He Codes...He Scores!
By Matt Motyka in News on Mar 19, 2009 4:05PM
It is a glorious time of year to be a college sports fan. You've got your brackets picked, you've of course entered our Chicagoist Tournament Challenge, and you'll be giving the economy the middle finger as you watch non-stop hoops at work for the next two days. But what about the post-tourney let down? After a national champion has been crowned on April 6, where can you turn to fill the void of collegiate competition? Well, how about the Association for Computing Machinery's International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC)? It may not be a sport, per say, but the competition is fierce and the stakes are high. Hear us out.
The ICPC is the world's most prestigious computer programming and problem-solving contest, pitting the best student programmers from around the world against each other in a battle of wits and ones-and-zeros. And this year, we have two thoroughbreds in the race: The University of Illinois and the University of Chicago will both be sending teams to Stockholm for the World Finals, which begin April 18. Works in Theory, representing the University of Chicago, and UIUC, from the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, bested 136 other teams in the Mid-Central USA region and over 7,000 teams internationally to be among the 100 invitees to the World Finals. UIUC took first place in the regional competition and Works in Theory finished third, both solving six of the eight problems posed but with UIUC accomplishing the task in less time.
Yes, not only must the three-student teams decipher complex logic problems and translate those solutions into workable computer code, but they must also do it as quickly as possible, being penalized for every minute that passes. How difficult are the problems? They range from “trivially easy” to “insanely hard” according to Works in Theory coach and PhD candidate, Borja Sotomayor (you can judge for yourself by viewing this year's regional contest problems here, and past World Finals problems here). Team members, like Louis Wasserman, Lauren Ellsworth and Ian Andrews of Works in Theory, will cooperate to rank the eight problems in order of difficulty and then decide which to tackle first. The ranking step is key, because misjudging the difficulty of a problem can result in misallocated time and effort. The team will then play to each member's individual strengths, dividing the tasks of solving and coding accordingly.
For a successful Finals team, the rewards can be numerous. Doug Heintzman, Director of Strategy for IBM Software Group and Sponsorship Executive of the ICPC, views the experience as one that can “change the trajectory of the students' lives.” Consider the story of the team from Saratov State University. Shortly after their 2006 World Finals victory, the Russian students received a hero's welcome from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and were offered employment at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, one of the world's most highly regarded IT research centers. In addition to the accolades and career opportunities, the first place team is also awarded a $10,000 prize. With such high stakes, it's not surprising to find many students practicing obsessively for the competition. While Works in Theory is certainly driven to win, the team is equally excited about the experience itself. “Some institutions prepare exhaustively for the contest. We take a more 'for fun' approach to it,” said Sotomayor, “the main reason why we're doing this is because it's a lot of fun.” In addition to the thrill of competition, many students relish the opportunity to travel and to meet fellow programmers from all over the world. Furthermore, IBM extends the five-hour competition into a five-day event, with guest speakers, games, supplemental contests, social functions and sight-seeing expeditions. So gold medal or not, all of the Finals participants come away winners.
And just like that other college tournament, this year you will be able to follow all of the ICPC World Finals action live on the web. The competition website, acmicpc.org, will feature live scoring, video, commentary, and even the opportunity to view contestants' code. So if you've got some cheer left in you after the college basketball season is over, check out the ICPC World Finals and show your support for our hometown teams!