Milwaukee School of Engineering, 2026

Contents

Setting Up Your Laptop

MSOE Laptops

  1. Click on the “Sign in” button on the welcome screen. No password is needed.
  2. Laptops have been configured to access wireless network MSOE-Guest. Ensure you are connected to this network.

Note: Occasionally, the laptop may ask if you want to download and install various updates. Always decline these prompts.

Team-Supplied Laptops

For teams in Diercks Hall, connect to the WiFi network MSOE-Guest. No password is needed. Teams in the ITC will connect to DirectSupplyGuest. The password is posted many places around the ITC.

Note: All file locations discussed in these instructions are recommendations, not requirements. You may set up the projects and files in any fashion you choose. The contents of the laptop are not visible to the judges. Only the source files that you submit via the scoring website will be used for evaluation.

Using Java

Intellij

IntelliJ is a popular, full-featured integrated development environment for Java programmers.

  1. Double-click the IntelliJ icon on the desktop.
  2. In the Welcome panel, click on New Project in the upper right.
  3. Ensure Java is selected, change the Name to practice, and click Create. When working on problems, you will use names like Problem1, Problem2, etc. For the project location, browse to a convenient folder such as your Documents folder.
  4. You will see an initial program. You can run this if you like, but you will want to change its name as discussed in the next step. If IntelliJ asks about excluding folders from Microsoft Defender, you can answer yes, but either answer works fine.
  5. Important: the class and file will be named Main.java. You must change this so judges know what problem is being solved. Right click on the class name (right after public class), select Refactor and then Rename…, and rename the Main class to Practice. For solutions to problems, use the names Problem1, Problem2, etc. Doing this will also change the filename, which is good since the judge will use that to know which problem is being solved.
  6. Click on any of the green arrows to run your program. You will see a console output window with your text on it. If prompted, select Run ‘Main’.
  7. Modify and re-run the program until it is adequately tested and works on all cases.
  8. Select Save All from the File menu.
  9. Follow the instructions at Submitting Programs to submit your solution.

Additional IntelliJ Notes

  • Red squiggles mark source code errors. You can hover your mouse over the text to get an error message or click on the Problems tab at the bottom of the screen to see a full list of issues.
  • You can use the same project for all of your solutions, just naming them Problem1, Problem2, and so on. Each will have its own main, and you can use the drop-down next to the green arrow in the upper right to control which solution is being run.
  • When a program needs to open a data file, be sure the data file is in the “top level” project directory; this is a directory that will contain src as a subdirectory.

BlueJ

BlueJ is used to develop Java code at many institutions.

  1. Double-click the BlueJ icon on the desktop.

  2. Project | New Project…

  3. Enter C:\BlueJProjects\ in the Location name field.

  4. Enter probN (e.g., “prob3”) in the Name field.

  5. Click “OK”

  6. Click New Class…

  7. Enter “ProbN” for the name.

  8. Click “OK”.

  9. Double-click the “probN” block icon. This will open an edit window for your program.

  10. Add the declaration for main():

    public static void main(String[] args) {
}

    It is important to add this since it is required for judges running your program.

  11. Write your program. For practice, greet the user:

    System.out.println("Hello from MSOE!");

  12. Click “Compile”. If there are errors, fix them and recompile.

  13. To run program, right-click on the block icon in the project screen. Select void main(String[] args) from the menu. Click “Ok” to specify no arguments. A console window will appear with your program’s output and will accept your keyboard input.

  14. When you are satisfied, select Project | Close

  15. Follow the instructions at Submitting Programs for Judging to submit your solution. Note, if you followed these instructions, your source file will be located at C:\BlueJProjects\[project name]\[class name].java. This is the file to submit for judging.

Command Line Java

The Java command line compiler and JVM are available for those who prefer that environment.

  1. Double-click the Notepad++ icon on the desktop. This is a good, light-weight text editor for Java code. It will start with a new blank file. Select File | Save As and navigate to C:\JavaCode and save the file with a name such as ProbN.java where N is the problem you are working on.

  2. Enter your Java program. Make sure there is a main method, since that is where the judge will start your program. See Hello.java for an example.

  3. When you are ready to test your program, save the file. You may close Notepad++ or leave it open.

  4. Use the Windows Start button to open a Command Prompt.

  5. Change directory to C:\JavaCode:

    cd C:\JavaCode

  6. Compile the program by running the compiler: javac ProbN.java If errors are found, fix them by editing the source file.

  7. Run the program: java ProbN

  8. Follow the instructions at Submitting Programs to submit your solution. Your source file will be located at C:\JavaCode\[class name].java. This is the file to submit for judging.

Python

Spyder

An integrated development environment (IDE) for Python. See the Spyder site for more information.

  1. Click on the Spyder icon on the desk top.
  2. Click on File|Save As…, browse to C:\PythonCode, and save the file with the name of the problem such as prob1.py or prob2.py.
  3. Enter the program.
  4. Click on the green arrow at the top to run your program. The output will show up in the Console window in the lower right.
  5. Follow the instructions at Submitting Programs to submit your solution.

Anaconda

Anaconda allows you to run Python code from the command prompt:

  1. Use Notepad++ or another text editor to edit your Python source code. Save it in C:\PythonCode. It is recommended that you use filenames like prob5.py.

