Friends,
I have used this blog to make announcements regarding the PL/SQL Challenge since April 2010.
We had a great run, and now we can look forward to a greater future, as the PL/SQL Challenge is now an Oracle website:
plsqlchallenge.oracle.com
And that's not all: we now have an official blog at the official Oracle blogsphere:
blogs.oracle.com/plsqlchallenge
So all future announcements will happen there.
Thanks for all your support and dedication over the years!
Warm regards,
Steven Feuerstein
The PL/SQL Challenge (www.plsqlchallenge.com) offers a daily quiz on the PL/SQL language, through which thousands of Oracle technologists demonstrate and deepen their knowledge of PL/SQL. This blog contains posts by the PL/SQL Challenge founder, Steven Feuerstein, as well as comments from players.
10 June 2015
PL/SQL Challenge Website Joining Oracle!
When I (re)joined Oracle in March 2014, the PL/SQL Challenge website was also acquired by Oracle. I'd been thinking that in a few months or so, we'd have it up and running on an Oracle server, re-branded with lots of red.
But then, well, I got kind of busy with all sorts of other stuff. My bad.
But I am very happy to announce that over the coming weekend (13-14 June), PL/SQL Challenge will go offline for hopefully no more than a few days and then resurface as an Oracle website.
And that's why for the first time in five years, we will not offer new, competitive quizzes on SQL or PL/SQL or anything else this coming week (we will still put up some of our "deja vu" quizzes). I don't want to set up quizzes and then not give you sufficient time to take them (and you never quite know what's going to happen so....).
Now, those of you who've been to the website know that we use lots of orange (why? Because it's a pleasant color and also is the thematic color of my Oracle PL/SQL books published by O'Reilly Media):
You are probably also very familiar with Oracle's use of red:
Well, do not worry - we are not going to replace all that orange with red. That would make the website unreadable, an assault on the eyes. But come 15 June, our banner will be transformed as follows:
Chills running down my spine....so exciting!
The site will be largely unchanged from current functioning. You will, however, need to accept the Oracle Terms of Use. In addition, since some players may have been using an email address on the PL/SQL Challenge different from their Oracle Single Sign-on email, we will give you an opportunity to synchronize the two accounts:
The "fine print" asks you to authorize us to transfer profile information from the PL/SQL Challenge to your Oracle Profile. We are asking for this, because the PL/SQL Challenge collected all sorts of profile information, some of which is already in your Oracle Profile, which is the "source of truth" at Oracle. So you will no longer be able to provide your name, country or company in the PL/SQL Challenge. Instead this information is stored in your Oracle Profile.
We plan over time to integrate points on the PL/SQL Challenge with OTN community rankings, but that may take a little while to complete. Do not worry, though! All your hard work and dedication on this site will be recognized.
I look forward to a greatly increased level of quiz-taking activity, as well as a broader array of quizzes offered, and I hope you do, too!
11 May 2015
Obfuscated SQL Contest Winners!
Chris Saxon and Kim Berg Hansen collaborated to offer an Obfuscated SQL Contest:
Daylight savings changes are coming in across the world! Scheduling meetings with colleagues across the globe is always a challenge. With different countries switching on different dates (and some not switching at all!) through March this is even harder. To help us navigate this, we'd like a SQL query that returns the current date and time for different timezones. There is, however, a twist. We don't want plain or boring or readable SQL.
We want the most ingenious, creative, quirky and downright weird SQL you can muster to perform this task.
And thus begins the Obfuscated SQL Contest.
The challenge:
Write a single SQL statement that returns the current date and time for all the following locations:
Bangalore, London, New York, Chicago and Denver.
