The 2008 Winter Scripting Games
Sudden Death Challenge Event 9: The Third Time Was Not a Charm
Important: The deadline for this event has passed. You can find the solution here. |
In The Third Time Was Not a Charm competitors must write a script that can remove extraneous symbols from a string value.
Note. The Sudden Death Challenge is a separate competition from the main Scripting Games and Scripting Games events; although anyone can enter the Sudden Death Challenge, it’s primarily designed for those people who manage to breeze through the main Scripting Games events in a day or two. To enter the main Scripting Games, click here. To enter Event 9 of the Sudden Death Challenge, well, keep reading.
On This Page
 | About This Sudden Death Challenge Event |
| Sudden Death Challenge Event Scenario |
| How to Enter This Sudden Death Challenge Event |
About This Sudden Death Challenge Event
Deadline | Friday, February 29, 2008 3:00 PM PST |
Points Awarded | 1 point in the Sudden Death Challenge |
Sudden Death Challenge Event Scenario
We said we would never do it again and yet guess what happened? We did it again:
T#$h!e ()200$~``8 W,\i|n<:;>t.?e&^%-r S#=_cri??{}p()-t@@@i|[[ng G!@!am=_+e^%s/.,
Unless you’re new to the Sudden Death Challenge you have an idea what the preceding line of text is supposed to look like; it’s supposed to look like this:
The 2008 Winter Scripting Games
Unfortunately, as the Games go on (and on!) our typing appears to be getting worse (and worse!). This time around, we inadvertently included a bunch of crazy symbols – such as #, $, and ! – when we tried typing The 2008 Winter Scripting Games.
So what does that mean for you? Once more that means that we need your help in turning our nonsense string into The 2008 Winter Scripting Games. Using a VBScript, Windows PowerShell, or Perl script, can you remove everything that isn’t a letter or a number (or a blank space) from our string value? In other words, can you write a script that turns this:
T#$h!e ()200$~``8 W,\i|n<:;>t.?e&^%-r S#=_cri??{}p()-t@@@i|[[ng G!@!am=_+e^%s/.,
Into this:
The 2008 Winter Scripting Games
If you want to, you can try to copy and paste our mistyped text directly off this Web page. However, we don’t recommend that; we can’t guarantee that the spacing and formatting will come out correctly. Instead, we recommend you read the data in from the file Symbols.txt, which is included in the Competitor’s Pack. Just make sure you place this file in the folder C:\Scripts. If you don’t, your script is unlikely to work when we test it.
How to Enter This Sudden Death Challenge Event
After completing the script, click here to submit your entry. If the link doesn’t automatically open a pre-addressed message, send email to scripter@microsoft.com (in English, if possible) with the subject line Sudden Death Challenge: Event 9.
All you have to do is paste your solution into the body of the message and then send the mail. You may also include the following:
| • | A name or nickname we can use to identify you when posting Sudden Death Challenge points leaders. |
| • | The name of the country you would like to represent. This might be your country of birth or the country you currently live in, but it doesn’t have to be; you can represent any country you wish. |
Note that Sudden Death points/participation will not be included in either the User Group or International Challenges.
You can simply type these items in at the top of the email. In that case, your email might look something like this:
Ken Myer
USA
For i = 1 to 100
Wscript.Echo i
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