  2. Run “Anaconda Prompt” from the desktop.

  3. Change to the python code directory:

    cd \PythonCode

  4. Run your code; for example, python prob5.py

  5. If your leading whitespace is a mixture of tabs and spaces, you may violate Python formatting rules. In Notepad++, select Edit|Blank Operations|Tab to Space (or “Space to Tab (Leading)”) to clean up the formatting.

  6. Follow the instructions at Submitting Programs to submit your solution.

C++

C++ can be installed to run from the command line, but this is only recommended for teams with experience in doing so. Ask for help if you wish to pursue this and do not know where to start.

Microsoft Visual Studio

Visual Studio has strong support for C++:

  1. Click on the Visual Studio Code icon on the taskbar.
  2. Select File | New File… and enter a file name such as prob1.cpp. VSCode will prompt you for a location, select C:\cpp. Other problems will be prob2.cpp, etc.
  3. Create a main and write your code. See hello.cpp for an example.
  4. Find the open triangle ▷ in the upper right corner and downarrow just to its right. Select Run C/C++ File. There will be a prompt at the top of the screen saying “Select a debug configuration”. Pick the option C/C++: g++.exe build and debug active file. If there are any errors, click on the PROBLEMS tab to review them. Recompile after fixing them.
  5. The program will run in the TERMINAL tab. Correct any errors and run until it is working.
  6. When you are ready for your program to be judged, follow the instructions at Submitting Programs to submit your solution. If you followed these instructions, the file you should submit will be located at C:\cpp\[name].cpp.

Submitting Programs

Using the competition management website

NOTE: You will not be able to submit solutions until the contest starts. But read through these directions so that you can submit when the time comes.

  1. Visit msoeopcomp.org/contest.
  2. Click on New User.
  3. Enter the Username you received when you registered. Note this is different than your school name. Pick a reasonably good password: two randomly chosen words work well. Click Set Password. Make sure you write the password somewhere safe. It can be reset, but that takes time.
  4. You can click on the Standings tab to view standings across all teams. However, the standings should be displayed from a public computer where you can see them. A good hint is to look at solving problems many other teams have already solved!
  5. To submit, click on the Home tab and click on the small arrow at the right end of the box for the problem you wish to submit. Practice: there is a practice tool built into the submittal system. Click on the Hello World problem and submit a trivial source file. The language (or even whether the code works) is not important since judges will not see these solutions. Click on the Submit button; the system will respond with an “incorrect solution” message. This is to show you the appearance of an incorrect solution message. Resubmit, and this time the system will automatically mark your solution as correct.
    NOTE: this is the only place where the system responds automatically. The real solutions are judged by hand and all responses are written by the judges.
  6. During the contest, when you have a solution to a problem, you will repeat the above steps for that problem, clicking on Choose File to select the source code file (e.g., prob1.java) to submit from your computer.
  7. Click on the green Submit button.
  8. Once it is scored, you will see a small red circle if it failed or a green checkbox if it passed. You can click on the arrow to view the feedback.
  9. You may see a small white box at the top of the screen next to the Announcements tab. This indicates a new announcement; browse to the Announcements tab to view it.

You can resubmit solutions, but note that you lose points for each incorrect solution you submit. Let a student worker know if you have additional questions about why a submission was incorrect.

When a problem statement mentions data files, these will be available on the same page as the problems. See the next section for details.

Data Files

Sample data files are provided for some programming problems. These are provided on the Home tab during the competition. When you click on a problem, if that problem has data files then there will be an expandable box for them. Click on the ^ to the right to expand, and use the download button to download each file. The data files will be saved in your standard download location. Ask a floor assistant for help if you cannot find them. There is a view button as well, but this is intended for a quick way to view files during the contest; you should only run your code against files saved using the download button. This ensures your data file is formatted the same way as the files used by judges. If you need additional test cases, it is good to leave the original data files untouched; copy the provided files and edit the copies instead.

Where to store your data files

  • Java with IntelliJ: in the top directory of your project, the directory that contains your src directory.
  • Java with BlueJ: in the project subdirectory, such as C:\BlueJProjects\prob7\data.txt.
  • Java from the Command Line: in the source subdirectory such as C:\JavaCode\data.txt.
  • Python using Spyder or Anaconda: in the source subdirectory, such as C:\PythonCode\data.txt.
  • C++: in the source subdirectory such as C:\cpp\data.txt.

Note: All file locations discussed in these instructions are recommendations, not requirements. You may set up the projects and files in any fashion you choose. The contents of the laptop are not visible to the judges. Only the source files that you submit via the scoring website will be used for evaluation.

Be careful with file extensions

When saving a data file, Windows sometimes adds an extra extension. For example, input.txt can be accidentally saved as input.txt.txt, making it hard for your program to find the file it needs. If your Windows 11 computer is not configured to show these extensions, do the following:

  1. Open File Explorer
  2. Select View | Show > | File name extensions

For Windows 10 computers:

  1. Search for “Folder Options” on the start menu and select the resulting shortcut.
  2. Select the “View” tab.
  3. Clear the box for the option Hide extensions for known file types. This will be about half-way down the list.
  4. Click Ok.

Acknowledgments

These instructions were developed by Drs. R. Hasker. D. Rothe, E. Durant, H. Welch, and C. Tritt.