Welcome to Al Zimmermann's Programming Contests. You've entered an arena where demented computer programmers compete for glory and for some cool prizes.

I run one or two contests per year. Each contest asks that you come up with your best solutions to a set of computationally intensive problems, generally involving sophisticated heuristics. Although I speak of "programming contests", technically you don't need to write a computer program to enter. You can enter whether you use a computer, manual calculations, or tea leaves to solve the problems. You send me solutions, not programs.

To enter a contest, you need to register. Once registered, you submit your solutions through this website. You get instant feedback and your name immediately appears on the contest's standings page where, if you've done well, you can start to bask in some of that aforementioned glory.

In addition to contests, this site also hosts collaborative efforts, allowing participants to work together to solve interestingly difficult problems.