Hey all,

Just a heads up: registration opened about a week ago for the 2006 ICFP
Programming Contest.  This year's contest is being organized by the POP
group at Carnegie Mellon, and promises to be quite a bit different from
previous years' competitions -- hopefully better :)

The somewhat cryptic theme offered is "computational archaeolinguistics".
O'Caml teams have traditionally made a strong showing in the past, though
the coveted first and second prizes have eluded them in recent years.
Maybe it's time for a triumphant return!

The standard announcement follows below.  Stay tuned to icfpcontest.org for
details as they develop.

cheers,
William


--- 9th annual ICFP Programming Contest ---

Language lovers:

Registration is now open for the 9th Annual ICFP Programming Contest!

    http://icfpcontest.org/

The contest, associated with the International Conference on
Functional Programming, will be held on the weekend of July 21-24. The
contest task will be released at noon EDT on Friday, and entries will
be accepted until noon EDT on Monday. Registration is free and open to
all. Teams may participate from any location, and may use any
programming language(s). Last year, 360 participants formed 161 teams
from 26 countries.

Prize money totaling $1750 US will be awarded to help defray the costs
of travel to the conference for the winners and for small cash prizes.
In addition, the winners of the contest will receive bragging rights
for the programming language of their choice. This makes the contest a
popular avenue for demonstrating the superiority of a favorite
language, or for exercising an experimental tool.

Though the specifics are secret until the contest begins, we promise
that this year's task will be very different from past competitions.
The theme is "computational archaeolinguistics."

Stay tuned for more information as the contest approaches!

  - 2006 Contest Organizers
    CMU Principles of Programming Group