The rules:
- The output must match this format (all on one line):
BAN - DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS; LON - DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS; NEW - DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS; CHI - DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS; DEN - DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS
- Maximum length the SQL statement can be is 4,000 characters (after removing unnecessary whitespace)
- Supply the minimum version of Oracle required to execute the query and (if relevant) the maximum
- You cannot create any additional objects yourself. However you can use any objects supplied with the default installation of Oracle Enterprise Edition
The judging panel will pick a winner or winners based on the following criteria:
- Using little-known or rarely-used features of Oracle
- Exploiting features for something other than their intended purpose
- Making use of multiple features within a single query
- Quirky, funny or otherwise ingenious SQL code
53 players submitted some crazy SQL, and Chris and Kim have selected the winner and runners-up:
Overall winner: Stelios Vlasopoulos
Runner up: Sean Stuber
Runner up: James Su
Thanks to everyone for participating in this contest. We hope to do more in the future.
Check out all the details here.
26 March 2015
Tweaking the Weekly Quizzes at the PL/SQL Challenge
We've decided a couple of things:
And we will add a Deja Vu SQL quiz.
- Enough with the really dull names as in "Weekly SQL Quiz".
- It's time to start up Deja Vu quizzes for SQL, Database Design, and Logic.
So starting on 4 April 2015 (just shy of the fifth anniversary of the PL/SQL Challenge)....
SQL Quizzes
We will rename and continue the weekly SQL quiz as Select from SQL.
Database Design Quizzes
The weekly Database Design quiz will be renamed to Dynamite DB Design, but otherwise continue unchanged.
And we will add a Deja Vu DB Design quiz.
Logic Quizzes
The weekly Logic quiz will be renamed to I Love Logic, and will free itself from the constraints of our Mastermind-style quiz and offer various formats of logic puzzlers.
And we will add a Deja Vu Logic quiz.
Annual Championships
For 2015 and beyond, the rankings of all competitive quizzes (Oracle Magazine and Deja Vu quizzes are, for example, not competitive) in a domain will be combined to determine eligibility in the annual championships.
16 March 2015
Results of 2014 PL/SQL Championship
You will find below the rankings for the 2014 PL/SQL Championship; the number next to the player's name is the number of times that player has participated in a championship (you will see "1" for all players, since this was the first annual PL/SQL championship).
Congratulations first and foremost to our top-ranked players:
1st Place: mentzel.iudith of Israel
2nd Place: Andrey Zaytsev of Russia
3rd Place: _tiki_4_ of Germany
Next, congratulations to everyone who played in the championship. I hope you found it entertaining, challenging and educational. And for those who were not able to participate in the championship, you can take the quizzes next week through the Practice feature. We will also make the championship as a whole available as a Test, so you can take it just like these players did.
Finally, a big thanks to our reviewers, especially Elic, who not only reviewed three quizzes but also wrote two - a tremendous help for a busy Oracle Developer Advocate for PL/SQL (that is, me).
Steven Feuerstein
Congratulations first and foremost to our top-ranked players:
1st Place: mentzel.iudith of Israel
2nd Place: Andrey Zaytsev of Russia
3rd Place: _tiki_4_ of Germany
Next, congratulations to everyone who played in the championship. I hope you found it entertaining, challenging and educational. And for those who were not able to participate in the championship, you can take the quizzes next week through the Practice feature. We will also make the championship as a whole available as a Test, so you can take it just like these players did.
Finally, a big thanks to our reviewers, especially Elic, who not only reviewed three quizzes but also wrote two - a tremendous help for a busy Oracle Developer Advocate for PL/SQL (that is, me).
