programming contest, eh? i assume from the description they ain't looking for games.

Not for this one, unfortunately. For past and hopefully future ones though. :)

Great contest to join!

Thanks Nikky, particularly with Brandon bringing his special brand of ASM win to it.

I can't wait!

That makes two of us. :)

Interesting, I hope it gets lot of entries. I will most likely not participate though, since I am more into game producing than utilities :(

Well they've decided that it judged on just usefulness so if you can write the best time waster in class that would work.

Not to bash the contest, I think it's a great idea, but isn't the theme a bit broad? Nearly all non-game preograms are useful. How are they going to judge which of two very useful programs of completely different types is more useful? Also wouldn't a TI-89 program have an unfair advantage over a TI-83/84 program? Just putting it out there.

Cemetech=TI-83/83+/84+

Ignore my second to last sentence, then.

Sure, it's definitely a subjective decision, and it will be made more challenging by the fact that people will be submitting programs in a variety of topics (whereas all our past contests have been things like "puzzle games" or "Sudoku solvers". However, since the primary criterium is usefulness with secondary criteria of speed, size, graphics, ease-of-use, etc, I still think Tari and I will be able to fairly grade the entries. And yes, Cemetech is primarily a z80-based calc site, although we certainly have members who work on both z80 and 68k calculators.

It's still unclear from your post and contest rules whether or not 68k programs are allowed. So I'll ask:

Are 68k programs allowed?

Past rules have never forbidden 68k programs, so I see no reason why not. Yes, 68k entries will be accepted. I'll have to confer with the other judge and decide how the grading should be done, though.

Useful, I guess that would exclude the calculator's built-in functions; though I am not entirely certain.

Sounds like fun... maybe I'll dust off one of my old projects and enter :)

Interesting contest; though I am not sure if I would be able to submit something in time (computer with Graphlink software can't turn on, and would prefer to not install on family's computer).

At the risk of self-promotion, I could suggest a solution I suggested to one of my Cemetech colleagues, wherein you could write your program on your calculator, then retyped it into SourceCoder2 so you could get your executable.

I think my family's computer does not have the program.
I use my family's computer for just Internet and generally keep my own files off the hard drive (of family's computer).

SourceCoder 2 is a webapp. :) http://sc.cemetech.net

Normally, I'm really interested in the idea of a programming contest, and have entered two (and won one). I don't think I'll enter this one, though, because the judging appears to be done by a judge or judges, not by vote.

I realize there can be voter fraud, but it's so ungratifying for me as a programmer to spend hours on a program, send it in, and then just get a "you didn't win" e-mail (if I even get that, United-TI didn't bother to send me anything at all when I did their RPN calculator-programming contest). I much prefer it when users can view screenshots and vote on entries, and discuss them, and when the contest ends, even if you didn't win, you know how you fared, and how people liked your program. So basically, I only consider a TI programing contest to be worth entering if there's a vote, otherwise all the work is likely to be for nothing.

I'm glad that the winners are being selected by judges...and they're not just any judges, but very experienced programmers. I would hate to be judged by fellow programmers who spend most of their free time trying to make another quadratic equation solver. We have enough useless "utilities" and I think this competition is a great opportunity to break out of the quadratic comfort zone. I believe that the judges will be looking for ingenuity as much as utility.

I'm offended that you think Tari or myself could be influenced in our judging decisions. If you look back at past contest topics on Cemetech, you'll see that we always post a full grading summary and review of each entry along with the final results, so it's not like once you submit your entry you don't hear from us again. We also try to acknowledge entries that are sent to us, so if you send your entry and do not receive a personal acknowledgment email, let us know.

Let me just clarify, I don't think you'd be an unfair judge, and I'm not saying that the way the programs are judged is unfair. I'm just saying that I would personally rather enter a contest with a vote, simply because it's more fun -- people interact and debate which program is best, there's suspense as the votes add up over the course of several days, etc. Even if you don't win, you get to see how your program stacked up vote-wise against other programs, and you get feedback from other people who used your program (more than one or two people). Actually, I agree with the poster before you that a judge (especially Kerm Martian, who everyone here has heard of) is much more qualified to make a decision on a program's merit than some anonymous script kiddies who vote on programs. I'm just saying I'll sit this one out because of my bad experience with my wasted effort on United-TI. If you guys run your contest differently from them, kudos! It's your contest, and good luck to the entrants.

Thanks; hope you change your mind, but I respect what you're saying.