xeppelin 0.4.0
Xeppelin Contest Watcher
Requires Python: >=3.9

# Xeppelin Contest Watcher

Xeppelin is a contest watcher software that keeps track of file modifications during a contest and creates visualizations of your activity.

## Installation

```
pip install xeppelin
```

![](./example.png)

## Workflow

1. Prior to the contest, create a new contest directory. Let's say it's called icpc-wf.
2. Run `xeppelin start icpc-wf` to start watching the directory.
3. Start the contest by writing a template file. Xeppelin team uses `template.cpp`.
4. When solving a problem, create a new file with the problem letter. For example, if you're solving problem A, create a file named `A.cpp`.
5. When you compile the code, use `-o` flag to specify the problem letter. For example, `g++ A.cpp -o A`.
6. After the contest, run `xeppelin stop icpc-wf` to stop watching the directory.
7. Looking through your submissions, you can see the time of each successful submission. Add them manually to the log file with `xeppelin log icpc-wf "A solved 1:30"`.
8. Run `xeppelin show icpc-wf` to see the visualization and get the image on your disk.

## Commands

- **Start Watching**:   ```
  xeppelin start <contest_name>  ```
  Starts watching the current directory for file modifications and logs them to `<contest_name>.log`.

- **Stop Watching**:   ```
  xeppelin stop <contest_name>  ```
  Stops watching for the specified contest.

- **Show Visualization**:   ```
  xeppelin show <contest_name> [--duration MINUTES] [--freeze TIME]  ```
  Displays a visualization of the activities logged for the specified contest.
  
  Options:
  - `--duration MINUTES`: Sets the maximum time (in minutes) to show on the visualization axis (default: 300)
  - `--freeze TIME`: Adds a freeze period indicator starting at specified time (format: HH:MM or minutes)
  
  Examples:
  ```
  xeppelin show icpc-wf --duration 240
  xeppelin show icpc-wf --freeze 4:00
  xeppelin show icpc-wf --duration 240 --freeze 180
  ```

- **Log Submissions**:   ```
  xeppelin log-submissions <contest_name> <submission_info>  ```
  Adds additional submission information to the log file for the specified contest.
  Usually should be used to log the time of the submission.
  Example:
  ```
  xeppelin log-submissions test "A solved 1:30"
  ```

- **Help**:   ```
  xeppelin --help
  xeppelin <command> --help  ```
  Shows help information about Xeppelin commands and their options.

## Format

All problems are coded in files named `A.cpp`, `B.cpp`, etc.
The compiled binary is named `A`, `B`, etc.
Some additional files for the contest (stress-testing, additional solutions, etc.) are also allowed, if their filename starts with letter that matches the problem letter.

## Requirements

- `inotify-tools` for file watching.
- Python packages: `pandas`, `matplotlib`, `numpy`.
- Verified to work on Ubuntu and WSL2.

```
sudo apt install inotify-tools

pip install pandas matplotlib numpy
```


## Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a pull request. In the ideal scenario, the feature should be optional and could be turned on/off with a flag.

## License

This project is open-sourced under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.