Digital Equipment Corporation is sponsoring a programming contest for high-performance computing, from 6/95 to 11/95. Digital is providing Internet access to its latest high-performance system, an AlphaServer 8400 5/300 with 6 processors and 6GB of memory. Two prizes of $8,400 will be awarded, for a parallel Fortran application in technical market analysis or earth sciences and for best use of the AlphaServer to advance scientific research. Rules are on and (from co-sponsor Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center). [HPCwire, 6/2/95.]

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA; Laxenburg, Austria) is sponsoring a genetic-algorithm tournament to study rules by which people might learn to play games. A set of simple games is being developed. Rules submitted by contestants will be paired to see which learns fastest; winners will advance through reinforcement and "natural selection." Submissions are due by 11/1/95. For rules, write to or see . Queries to . [Young/Foster , comp.ai, 5/20/95. David Joslin.]

Concours Shareware France is a PRAT/ESF competition for PC/Mac programmers to develop French-language software of interest to a French audience. 6/30/95 deadline. Prizes include a video recorder or a CD ROM player, plus help in distributing your shareware. For info, contact . [Jean-Christophe Patat , comp.programming, 5/29/95.]