The Andover Computing Open
The Andover Computing Open (TACO) will be held on June 15-16th, 2024
TACO is a beginner-friendly coding contest organized by the Phillips Academy team
Solve Fun Programming Puzzles!
TACO is an individual coding contest that is open and friendly to programmers at all levels in middle and high schools. We welcome programmers from all over the world!
Join us for a day puzzle solving to learn cool algorithms and sharpen your critical thinking skills! Find a community of young coders and meet new friends! And come listen to distinguished speakers such as Prof. Brian Dean, director of the USA Computing Olympiad.
What do we do?
The Andover Computing Open consists of 2 short rounds, each 1.5 hours in length. There are 2 divisions for participants to choose from: Beginners and Advanced. Between the two rounds of contests, there will be speaker events and workshops on topics like App building, Artificial Intelligence, and of course Competitive Programming.
Prizes for TACO 2023 (more information on 2024 coming soon!)
| Beginner Division | Advanced Division | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Place | $250 + $200 X-Camp Credits | $300 + iPad + $200 X-Camp Credits |
| 2nd Place | $200 + $150 X-Camp Credits | $250 + $150 X-Camp Credits |
| 3rd Place | $150 + $100 X-Camp Credits | $200 + $100 X-Camp Credits |
| 4th Place | $100 + $100 X-Camp Credits | $150 + $100 X-Camp Credits |
| 5th Place | $50 + $100 X-Camp Credits | $100 + $100 X-Camp Credits |
| 6th Place | $100 X-Camp Credits | $75 + $100 X-Camp Credits |
| 7th Place | $100 X-Camp Credits | $50 + $100 X-Camp Credits |
| 8th--10th Place | $100 X-Camp Credits | $100 X-Camp Credits |
| ALL Participants | $50 X-Camp Credits | $50 X-Camp Credits |
Additional Prizes:
Top 5 contestants from both divisions will win Wolfram Alpha Notebook Subscriptions.
Top 5 contestants from the Advanced division will also win Hudson River Trading swags.
Top woman-identifying contestant in the Beginner division will receive an additional $25, $25 of AoPS coupons, and Wolfram Alpha Notebook Subscription.
Top woman-identifying contestant in the Advanced division will win an additional $50, a Desmos swag, and $25 AoPS coupons, and Wolfram Alpha Notebook Subscription.
3 Wolfram Alpha Subscriptions, 2 $25 AoPS coupons, and a subscription for InterviewCake will be given out through raffle at the end of each of our events.
Contest Schedule 2023
Saturday May 20th
| Event | Time (EST) |
|---|---|
| Opening Ceremony | 12:45 PM -- 12:50 PM |
| Talk: Prof. Brian Dean, Director of USACO | 12:50 PM -- 1:30 PM |
| Contest Round 1 | 1:45 PM -- 3:00 PM |
| Lunch Break (West Coast) | 3:00 PM -- 3:30 PM |
| App Building Workshop | 3:30 PM -- 4:15 PM |
| Contest Round 2 | 4:30 PM -- 5:45 PM |
Sunday May 21th
| Event | Time (EST) |
|---|---|
| Talk: Building AlphaCode by Dr. Xinyun Chen | 1:00 PM -- 1:45 PM |
| Winner Announcement & Closing Ceremony | 2:00 PM -- 2:30 PM |
Guide for contestants new to competitive programming:
Competitive programming tests our ability to write efficient codes. All problems must be solved by a program that terminates within a strict time limit. For most problems, the time limit is 1 second, which is sufficient time for a C++ program to execute about 10^8 computations. Java is twice as slow. And Python is much slower.
To solve a problem, your program should inputs from the inputstream and print out the required answers. You may google how to do input and output. And we have also curated a short guide for you.
Problem difficulties in a contest are ranked approximately from easy to hard. But the difficulty of a problem is subjective. So, if you feel stuck on a problem, just checkout a different one!
Enjoy, and best of luck!
Sponsors and Partners
We’d like to thank all our generous sponsors and partners for TACO 2024!
Non-Trivial Fellowship
Competitive Programming initiative
Jane Street
Art of Problem Solving
Wolfram
Interview Cake
X-Camp
MathWorks
Desmos