µContest, what is it ? How to participate ? How to solve the challenges proposed ? What language ? You will find all the answers to theses questions in this page. Concerning more specific questions, you can ask them on the forum.

General Presentation How to solve a challenge How to solve a challenge The µContest libraries General information libmicrocontest in C/C++ libmicrocontest in Python libmicrocontest in Java libmicrocontest in PHP Tutorial for C::B & Win & C/C++ users

Example of a challenge resolution I Example presention Solution in C/C++ Solution in Python Solution in Java Solution in PHP Solution in any other language Example of a challenge resolution II Example presention Solution in C/C++ Solution in Python Solution in Java Solution in PHP Solution in any other language

Technical documentations Communication interface, protocols Scoring law Versions of the libraries Library C/C++ documentation Library Python documentation Library Java documentation Library PHP documentation (work in progress)

from libmicrocontest2_python27 import *

Prototype / Description

check_version()

Enables you to check if the lib version if up to date.

Parameters

N/A

Return value

true if the lib is up to date, false otherwise.

Example

if not check_version():
	print "Warning: the version of the libmicrocontest2 is not the last one."
	print "Current version :\t" + get_currentversion()
	print "This program may not work properly. Consider downloading the latest version on\nthis page : http://www.microcontest.com/download.php\n"

Prototype / Description

get_currentversion()

Returns the version of the lib you are using.

Parameters

N/A

Return value

The version of the lib you are using, as a string. (e.g. "2.2").

Example

if not check_version():
	print "Warning: the version of the libmicrocontest2 is not the last one."
	print "Current version :\t" + get_currentversion()
	print "This program may not work properly. Consider downloading the latest version on\nthis page : http://www.microcontest.com/download.php\n"

Prototype / Description

• commence_contest(id_contest)
• commence_contest(id_contest, username, password)

Downloads new variable values from the website and store it. You need to use get_xxx to get them. The first form will use the information you put in credentials.py in the same directory :

username = "harry"
password = "potter"

Parameters

• [in] id_contest : The ID of the contest you want to solve, written on every contest page.
• [in] username : (Optional if you use a file credentials.py) Your username.
• [in] password : (Optional if you use a file credentials.py) Your password.

Return value

A Contest object you have to use to retreive the variable values.

Example

cont = commence_contest(4, "Your nickname", "Your password")
# short form uses username, password from credentials.py
# cont = commence_contest(4)

CryptedText = cont.get_str('txt_crypte')
Key = cont.get_int('key')

Prototype / Description

Contest.get_str(variable_name)

Once you called commence_contest, you can retrieve the string variables values with this function.

Parameters

[in] variable_name : The identificator string of the variable you want to retrieve written on every contest page.

Return value

The string value of the variable.

Example

cont = commence_contest(4, "Your nickname", "Your password")

CryptedText = cont.get_str('txt_crypte')

Prototype / Description

Contest.get_int(variable_name)

Once you called commence_contest, you can retrieve the int variables values with this function.

Parameters

[in] variable_name : The identificator string of the variable you want to retrieve written on every contest page.

Return value

The value of the variable.

Example

cont = commence_contest(4, "Your nickname", "Your password")

Key = cont.get_int('key')

Prototype / Description

Contest.get_float(variable_name)

Once you called commence_contest, you can retrieve the float variables values with this function.

Parameters

[in] variable_name : The identificator string of the variable you want to retrieve written on every contest page.

Return value

The value of the variable.

Example

cont = commence_contest(2, "Your nickname", "Your password")

a = cont.get_float('a')
b = cont.get_float('b')
c = cont.get_float('c')

Prototype / Description

Contest.get_param(variable_name, type)

Once you called commence_contest, you can retrieve the variables values with this function.

Parameters

• [in] variable_name : The identificator string of the variable you want to retrieve written on every contest page.
• [in] type : The type of the variable, can be str, int or float

Return value

The value of the variable as a string.

Example

cont = commence_contest(4, "Your nickname", "Your password")

CryptedText = cont.get_param('txt_crypte', str)
Key = int(cont.get_param('key', int))

Prototype / Description

Contest.append_answer(variable_name, answer)

Once you solved the challenge, you need to add the answer(s) to the final solution. Then, you will call Contest.submit_answer that will send all your answers to the website. You should use this function to add variables to the solution.

Parameters

• [in] variable_name : The identificator string of the variable you want to send written on every contest page.
• [in] answer : The variable value (can be str, int or float variables)

Return value

N/A

Example

cont = commence_contest(1, "Your nickname", "Your password")

a = cont.get_int("a")
b = cont.get_int("b")

s = a + b

cont.append_answer("s", s)
print(cont.submit_answer())

Prototype / Description

Contest.submit_answer()

Once you solved the challenge and added all the answer variables to the solution, you need to call this function in order to send the solution to the website.

Parameters

N/A

Return value

A string informing you about the result.

Example

cont = commence_contest(1, "Your nickname", "Your password")

a = cont.get_int("a")
b = cont.get_int("b")

s = a + b

cont.append_answer("s", s)
print(cont.submit_answer())