UF students will compete at regional computer programming contest

October 14, 2005

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Four teams of students will compete in a regional computer programming contest on Saturday.

The Southeast USA Regional Programming Competition will be held from 12:30 to 6 p.m. at the Clemente Center in Melbourne. This is a preliminary round for the 30th Annual International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Teams of three students will huddle around a single computer to use their programming skills to solve complex problems under a grueling five-hour deadline in the “battle of the brains.”

“This contest has become the arena in which programming students can pit their skills and creativity against each other,” said , team leader. “It will also give them the opportunity to meet people and gain skills to improve their programming ability.”

Lok, an assistant professor of computer and information science and engineering, said that UF teams are composed of freshmen through graduate students who all share a passion for programming. These students have been taking advanced programming classes and practicing several hours a week for more than a year in preparation for this competition. The supports the UF Association for Computing Machinery events.

Eighty teams will emerge from the regional contests and will compete April 9-13 at the World Finals competition at in San Antonio, Texas, for awards, prizes, scholarships and bragging rights to the “world’s smartest trophy.”

The contest traces its roots to a competition held at in 1970. Participation has grown to involve several tens of thousands of students and faculty in computing disciplines at more than 1,582 universities from 71 countries on six continents.

sponsorship of the contest is a part of the company’s commitment to working with universities around the world to better prepare students for information technology careers.