Steven Feuerstein
| Rank | Name | Country | Total Time | % Correct | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mentzel.iudith (1) | Israel | 32 mins 37 secs | 88% | 7520 |
| 2 | Andrey Zaytsev (1) | Russia | 34 mins 50 secs | 84% | 7211 |
| 3 | _tiki_4_ (1) | Germany | 22 mins 00 secs | 83% | 7112 |
| 4 | Karel Prech (1) | Czech Republic | 33 mins 25 secs | 83% | 7066 |
| 5 | Ravshan Abbasov (1) | Uzbekistan | 29 mins 50 secs | 81% | 6931 |
| 6 | VictorD (1) | Russia | 30 mins 20 secs | 81% | 6929 |
| 7 | Jeroen Rutte (1) | Netherlands | 34 mins 52 secs | 81% | 6911 |
| 8 | João Barreto (1) | Portugal | 24 mins 07 secs | 79% | 6804 |
| 9 | Pavel Noga (1) | Czech Republic | 33 mins 56 secs | 78% | 6614 |
| 10 | Michal Cvan (1) | Slovakia | 34 mins 23 secs | 78% | 6612 |
| 11 | dmitrysk (1) | Russia | 31 mins 41 secs | 76% | 6473 |
| 12 | Kuvardin Evgeniy (1) | Russia | 34 mins 22 secs | 76% | 6463 |
| 13 | Chad Lee (1) | United States | 25 mins 14 secs | 74% | 6349 |
| 14 | Viacheslav Stepanov (1) | Russia | 33 mins 58 secs | 74% | 6314 |
| 15 | Siim Kask (1) | Estonia | 33 mins 59 secs | 74% | 6314 |
| 16 | Ivan Blanarik (1) | Slovakia | 31 mins 13 secs | 72% | 6175 |
| 17 | Marcus Matzberger (1) | Germany | 27 mins 44 secs | 71% | 6039 |
| 18 | Rytis Budreika (1) | Lithuania | 16 mins 42 secs | 69% | 5933 |
| 19 | gobruins (1) | United States | 23 mins 35 secs | 69% | 5906 |
| 20 | Christoph Hillinger (1) | Austria | 28 mins 51 secs | 69% | 5885 |
| 21 | Niels Hecker (1) | Germany | 30 mins 28 secs | 69% | 5878 |
| 22 | Patrick Barel (1) | Netherlands | 20 mins 23 secs | 67% | 5768 |
| 23 | swart260 (1) | Netherlands | 32 mins 36 secs | 67% | 5720 |
| 24 | Jan Šerák (1) | Czech Republic | 33 mins 08 secs | 67% | 5717 |
| 25 | Chase Mei (1) | Canada | 34 mins 26 secs | 67% | 5712 |
| 26 | Joaquin Gonzalez (1) | Spain | 17 mins 40 secs | 66% | 5629 |
| 27 | Ingimundur Gudmundsson (1) | Norway | 33 mins 18 secs | 66% | 5567 |
| 28 | Martin_Scholz_Berlin_München (1) | Germany | 34 mins 31 secs | 64% | 5412 |
| 29 | Krzysztof Helbin (1) | Poland | 14 mins 10 secs | 62% | 5343 |
| 30 | Rakesh Dadhich (1) | India | 18 mins 53 secs | 62% | 5324 |
| 31 | Leszek Grudzień (1) | Poland | 24 mins 59 secs | 62% | 5300 |
| 32 | tonyC (1) | United Kingdom | 32 mins 23 secs | 62% | 5270 |
| 33 | Henry Abeska (1) | Czech Republic | 22 mins 26 secs | 55% | 4710 |
| 34 | Alex Stirbu (1) | Romania | 23 mins 47 secs | 55% | 4705 |
| 35 | Sean Molloy (1) | United States | 31 mins 56 secs | 55% | 4672 |
| 36 | Manfred Kleander (1) | Austria | 34 mins 28 secs | 55% | 4662 |
| 37 | Pavel Vorontsov (1) | Russia | 11 mins 29 secs | 53% | 4604 |
| 38 | Stelios Vlasopoulos (1) | Belgium | 24 mins 22 secs | 50% | 4253 |
| 39 | Jerry Bull (1) | United States | 02 mins 45 secs | 10% | 889 |
03 March 2015
Results of 2014 Annual Logic Championship
You will find below the rankings for the 2014 Logic Championship; the number next to the player's name is the number of times that player has participated in a championship.
