Mental athletes head for Poland
The sleepy backwater of Nowy Sącz, in Małopolskie, will play host to one of the most keenly fought science battles in August. Around 300 students from 80 countries will compete in the International IT Olympics.
The annual event challenges entrants over two days to a trial of skills such as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming, and testing.
Entrants are typically given three problems that they have to solve in five hours. Each student works on his/her own, with only a computer and no other help allowed, specifically no communication with other contestants or reference texts.
A task is usually solved by writing a computer program (in C, C++ or Pascal) and submitting it before the time limit ends. The program is then graded by being run with secret test data in 10 to 20 test cases. The contestant is awarded points for each test case that his program solves correctly, and within the given time and memory limit.
The IT Olympics have been running since 1989 and Polish students have for many years been among the top competitors, even claiming second place in 2002. And while Warsaw University students currently top CNN's ranking of able computing students, the country has still to claim first place.
Perhaps this time round a home draw might work to Poland's advantage.
The annual event challenges entrants over two days to a trial of skills such as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming, and testing.
Entrants are typically given three problems that they have to solve in five hours. Each student works on his/her own, with only a computer and no other help allowed, specifically no communication with other contestants or reference texts.
A task is usually solved by writing a computer program (in C, C++ or Pascal) and submitting it before the time limit ends. The program is then graded by being run with secret test data in 10 to 20 test cases. The contestant is awarded points for each test case that his program solves correctly, and within the given time and memory limit.
The IT Olympics have been running since 1989 and Polish students have for many years been among the top competitors, even claiming second place in 2002. And while Warsaw University students currently top CNN's ranking of able computing students, the country has still to claim first place.
Perhaps this time round a home draw might work to Poland's advantage.
