Hong Kong Olympiad in Informatics
Encyclopedia
Hong Kong Olympiad in Informatics (HKOI; 香港電腦奧林匹克競賽) is an annual programming competition for secondary school students in Hong Kong
, emphasizing on problem solving techniques and programming skills. It is co-organized by the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education (HKACE), Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB), Hong Kong Computer Society
(HKCS) and the University of Hong Kong (HKU). It serves as a preliminary contest to international, national and regional competitions such as the China National Olympiad in Informatics
(NOI) and the International Olympiad in Informatics
(IOI). The first HKOI was held in 1997.
International Schools' Software Competition
(ISSC) in 1993, the Software Competition for the Youths (SCY) in 1994 and the China National Olympiad in Informatics
in 1995. Selection tests were separately administered for these competitions, and the purpose of each test was solely to select team members for the competitions. A considerable amount of resources were used to organize these tests. The tests were not very popular among students in Hong Kong.
In 1996, the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education, the Hong Kong Computer Society
and the Education Department of Hong Kong (now the Education Bureau) jointly organized the Joint Selection Contest to replace all the selection tests. 39 students were selected as seeds for the Hong Kong teams. They received intensive training on topics like data structures and algorithms. After that, a Team Formation Test was conducted to select the Hong Kong representatives in IOI and NOI among the seeds. Another Team Formation Test was conducted for the SEARCC-ISSC and SCY.
The Joint Selection Contest was considered successful, as a group of talented students received trainings before the final team formation took place, improving the overall quality of the selected team. In addition, students who were not selected to represent Hong Kong were nevertheless given the chance to learn and prepare for other competitions in the future.
In 1997, the Joint Selection Contest was renamed as the Hong Kong Olympiad in Informatics. Prizes are awarded to students with good results in HKOI, who are then invited to join the HKOI Training Team. Due to the limit on the number of participants from each school, some schools organize their own team formation test to select students to take part in HKOI.
The Joint Selection Contest was conducted in written format. All programs were written down on the answer sheet. It was difficult for both participants and markers. The participants could not rely on a computer to verify the correctness of their programs, while the markers had to read every line of the program and try to understand the underlying algorithm.
In 1997, the competition was split into the heat and final event. The heat event consists of a written paper. Outstanding students in the heat event proceed to enter the 2-hour final event, which consists of programming tasks similar to those in IOI. The heat event was essential due to the limited number of computers provided for the final event. However, this change in the competition format did not eliminate the need for marking based on hand-written programs.
In 1998, the heat event was replaced by a pre-competition assessment. All participants were asked to work on the pre-competition assessment task and submit a floppy diskette containing the source code
and executable
of their programs. The list of finalist were determined solely by the programs submitted. However, it raised concerns about the fairness of the competition, since there is no way to ensure that the submitted program was really written by the participant. At that time, the only programming language allowed was Pascal.
In 1999, the heat event was reinstalled. This time, the heat event consisted of a single paper of Multiple choice
problems to improve the efficiency in marking papers. This was important as the number of participants had increased to several hundred students. In 2000, the duration of the final event increased to 3 hours. In 2003, Fill-in-the-blank problems were added to the heat event, aiming to add a new dimension to the question paper. In 2004, C
and C++
were added to the list of allowed programming languages.
As of 2009, the competition consists of a heat event with Multiple Choice and Fill-in-the-blanks problems, while the final event consists of 5 programming tasks to be solved in 3 hours. The programming languages allowed are Pascal, C
and C++
. Different sets of problem are used for junior and senior group respectively.
and NOI
.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, emphasizing on problem solving techniques and programming skills. It is co-organized by the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education (HKACE), Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB), Hong Kong Computer Society
Hong Kong Computer Society
Founded in 1970, the Hong Kong Computer Society is a non-profit organisation focused on developing Hong Kong's Information Technology industry...
(HKCS) and the University of Hong Kong (HKU). It serves as a preliminary contest to international, national and regional competitions such as the China National Olympiad in Informatics
National Olympiad in Informatics, China
The National Olympiad in Informatics is an annual informatics competition for secondary school students. The first NOI was held in 1984, earlier than IOI.- Overview :...
(NOI) and the International Olympiad in Informatics
International Olympiad in Informatics
The International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....
(IOI). The first HKOI was held in 1997.
History
Hong Kong first participated in IOI in 1992. In order select representatives for the Hong Kong Delegation Team, a selection test was held a few months before the competition. In the next few years, Hong Kong started sending teams to other competitions, including the SEARCCSEARCC
SEARCC is an acronym for the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation, a not-for-profit association of national computer professional associations of the Pacific Rim region...
International Schools' Software Competition
International Schools' Software Competition
The International Schools' Software Competition is a Programming Competition, contested in teams representing South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation Member Nations...
(ISSC) in 1993, the Software Competition for the Youths (SCY) in 1994 and the China National Olympiad in Informatics
National Olympiad in Informatics, China
The National Olympiad in Informatics is an annual informatics competition for secondary school students. The first NOI was held in 1984, earlier than IOI.- Overview :...
in 1995. Selection tests were separately administered for these competitions, and the purpose of each test was solely to select team members for the competitions. A considerable amount of resources were used to organize these tests. The tests were not very popular among students in Hong Kong.
