this challenge is related to images, so we suggest you think long and hard about possible ways to interpret the number (numbers?) below. When you figure out the cipher and create your solution program, make sure that as in the first three challenges, it takes a string as input via Ans or stdin. It's hopefully enough of a clue to tell you that the output for this challenge should be an image either on the graphscreen, in a picture variable, or for computer programs, as a PNG or GIF image. As with the previous two challenges, we may publish a clue on Friday afternoon at 5pm ET, but we encourage you to try to solve it before Friday to earn maximum points, and we will decide whether to post a clue based on how many entrants have figured out the cipher. Good luck!
Challenge 5: 1111144444444433333333333211112223321122223333333444444444322222222233444
3222334444444443333333321111122233321112222333333333333334111144444444333
3333333333321111112223332111222233333333333333341111114444444433333333322
2222222344443332222344444444444441111111111111111111111111111111111111111
1444444444444444444444434333333333332322222222222222222222211111111111444
4433333333344141211412114121144434323343233432334441412114121141211444343
2334323343233344414121141211412114
Note: line breaks are for clarity, NOT part of the clue
(https://www.cemetech.net/img/contests/cc15.png)
Challenge #5, Hint #1 time! Knobs and a red rectangle.
Challenge #5, Hint #2 time: the object described is an Etch-a-Sketch, which lets you generate an image by using knobs to move a cursor.
I hope someone can solve the challenge before the deadline. O.O
At least one person has solved all five challenges, and only for one challenge did it take more than 24 hours for the first entry to be received.
Hehehe not me. You guys lost me after the second chalange :P
Quote from: c4ooo on January 17, 2016, 09:25:06 PM
Hehehe not me. You guys lost me after the second chalange :P
There are chalanges in Cemetech contest? I thought there were only challenges, not shalanjes nor chalanges. :P
Quote from: c4ooo on January 17, 2016, 09:25:06 PM
Hehehe not me. You guys lost me after the second chalange :P
Yeah, same, sadly. I lost you guys after the 2nd challenge. Maybe the fact I didn't felt to do anything after Christmas didn't helped.