PL/SQL Challenge Competition at Oracle Open World

[NOTE: I have updated this posting on 10 September to reflect changes in our plans for the PL/SQL Challenge competition at OOW. We will no longer use a special domain name - you will play at plsqlchallenge.com as usual. A brand-new posting on this blog will provide all current details.]

In the most recent newsletter, I included the following information about the upcoming PL/SQL Challenge competition at Oracle Open World:

As part of its sponsorship of the PL/SQL Challenge, OTN is also sponsoringa live PL/SQL Challenge competition during Oracle Open World. Instead of visiting the usual domain, you will take the quiz via oow.plsqlchallenge.com. When you submit your answer, you indicate if you are physically present at OOW. Then on Wednesday at 4:30 PM San Francisco time, we will gather at the OTN Lounge to give out lots and lots of prizes, some available to anyone who played anywhere in the world, some just for those who are physically present.

One player wrote to say: "One could read the text as if oow.plsqlchallenge.com is used instead of the

normal domain, although I don't think that is what you mean to say?"

In fact, that is precisely what I mean and here's a more complete explanation (we will also have lots more information available on the website as the date approaches):

From September 19 to September 22 (start and end times all in UTC), if you play the daily quiz, you will be eligible to win not only the usual PL/SQL Challenge prizes, but additional prizes that will be awarded after the quiz finishes on Wednesday, September 22nd.

In addition, if you are physically present at OOW, you may win special prizes reserved for those in attendance. When you submit your answers, you will be given the opportunity to check a box indicating that you are attending OOW and can pick up a prize in person.

I hope that clarifies matters.

Regards, Steven

Players cry "No choices right!" for 3 September quiz(1370)

The 3 September quiz regarding use of the RAISE; statement includes this paragraph: Each of the choices below contain code to create a procedure named proc2 (and in some cases, another procedure named show_error). After executing the code in each choice, I then want to run the following block and see an unhandled VALUE_ERROR exception ("ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error"). Several players wrote to say that none of the choices could be correct because all of them could only display at most the error code, but not the error message, since I called SQLCODE and not SQLERRM. That is true, but what I stated was that I want to "see an unhandled VALUE_ERROR exception." I then included the full message text in parentheses to be clear about how the VALUE_ERROR exception (defined in the STANDARD package) would appear as an unhandled Oracle error. I did not ask "What text will be displayed on the screen?" So I believe that the quiz was scored correctly and no changes will be made. Your thoughts?

Additional "Very Fast Answer" Adjustments Made

You may notice further changes in rankings, though not at the top. I realized today, as I was preparing the next PL/SQL Challenge newsletter, that not everyone whose answers were astonishingly fast had been adjusted. I looked more closely at my algorithm and found that I was restricting the adjustment only to those in the top 10 rankings.

Obviously, that is not appropriate.

So I applied it more broadly and 48 players were bumped down in the rankings.

SF

Adjustments made, adjustments planned, playoff approaching

I just finished the adjustments for "very fast answers" for the period 15 August to 31 August. You will see some changes in the rankings soon. This is my least favorite part of the PL/SQL Challenge: to have to even imply that maybe some players are violating rules. I hate it, but what else can I do? If your pattern of play is indistinguishable from someone who cheats, I must taken action to protect the credibility of the daily quiz.

So please: take your time, read the questions and choices thoroughly and carefully. Enjoy and learn!

I will also in the coming week to ten days apply the first round of "forgiveness" adjustments - up to 10 missed quizzes and/or 0 scores will be "forgiven" according to an algorithm defined on the Rules page of plsqlchallenge.com.

And then....the second quarter in the history of the PL/SQL Challenge will come to an end, which means we will be holding our second championship playoff in mid-October. So sharpen your pencils and your wits - and do everything you can to boost your score in this last month of the quarter.

Don't be discouraged if your rank is not that high - you can still gain entry into the playoff through a wildcard selection. See the Rules page for more details.

Before we announce participants, we will do another round of adjustments (for very fast answers and forgiveness).

I also expect to upgrade to version 1.6 of PL/SQL Challenge before the playoff, hold a special PL/SQL Challenge competition for Oracle Open World, and lots more!

Soon, soon, soon, you will receive a newsletter will details of the above and much more, so be on the lookout for that.

Regards,
Steven Feuerstein
"Obsessed with PL/SQL - and what's wrong with that?"