Spring Break
ECU students 'program' their way to Sweden
Binta Dixon
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: News
This weekend ECU students will have the opportunity to compete against universities around the world in the 33rd annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.
The competition is comprised of three sections--local contests in which universities choose one or more teams to represent them in the next step of the competition, regional contests in which selected teams compete to select the 100 teams that will compete in the world finals and world finals where the teams compete for awards prizes and a years worth of bragging rights.
This weekend's section of the competition is the regional round consisting of problem-solving activities and will include universities such as UNC, Duke, ECU and UNCC.
A team consisting of three students will solve complex problems related to real world issues within a five-hour time limit. The team that completes the most problems in the least amount of time will go on to the national competition this April in the library of KTH in Stockholm, Sweden.
This year ECU will be sending two teams into the competition: dubbed "The Pirates" and "More Pirates." Although the competition is stiff, the main purpose is to have fun and to learn.
"The programming contest provides a context for learning new things in a fun yet competitive environment [but] the competition never takes precedence over school work," said Dr. Robert Hochberg, ECU professor and the teams' coach.
In this leg of the competition students will have eight problems to solve, which involve designing test beds, building software systems, ranking the problems on a scale of difficulty and assigning requirements to each problem. The judging process is strict and teams are judged on speed, accuracy and number of attempts made.
ACM is a primary source for the technology field, providing recourses such as journals, magazines and interest groups dedicated to technological advancement and education.
The competition got its start in 1970 at Texas A&M, and was hosted by the Alpha Chapter of the UPE Computer Science Honor Society.
The competition gained great popularity and eventually was picked up by a global network of universities.
IBM became the sponsor in 1997, and in turn, the contest grew exponentially, and now involves 1,821 universities from 83 countries on six continents, and is the oldest, largest and most distinguished programming contest.
The contest is also supported by Upsilon Pi Epsilon International Computer Science Honor Society and Baylor University.
The contest is a test of each team's creative skills, innovative technique and teamwork strategies. Last year's first place team was AGH University of Science and Technology.
This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.
The competition is comprised of three sections--local contests in which universities choose one or more teams to represent them in the next step of the competition, regional contests in which selected teams compete to select the 100 teams that will compete in the world finals and world finals where the teams compete for awards prizes and a years worth of bragging rights.
This weekend's section of the competition is the regional round consisting of problem-solving activities and will include universities such as UNC, Duke, ECU and UNCC.
A team consisting of three students will solve complex problems related to real world issues within a five-hour time limit. The team that completes the most problems in the least amount of time will go on to the national competition this April in the library of KTH in Stockholm, Sweden.
This year ECU will be sending two teams into the competition: dubbed "The Pirates" and "More Pirates." Although the competition is stiff, the main purpose is to have fun and to learn.
"The programming contest provides a context for learning new things in a fun yet competitive environment [but] the competition never takes precedence over school work," said Dr. Robert Hochberg, ECU professor and the teams' coach.
In this leg of the competition students will have eight problems to solve, which involve designing test beds, building software systems, ranking the problems on a scale of difficulty and assigning requirements to each problem. The judging process is strict and teams are judged on speed, accuracy and number of attempts made.
ACM is a primary source for the technology field, providing recourses such as journals, magazines and interest groups dedicated to technological advancement and education.
The competition got its start in 1970 at Texas A&M, and was hosted by the Alpha Chapter of the UPE Computer Science Honor Society.
The competition gained great popularity and eventually was picked up by a global network of universities.
IBM became the sponsor in 1997, and in turn, the contest grew exponentially, and now involves 1,821 universities from 83 countries on six continents, and is the oldest, largest and most distinguished programming contest.
The contest is also supported by Upsilon Pi Epsilon International Computer Science Honor Society and Baylor University.
The contest is a test of each team's creative skills, innovative technique and teamwork strategies. Last year's first place team was AGH University of Science and Technology.
This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.
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