In 1996, the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education, the Hong Kong Computer Society
Hong Kong Computer Society
Founded in 1970, the Hong Kong Computer Society is a non-profit organisation focused on developing Hong Kong's Information Technology industry...
and the Education Department of Hong Kong (now the Education Bureau) jointly organized the Joint Selection Contest to replace all the selection tests. 39 students were selected as seeds for the Hong Kong teams. They received intensive training on topics like data structures and algorithms. After that, a Team Formation Test was conducted to select the Hong Kong representatives in IOI and NOI among the seeds. Another Team Formation Test was conducted for the SEARCC-ISSC and SCY.
The Joint Selection Contest was considered successful, as a group of talented students received trainings before the final team formation took place, improving the overall quality of the selected team. In addition, students who were not selected to represent Hong Kong were nevertheless given the chance to learn and prepare for other competitions in the future.
In 1997, the Joint Selection Contest was renamed as the Hong Kong Olympiad in Informatics. Prizes are awarded to students with good results in HKOI, who are then invited to join the HKOI Training Team. Due to the limit on the number of participants from each school, some schools organize their own team formation test to select students to take part in HKOI.
Groupings
The participants of HKOI are divided into two groups. The Junior Group consists of students aged 17 or below, and the Senior Group consists of students aged 19 or below. The rationale of having two groups with one having an age limit of 17 is that SEARCC-ISSC requires all participants to be aged 17 or below. Another advantage of having a Junior Group is to allow more young students to enter the HKOI training team without having to compete with the more experienced senior students.Competition Format
The competition format of the HKOI has changed a few times since the introduction of Joint Selection Contest in 1996.The Joint Selection Contest was conducted in written format. All programs were written down on the answer sheet. It was difficult for both participants and markers. The participants could not rely on a computer to verify the correctness of their programs, while the markers had to read every line of the program and try to understand the underlying algorithm.
In 1997, the competition was split into the heat and final event. The heat event consists of a written paper. Outstanding students in the heat event proceed to enter the 2-hour final event, which consists of programming tasks similar to those in IOI. The heat event was essential due to the limited number of computers provided for the final event. However, this change in the competition format did not eliminate the need for marking based on hand-written programs.
In 1998, the heat event was replaced by a pre-competition assessment. All participants were asked to work on the pre-competition assessment task and submit a floppy diskette containing the source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
and executable
Executable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
of their programs. The list of finalist were determined solely by the programs submitted. However, it raised concerns about the fairness of the competition, since there is no way to ensure that the submitted program was really written by the participant. At that time, the only programming language allowed was Pascal.
In 1999, the heat event was reinstalled. This time, the heat event consisted of a single paper of Multiple choice
Multiple choice
Multiple choice is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select the best possible answer out of the choices from a list. The multiple choice format is most frequently used in educational testing, in market research, and in elections-- when a person chooses between multiple...
problems to improve the efficiency in marking papers. This was important as the number of participants had increased to several hundred students. In 2000, the duration of the final event increased to 3 hours. In 2003, Fill-in-the-blank problems were added to the heat event, aiming to add a new dimension to the question paper. In 2004, C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
were added to the list of allowed programming languages.
As of 2009, the competition consists of a heat event with Multiple Choice and Fill-in-the-blanks problems, while the final event consists of 5 programming tasks to be solved in 3 hours. The programming languages allowed are Pascal, C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
. Different sets of problem are used for junior and senior group respectively.
Awards
About half of the finalists are awarded prizes. Prizes are awarded in Gold, Silver and Bronze, in the ratio of approximately 1:2:3. Only the performance in the final event is considered. Students in junior group and senior group are ranked separately. Prize winners are invited to join the HKOI Training Team for intensive training. A Team Formation Test is usually held at around June or July to select delegates for IOIInternational Olympiad in Informatics
The International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....
and NOI
NOI
NOI may refer to:* Any of the national informatics olympiads used for selection to the International Olympiad in Informatics, including:** National Olympiad in Informatics, China, a Chinese annual informatics competition...
.
Important people
- Poon Wing-chi, Irwin. He is the first IOIInternational Olympiad in InformaticsThe International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....
gold medallist from Hong Kong. - Wan Yung-chun, Justin. He has represented Hong Kong to the most external competitions in a single year.
- Tse Chi-yung. He has represented Hong Kong to the most external competitions. He is also the person from Hong Kong with the most IOIInternational Olympiad in InformaticsThe International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....
medals. He was employed by GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
in 2006 http://www.cs.hku.hk/news/2006/0911_googlerecruit.jsp. - Liu Chi-man, alias cx. He is the second IOIInternational Olympiad in InformaticsThe International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....
gold medallist from Hong Kong. - Lam Chi Kit. He is the third IOIInternational Olympiad in InformaticsThe International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....
gold medalist from Hong Kong. In fact this is his first participation year (2006) in both HKOI and IOI.