UIL Computer Science Contest

Intro Slide

How do I prepare myself to compete in the UIL State Contest in Computer Science?

The discussion that follows is an answer to that question. We will talk about a systematic approach to training.

Structure of the Contest

The first thing that you must know is the structure of the CS contest and the rules. And the best place to start is UIL Academics page:

https://www.uiltexas.org/academics/stem/computer-science

Let us discuss those rules of the contest.

Once you are aware of the contest and the rules, then you should download the current Topics List and study it very carefully. On the second page of the Topics list are the first 15 questions. These are questions that you must not miss. Note that the last two questions are free response questions.

Basic Syntax of Java

Even though the topics list covers everything that will be on the UIL CS Contest it is not in the order that you study. Here is an outline of topics that makes better sense.

• Arithmetic in binary, octal and hexadecimal
• Write the Hello World program
• Characterset - ASCII and Unicode
• Formation of variables
• Types - primitive types and reference types
• Statements and expressions
• Simple assignment statements
• Operators
• Arithmetic: +, -, *, /, %, ++, --
• Comparison: <, ≤, >, ≥, ==, !=
• Boolean: !, &&, ||
• Bitwise: &, |, ~, ^
• Shift: <<, >>, >>>
• Conditionals: if-else, switch
• Loops: while, for, do-while, foreach
• Methods: built-in, library, user-defined
• Libraries: math, string, random
• Arrays: 1-D and 2-D
• Input / Output: console, files

Here are some great sites to get started on programming:

• Coding Bat
• Geeks for Geeks
• Leet Code

Object Oriented Programming

There are four main principles in Object Oriented programming that you have to master:

• Abstraction
• Encapsulation
• Inheritance
• Polymorphism

• Object Oriented Programming Concepts
• Classes and Objects
• Interfaces and Inheritance

Recursion

Some of the more difficult problems in the UIL Written Test involves tracing recursive code. There are some problems on the programming contest that can only be solved through recursion. Here are some resources to get you started:

• MIT Reading on Recursion
• Tracing Recursive Code
• Exercises in Recursion

Basic Data Structures and Algorithms

You have to know your basic algorithms in sorting, searching and merging.

• Visualization of Sorting Algorithms
• Animations of Searching Algorithms

• Tutorial on Data Structures
• Data Structures and Algorithms Part I
• Data Structures and Algorithms Part II

Classes of Algorithms

There are four classes of algorithms that you must be familiar with

• Brute Force
• Greedy
• Divide and Conquer
• Dynamic Programming

Special Topics

There are two special topics that you might see on the written test.

• Regular Expressions
• Lambda Expressions

Beyond Basic Programming

What do you do when you have gone beyond the basic syntax and programming in Java?

• Training Site for USA Computing Olympiad
• ICPC Global
• CS 104C: Competitive Programming
• Practice problems on Kattis
• ACM Challenge Problems
• Advanced Algorithms
• Logic Problems for Fun