Congratulations first and foremost to our top-ranked players:
1st Place: Mehrab of United Kingdom - 100% correct!
2nd Place: Christoph Hillinger of Austria - 98% correct!
3rd Place: Rytis Budreika of Lithuania - 98% correct!
Next, congratulations to everyone who played in the championship. I hope you found it entertaining, challenging and educational. And for those who were not able to participate in the championship, you can take the quizzes next week through the Practice feature. We will also make the championship as a whole available as a Test, so you can take it just like these players did.
This championship marks a big change for the Logic quizzes. For several years we have used a Mastermind-like format for our quizzes. Yet we also published (and, of course, anyone could also write) automated solvers for Mastermind.
As a result, we changed our quizzes for the championship and expect to do so for the weekly quizzes as well.
Steven Feuerstein
PS - Below the table of results for this championship, you will find another list showing the championship history of each of these players.
| Rank | Name | Country | Total Time | % Correct | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mehrab (2) | United Kingdom | 44 mins 28 secs | 100% | 4159 |
| 2 | Christoph Hillinger (2) | Austria | 32 mins 22 secs | 98% | 4086 |
| 3 | Rytis Budreika (2) | Lithuania | 38 mins 16 secs | 98% | 4069 |
| 4 | gobruins (2) | United States | 26 mins 29 secs | 95% | 3996 |
| 5 | Viacheslav Stepanov (2) | Russia | 44 mins 03 secs | 95% | 3946 |
| 6 | Rich Dellheim (2) | United States | 39 mins 57 secs | 93% | 3850 |
| 7 | Pavel Zeman (1) | Czech Republic | 43 mins 42 secs | 93% | 3839 |
| 8 | craig.mcfarlane (1) | Norway | 44 mins 13 secs | 93% | 3838 |
| 9 | Naresh Kumar (2) | Malaysia | 44 mins 53 secs | 93% | 3836 |
| 10 | Hamid Talebian (1) | Netherlands | 38 mins 58 secs | 90% | 3746 |
| 11 | Elic (2) | Belarus | 42 mins 45 secs | 90% | 3735 |
| 12 | JasonC (2) | United Kingdom | 35 mins 05 secs | 85% | 3543 |
| 13 | katuinbouter (2) | Netherlands | 42 mins 48 secs | 85% | 3521 |
| 14 | NickL (1) | United Kingdom | 43 mins 18 secs | 85% | 3519 |
| 15 | Jerry Bull (2) | United States | 44 mins 06 secs | 83% | 3410 |
| 16 | danad (2) | Czech Republic | 44 mins 46 secs | 83% | 3408 |
| 17 | Kuvardin Evgeniy (1) | Russia | 44 mins 07 secs | 80% | 3303 |
| 18 | mentzel.iudith (2) | Israel | 43 mins 45 secs | 78% | 3196 |
| 19 | Sandra99 (2) | Italy | 44 mins 34 secs | 78% | 3194 |
| 20 | Telmoc (1) | Portugal | 40 mins 18 secs | 65% | 2671 |
| 21 | Niels Hecker (2) | Germany | 43 mins 35 secs | 65% | 2661 |
| 22 | Eric Levin (1) | United States | 44 mins 54 secs | 65% | 2657 |
| 23 | Krzysztof Helbin (1) | Poland | 29 mins 45 secs | 63% | 2594 |
| 24 | Alex Stirbu (1) | Romania | 44 mins 02 secs | 63% | 2553 |
| 25 | Köteles Zsolt (1) | Hungary | 44 mins 07 secs | 63% | 2553 |
| 26 | Sean Molloy (2) | United States | 44 mins 32 secs | 63% | 2551 |
| 27 | Justin Cave (2) | United States | 40 mins 46 secs | 60% | 2455 |
| 28 | tommyTT (1) | Poland | 41 mins 40 secs | 60% | 2452 |
| 29 | Stelios Vlasopoulos (2) | Belgium | 43 mins 45 secs | 60% | 2446 |
| 30 | MarkM. (2) | Germany | 44 mins 42 secs | 60% | 2444 |
