Hello, Codeforces!

I am happy to announce that the APL Problem Solving Competition is now open! It is a long-term programming contest which is meant to promote Dyalog APL programming language. You are allowed to submit your solutions only in this language. Yet, because it's sponsored by fintech companies, there are some pretty hefty cash prizes with good chances to win!

Target audience

Current students (both university and high school, including PhD students). Note: you need to be a current student at the time of competition's deadline.

Dates

• 12 February 2021 — competition started (but you can join at any time, as there are only 11 problems to solve in Phase II)
• 30 July 2021 — deadline for submissions

Programming language

APL is a unique programming language which can be seen as an "executable math notation". It is a founding father of a whole family of APL-like languages. Such languages are quite popular in fintech companies, such as SimCorp (one of the sponsors of this year's contest, alongside Tegra118). Dyalog APL is a branch of APL, which is considered by many to be an industry standard.

Despite big differences from ALGOL-like programming languages (such as C), APL is very easy to learn. And it can be very fun too!

Prizes

Lots of cash prizes!

• Phase II:
  • Grand Prize: 2500 USD + ticket to Dyalog'21 conference in Portugal
  • 2nd Prize: 1250 USD
  • 3rd Prize: 750 USD
  • 5 × 200 USD — awarded randomly
• Phase I:
  • 10 x 100 USD

Contest format

The contest consists of two phases:

• Phase I:
  • 10 one-liner problems
  • This phase is meant to introduce you to the language
  • More elegant solutions have better chances to win in this phase (in my opinion)
  • Maximum cash prize — 100 USD
• Phase II:
  • 11 tasks of varying difficulty (mostly Div 3. and Div. 2 levels of difficulty)
  • Unlike typical ICPC-style programming contests, elegant code and thorough comments increase your chances to win
  • Maximum cash prize — 2500 USD
  • Grand Prize winner is expected to present one's solution at a conference this year.

Past competitions

Past problem sets can be found here alongside winners' presentation about their solutions.

Disclaimer

1. I am in no way affiliated with the organizers, apart from being the last year's Grand Prize winner. This shows that you don't have to be a Grandmaster in order to win in this contest. You don't even have to be a Specialist :)
2. This post is in no way official. Refer to the official rules of the contest.
3. I am not posting this as a "referrer". You don't need to indicate me as such when registering for the contest.

Good luck!