ETH Spring Contest sponsored by Jane Street
Event start time 24.5.2026 10:00
Event end time 24.5.2026 17:00
Join us for the ETH Spring Contest sponsored by Jane Street on Sunday, May 24th in CAB F 21. It is open to all ETH members, from first year bachelor students to PhDs!
No prerequisites are required; just bring up to two friends to form a team, your good mood and your problem-solving skills. You'll encounter 10-12 algorithmic puzzles, very similar to the Code Expert tasks in your algorithms class. However, this is a competitive programming contest, and the emphasis is more on problem-solving skills rather than knowing algorithms.
Thanks to Jane Street we have great prizes for the best teams including drones, external drives, LEGO sets and Claude subscriptions! And if you don't make it to the top spots you still have a chance to win some prizes in a raffle! Plus, snacks and drinks will be provided during the contest, so you can fuel up!
Here's a rundown of the rules:
You can code in over 30 programming languages, including C, C++, Java, Python, Haskell, and Rust.
The contest runs for 5 hours with 10 to 12 problems given.
Form a team of 1 to 3 people. While solo participation is allowed, teaming up is highly recommended. Need a team? React on the CPC Discord in the #eth-contest channel (https://discord.gg/gyjP9bP4yb). After you have formed a team, all members must register via this website by the registration deadline and specify the same team name!
Each team is required to bring only one laptop; external monitors are not permitted. However, external keyboards and mice are allowed if they are non-programmable. It is essential for teams to coordinate effectively so that while one member is coding, others can focus on problem-solving. Printout of the problems will be given so you can debug a problem whilst your team member is implementing another.
Every solved problem earns one point. There are no partial points, and ties will be broken based on time-based penalties and the number of wrong solutions submitted before an accepted solution.
Communication with other teams is not allowed. You are not allowed to use any online resources, in particular ChatGPT, Github Copilot, Claude Code, and other statistical language models. Copy-pasting code from the internet is also not allowed. We will provide you with a link to documentation for most programming languages and most common algorithms so you do not have to learn things by heart.
Rules are subject to change until the 23rd of May at 23:59. Please ask clarifying questions on the discord server in #eth-contest or at the end of the opening ceremony.
Schedule:
10:00 - 10:30 Arrival
10:30 - 10:45 Opening Ceremony
10:45 - 11:15 Practice Contest
11:15 - 16:15 Contest
16:15 - 16:30 Break
16:30 - 17:00 Tutorial and Award Ceremony
If you have any questions please ask in the #eth-contest channel in Discord.
The fine print
By participating you agree that pictures and videos can be taken of you that could be used for VIS-Purposes (VISIONEN, Instagram, etc)
By participating, you agree to adhere by the VIS Code of Conduct
Every participant is responsible for their own insurance
All statements are made without guarantee
In general, there are no refunds
Event organisers
Main event organiser Constantin Mussaeus