| 31 | Chad Lee (2) | United States | 44 mins 13 secs | 58% | 2338 |
| 32 | Zoran Krekic (1) | Croatia | 24 mins 52 secs | 55% | 2286 |
| 33 | Jason H (2) | United States | 37 mins 07 secs | 50% | 2037 |
| 34 | Oleksiy Varchyn (1) | Norway | 17 mins 01 secs | 48% | 1987 |
| 36 | Henry Abeska (1) | Czech Republic | 25 mins 19 secs | 38% | 1535 |
| 37 | Cor van Berkel (1) | Netherlands | 10 mins 48 secs | 25% | 1041 |
| 38 | AndreyBerliner (1) | Ukraine | 19 mins 26 secs | 23% | 909 |
Championship Performance History
After each name, the quarter in which he or she played, and the ranking in that championship.| Name | History |
|---|---|
| Mehrab | 2013:30th, 2014:1st |
| Christoph Hillinger | 2013:18th, 2014:2nd |
| Rytis Budreika | 2013:12th, 2014:3rd |
| gobruins | 2014:4th |
| Viacheslav Stepanov | 2013:1st, 2014:5th |
| Rich Dellheim | 2013:31st, 2014:6th |
| Pavel Zeman | 2014:7th |
| craig.mcfarlane | 2014:8th |
| Naresh Kumar | 2014:9th |
| Hamid Talebian | 2014:10th |
| Elic | 2013:13th, 2014:11th |
| JasonC | 2013:35th, 2014:12th |
| katuinbouter | 2013:21st, 2014:13th |
| NickL | 2014:14th |
| Jerry Bull | 2013:2nd, 2014:15th |
| danad | 2013:23rd, 2014:16th |
| Kuvardin Evgeniy | 2014:17th |
| mentzel.iudith | 2013:4th, 2014:18th |
| Sandra99 | 2013:17th, 2014:19th |
| Telmoc | 2014:20th |
| Niels Hecker | 2013:3rd, 2014:21st |
| Eric Levin | 2014:22nd |
| Krzysztof Helbin | 2014:23rd |
| Alex Stirbu | 2014:24th |
| Köteles Zsolt | 2014:25th |
| Sean Molloy | 2013:24th, 2014:26th |
| Justin Cave | 2014:27th |
| tommyTT | 2014:28th |
| Stelios Vlasopoulos | 2013:16th, 2014:29th |
| MarkM. | 2013:10th, 2014:30th |
| Chad Lee | 2013:34th, 2014:31st |
| Zoran Krekic | 2014:32nd |
| Jason H | 2013:14th, 2014:33rd |
| Oleksiy Varchyn | 2014:34th |
| PLCHTEST | 2014:35th |
| Henry Abeska | 2014:36th |
| Cor van Berkel | 2014:37th |
| AndreyBerliner | 2014:38th |
26 February 2015
PL/SQL Championship for 26 February Postponed
We will NOT hold the championship today.
Even if the website becomes available within next two hours, I do not want to take a chance at starting the competition and then having problems before it is done.
We will reschedule for a day and time in March.
Participants will receive an email for a new date and time soon.
But based on requests from the last one, I will put this out idea out now:
What do you think of holding the championship on Saturday?
More specifically, please post a comment here if you are participating in the 2014 PL/SQL championship and you cannot or do not want to compete on Saturday
Even if the website becomes available within next two hours, I do not want to take a chance at starting the competition and then having problems before it is done.
We will reschedule for a day and time in March.
Participants will receive an email for a new date and time soon.
But based on requests from the last one, I will put this out idea out now:
What do you think of holding the championship on Saturday?
More specifically, please post a comment here if you are participating in the 2014 PL/SQL championship and you cannot or do not want to compete on Saturday
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)