Here are some problems from past programming contests. They are in Adobe's Portable Document Format. Some systems come with programs which can read PDF files; if yours did not, you can almost certainly find a version of Adobe Acrobat which will work on your machine.
This link will take you to Adobe's page for Acrobat.
You probably want to click on the "Adobe Reader" link,
and then look under "Downloads" for "Free Adobe Reader".
(Note that some of the problem descriptions refer to sample data on floppy disks, or on web pages set up just for the contest. Some of those data sets are not currently available.)
The 2009 contest problem was based on the work done by computer displays when one window appears to be behind another. You can also download the first sample data set, the second sample data set, and the two sets of test data.
The 2008 contest problem looked at variations on Sudoku grid puzzles. You can also download the first sample data set, the second sample data set, and the test data. (This problem was introduced to the students with an opening presentation, which you can look at too.)
The 2007 contest problem was based on the computations involved in typesetting and word wrapping. You can also download the first sample data set, the second sample data set, the third sample data set, and the first and second sets of test data. (This problem was introduced to the students with an opening presentation, which you can look at too.)
The 2006 contest problem required computing the heuristic value of a slide puzzle configuration, and the value of all configurations which could result from moving a single tile. You can also download the first sample data set, the second sample data set, the third sample data set, and the test data.
The 2005 contest problem involved simulating decision rules for implementing statistical process control. You can also download the first sample data set, the second sample data set, and the test data.
The 2004 contest problem dealt with error correction and Hamming distances. You can also download the sample data and test data.
The 2003 contest problem involved decoding UPC-A bar codes. You can also download the sample data and test data.
The 2002 contest problem required verifying that input data were topologically sorted. You can also download the first sample data, second sample data, first test data, and second test data.
The 2001 contest problem was about dates and the changeover from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. You can also download the sample data and test data.
The 2000 contest problem dealt with pushbutton door locks. (This program takes no input.)
The 1999 contest featured both an individual problem and a team problem. The 1999 individual problem challenged contestants to analyze an array of integers to identify the sub-array with the maximum sum. Programs to solve the 1999 team problem had to work out a path through a maze.
The 1998 contest problem required writing a program to do long multiplication.
The 1994 contest problem asked competitors to write a program to fill chicken nugget orders at the minimum possible cost.
In 1992, we had two different problems. The BASIC problem was to develop a two-player game of chance. The Pascal problem was to write an implementation of the Soundex algorithm.
Our 1991 contest problem concerned wildcards in string matching.
Other problems are still being tracked down, and we hope to have them here eventually.
Other Problems
For 2003, the Gloucester County HSPC was hosted over the Internet here at Rowan University. People interested in practice might want to see the 2003 county contest problem, and read over the judges' comments about the submitted programs.
