computer science

North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition

North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition rather than just read about it. In short: The North American Computational Linguistics Open competition (NACLO), formerly called the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad before January 1, 2020, is a computational linguistics competition for high school students in the United States and Canada that has been held since 2007. For the 2021 Open competition, approximately 1300 to 1400 students competed.

Key takeaways

North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The North American Computational Linguistics Open competition (NACLO), formerly called the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad before January 1, 2020, is a computational linguistics competition for high school students in the United States and Canada that has been held since 2007. For the 2021 Open competition, approximately 1300 to 1400 students competed. Since 2008 the contest has consisted of two rounds, the second being administered to the top scorers in the first round. The top-scoring students on the second round qualify for the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL), one of the international science olympiads.

History Since the mid-1960s, problem-solving competitions in linguistics for secondary school students have been taking place at various locations around the world. In Russia, the Moscow and St. Petersburg Linguistic Olympiads are credited with inspiring hundreds of young talented scholars to choose linguistics as an academic major and profession. Presently there are national contests in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and Africa, as well as North America. NACLO is part of a consortium that shares resources with other English-speaking contests such as the United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad, OzCLO (Australia) and the All-Ireland Linguistics Olympiad. There is also an International Linguistic Olympiad in which students from many countries compete, as well as dozens of local competitions held in individual towns and schools across Europe and the USA. In 1998 the first US Linguistics Olympiad was held at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, in 1998. 18 students participated the first year, 88 participated the second year, and 67 participated the third year of this local pilot program. From 2001 to 2006, the program existed as an informal, web-based educational activity known as the Linguistics Challenge. The two US teams in each year won several awards at the IOL in 2007 and 2008. Each year, one of the two US teams won a gold medal (or first diploma) in the team contest. In addition, several team members won individual medals. In 2019, following a request from the US Olympic Committee that NACLO comply with the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 (aka the Ted Stevens Act), which grants exclusive rights of usage in the US of the words Olympic and Olympiad to the Olympic Committee, the contest agreed to change its name to the North American Computational Linguistics Open competition.

Format The format of the contest changed significantly between 2007 and 2008. The 2007 contest consisted of eight problems given in a single round open to all participants. The 2008 competition consisted of two rounds. The first round was open to all contestants and consisted of a three-hour, five-problem written examination. The top scorers on the open round advanced to the invitational round, which was a five-hour, seven-problem written examination divided into two parts; the first part lasted 3 and a half hours and contained five problems, while the second part lasted one and a half hour and contained two problems. The top eight scorers from the invitational round were selected to participate in the IOL. The booklets with problems and solutions are available on the main NACLO website.

IOL qualifiers From 2007 to 2010 the USA sent two teams annually to the IOL.

In 2011 the USA sent three teams, and Canada also sent a team.

From 2012 to 2016, the USA sent two teams annually, and Canada sent one team annually.

From 2017 to 2022, the USA sent two teams and Canada sent two teams, one francophone and one anglophone.

References

See also International Linguistics Olympiad United States of America Computing Olympiad USA Biology Olympiad United States National Chemistry Olympiad United States of America Mathematical Olympiad Physics Olympiad United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition

In research: North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Linguistics olympiads, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition in simple terms?

Why does North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition.