3 Concepts: Information | Projects

Questions about Project II: De Compression Competition

  1. Can I use Windows?

    Only if you absolutely must. We hope not — at least not on this course...

  2. What are the criteria for grading Project II?

    1. Your result (in bytes) on the final round; earlier rounds do not affect your grade but it is a good idea to start working seriously right from the start,
    2. Your 10 min. presentation and your project report,
    3. The level of sophistication of your compression and modeling solutions (as reported in the presentation and report). Ready-made solutions downloaded from the web will not give good points here.

  3. What is the point in three different deadlines?

    They are supposed to encourage you to start early. They will also give you an idea of how well the other groups are doing.

  4. Is there a minimum compression we must achieve to pass the course?

    No. The more you compress the better your grade, but there is no limit. In particular, we do not expect that you compress the data to less than the current record, 16'481'655 bytes.

  5. Do we have to use the compression algorithm we implemented in Project I?

    No. You can use whatever you prefer. You can also use code you find on the web, as long as you understand it (=can explain it in the report).

  6. If I decide to send the compressor, how much resources can the compressor use?

    The page http://prize.hutter1.net/hrules.htm#relax answers the question.

  7. Am I sure loser if I use java, since gcj produces so large executables?

    1. The size of executable is not that big compared to size of compressed data.
    2. Remember to use strip (man strip)
    3. There is no denying there is a tradeof between abstraction and the size of the executable. It is not clear in which end has the benefit though.

  8. The rules say: "Programs should run in less than 10 hours on a 2GHz Pentium 4 with 1GB RAM and 10GB free HD for temporary files." How much of that 1GB can I use before the system starts swapping and ruins my running time?

    It seems that the slowest Pentium 4 machines at the CS department are 2.4Ghz. Those will be our final test computers. These computers can be found at class DK110. The programs will be tested after booting the computers without starting X (press Alt-F2 before logging in to avoid starting X).