USC Programming Contest
Spring 2026 USC Programming Contest
Problems
The problems are available as a PDF document. The table below contains sample solutions programmed by participants during the contest, as well as the input data and correct solutions used by the judges. Note that the judges' sample C++ solutions also include an input validator to ensure that the generated test cases satisfy the specs we gave.
| Problem | C/C++ solution | Java/Python solution | Judges' C++ solution | Input | Correct Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A - Penalty Kicks | Peter Wang | Justin Zheng | penalty.cpp | penalty.in | penalty.out |
| B - Game Report | Peiran Qiu | Gianna Besmonte | report.cpp | report.in | report.out |
| C - Hope Springs Eternal | Chen Gong | no solution | hope.cpp | hope.in | hope.out |
| D - Eyes on the Ball | Vayun Mathur | Tycho Elling | ball.cpp | ball.in | ball.out |
| E - Bribery | Amelia Schroeder | no solution | bribery.cpp | bribery.in | bribery.out |
| F - Offsides | Jacky Lin | Tycho Elling | offsides.cpp | offsides.in | offsides.out |
Results
There were 17 participants. Out of these, 14 solved at least one problem, 11 solved at least two problems, 7 students solved at least 3 problems, 5 students solved at least 4 problems, and one student solved 5 problems.
| Rank | Name | Problems solved | cumulative time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tycho Elling (Math PhD) | 5 | 844 |
| 2 | Peiran Qiu (CSCI Junior) | 4 | 339 |
| 3 | Amelia Schroeder (CSCI Freshman) | 4 | 492 |
| 4 | Jacky Lin (CSCI Freshman) | 4 | 681 |
| 5 | Vayun Mathur (CSCI Junior/Senior) | 4 | 845 |
The complete final standings are also available.
We would like to thank VSoE for making the labs available for the contest. David Kempe wrote the problem set. Changyu Zhu, Chenhui Zhu, Yue Wu, and Chenghao Wang provided standard solutions and test cases. Yue Wu also worked as contest judge. Daniel Yip and Loc Vo created and installed the contest environment on the machines. Multiple volunteers from ACM and Isabel Fernandez from Viterbi IT helped with running the contest.
