Business
Ready, set, code!
Get ready for the Battle of the Brains, where college students compete in marathon sessions of Xtreme programming.
One doesn't normally think of programmers sweating it out in the heat of competition, but the race is on for the best college programmer at the 31st annual International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), also known as the "Battle of the Brains," reports Campus Technology.
The Association for Computing Machinery and IBM announced the start of international regional competitions that will culminate in the World Finals in March 2007.
Universities will compete in teams of three in regional competition by solving programming problems on a five hour deadline. 6,000 teams from 84 countries on six continents are expected to compete, with only 85 teams advancing to the World Finals.
"The ICPC attracts incredibly bright young men and women who will shape the future of computing," said Dr. Bill Poucher, ICPC executive director and Baylor University professor. He called the partnership of ACM, IBM and colleges and universities a "force in advancing education and innovation in computer science and engineering."
Last year, 5,606 teams selected from 1,737 universities in 84 countries competed at 183 sites. A Saratov State University in Russia emerged as the world champion.