Benelux Algorithm Programming Contest (BAPC) is a programming contest for students from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It is organized annually by an institution of higher education. From 1991 through 2004, the contest was held under the name NKP (Dutch Programming Championship).
Organisation Since 2006, BAPC is an official preliminary of NWERC (Northwestern Europe Regional Contest). In practice, this means the participating institutions determine which teams they will send to NWERC based on the results at BAPC. The top teams of NWERC (typically the top two or the top three), are invited to take part in the International Collegiate Programming Contest.
A month before BAPC, a preliminary round is held to determine which teams are allowed to represent their institution at BAPC.
Besides the student ranking, there is a ranking for companies. However, the contest is the same for all participants.
Contest format A team consists of, at most, three people and has five hours to solve a set of six to ten problems. During the contest, each team is only allowed to use a single computer. The problems are algorithmic in nature and of varying degree of difficulty.
Judging Solutions to a problem, in the form of computer programs, can be submitted more than once. The BAPC jury checks whether a submission satisfies certain criteria and replies with a simple verdict. In case the submitted program gives the correct answer to all predefined tests within the allotted time, the response will be Accepted or Correct.
If a program requires too much time to pass all tests, the jury will reply Time Limit Exceeded. If it terminates with an error, the response will be Runtime Error, and if the program terminates correctly, but doesn't pass all tests, the reply will be Wrong Answer or Incorrect. Under no circumstances will the jury give hints as to what caused the error, which tests failed, or where the Bug is.
Scoring For each solved problem, one point is awarded. For each point scored within the first four hours of the contest, a helium balloon is attached to the team's computer. After four hours, the scoreboard is no longer updated, so that it remains a secret who won until the award ceremony.
Ties are solved by a time penalty (the lower, the better). Every team starts out with a penalty time of 0 minutes. For every solved problem, the time from the start of the contest until the correct submission in minutes is added to the time penalty. For every prior wrong submission for a solved problem, 20 minutes are added. Wrong submissions for problems that are not eventually solved do not affect the a team's score.
Prizes
The prizes for the top three teams are typically a power of two. In 2008, for example, the prizes for the first, second, and third student teams were 1024, 512, and 256 euro respectively. The best company team received 512 euro. Participation costs for companies were 500 euro per team, while participation for student teams was free.
History
Year Organizer Winner Team members Institution2022TU EindhovenSegfault go BRRRRDelft University of Technology2021VU AmsterdamHermannstadt SibiuDelft University of Technology2020Delft University of Technology (Online contest)while (false) break;Universiteit Utrecht2019Radboud University Nijmegengit merge -s octopus solution cup Leiden University2018Université catholique de LouvainMostly Harmless BogosortUniversité catholique de Louvain2017University of AmsterdamUnproved Convexity LemmaUniversité catholique de Louvain2016TU Delft🐢➕🐇Mattéo Couplet, Victor Lecomte and Simon TihonUniversité catholique de Louvain2015Universiteit LeidenThat empty teamnameThijs Miedema, Bas Nieuwenhuizen and David VenhoekRadboud Universiteit Nijmegen2014TU EindhovenSyntax ErrorBas Nieuwenhuizen, Mathijs van de Nes and Niels ten DijkeUniversiteit Leiden2013Universiteit UtrechtGeen SyntaxRaymond van Bommel, Mathijs van de Nes and Bas NieuwenhuizenUniversiteit Leiden2012Universiteit Utrechtteam5Jan ElffersTU Delft2011TU EindhovenGeen CommentaarRaymond van Bommel, Josse van Dobben de Bruyn and Erik MassopUniversiteit Leiden2010Universiteit LeidenJoyPieter Bootsma, Bauke Conijn and Thijs MarinussenTU Eindhoven2009Rijksuniversiteit GroningenDoeke en JelleJelle van den Hooff and Doeke de WolfUniversiteit van Amsterdam2008TU DelftPrime SuspectsThomas Beuman, Johan de Ruiter and Misha StassenUniversiteit Leiden2007Universiteit TwentePrime SuspectsThomas Beuman, Johan de Ruiter and Misha StassenUniversiteit Leiden2006Universiteit LeidenMessed UpErik-Jan Krijgsman and Boris de WildeUniversiteit Twente2005TU DelftMessed UpKamiel Cornelissen, Erik-Jan Krijgsman and Boris de WildeUniversiteit Twente2004Universiteit UtrechtKlasseBram Fokke and Erik TillemaUniversiteit Utrecht2003Universiteit TwenteMakkelijk zat...Jaap Eldering, Jan Kuipers and Wouter WaalewijnUniversiteit Utrecht2002Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamBug FictionTeun Koeman, Mathijs Vogelzang and Phebo WibbensRijksuniversiteit Groningen2001TU DelftMakkelijk zat...Jaap Eldering, Jan Kuipers and Wouter WaalewijnUniversiteit Utrecht2000Rijksuniversiteit GroningenBug FictionTeun Koeman, Mathijs Vogelzang and Phebo WibbensRijksuniversiteit Groningen1999 no NKP1998Universiteit TwenteThe Wizards of DOZDaniël Mantione, Joris van Rantwijk and Roland StokerTU Delft1997Rijksuniversiteit Groningen*scratch*Ernst Jan Plugge, Wouter Teepe and Roel VandewallRijksuniversiteit Groningen1996TU EindhovenWithout LimitsVrije Universiteit Amsterdam1995Universiteit Twentem38cRutger Nijlunsing, Kristian Helmholt and Kero van GelderRijksuniversiteit Groningen1994University of AmsterdamMichel Oey, Edo Poll and Sjoerd Schreuder Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam1993TU DelftGert Beukema, Gerton Lunter and Marco VervoortRUG + UvA1992Radboud Universiteit NijmegenGerton Lunter and Marco Vervoort (and ?)RUG + UvA1991Rijksuniversiteit LeidenRULPatrick Min, Frank van der Neut and Rudy van VlietRijksuniversiteit Leiden In 1997, the company team Bolesian (Victor Allis, Seppo Pieterse, and Paul-Erik Raué) defeated all student teams and was crowned Dutch Champion. In 1998, the company team Quintiq (Victor Allis, Seppo Pieterse and Paul-Erik Raué) defeated all student teams, but the best student team was declared the official winner.http://www.utnieuws.utwente.nl/new/?aeditie_id=1305 In 2020, the contest was held online due to governmental regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic
References
External links Website BAPC Website NWERC CHipCie archive Website ICPC