UW Owns ACM Contest

Now the ACM Programming Contest is here again, sponsored by the big guns of IBM, and Waterloo is right in the thick of things. Life is full of surprises; this is not one of them. Not only has Waterloo won the competition twice ( the first time was in 1994 ), but regularly places in the top ten, which, as the KW Record reported last May, no other university in North America can boast.

That is not to say that Waterloo has been carried to victory solely on the basis of legacy. The team is once again being coached by Gord Cormack, a U of W computer science professor who, in every photo of him I have seen, somehow manages to look energetic, determined, and yet surprised to be noticed. This year's team consists of Donny Cheung, the reserve member from last year, Jeff Shute, and Ondrej Lhotak, a veteran of last year's winning team. These three students are the finest that the University of Waterloo has to offer, and it is their hard work and skill that brought them to the finals.

The Contest itself is deceptively straightforward; each of the sixty teams is given a series of problems which they must solve by writing computer programs, all within in the space of five short hours, making speed a factor as well as skill. The teams must be fluent in such arcane programming languages as Pascal, Java, C, and C++. Just to make things even more interesting, each three-person team is allowed only one computer to work on, placing added emphasis on the concept of "teams". Thoughts of the brass ring must also be weighing heavily on their minds; teams that finish in the top ten receive scholarships ranging from $1,500 to a whopping $9,000.

If the three young men are feeling any pressure, it may be relieved a bit by the fact that this year's contest takes place in Orlando, Florida, a great place for relaxation, especially when compared to the frigid wasteland that is Ontario. The ACM will put them up for four days, from March 15 - 19, and as the official contest website so ambiguously states, they will be "treated to a full schedule of events".

The contest itself has grown considerably in the last few years, from 59 to 69 countries, including this year for the first time Iran, India, Spain, and South Africa. The contest has been running since the ‘70; IBM became involved in 1997, and since then participation has grown by 125 percent. The idea behind it, as IBM stated in their press release is to "foster and spotlight the next generation of computer science talent". No one can doubt the need for such talent, considering the prevalence of computers in today’s society.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to reach the team or Gord Cormack for an interview, but I’m sure they’re looking forward to the competition. After doing all this research, my first impression of the University of Waterloo seems to be one of the best: we are on the cutting edge of technology; we are among the best universities in the world. I kept getting that feeling of pride as I poured through all the articles and press releases praising the work of these fine young programmers, who are bringing so much positive attention to Waterloo.

And the next time I talk to my friend, I can be sure and tell her that she was right, Waterloo does have something to do with computers.