The National Intercollegiate Programming Championships

All the excitement of March Madness, without the sweat

This upcoming January will see the first intercollegiate programming code war, with multiple teams competing from most of the top computer science colleges in the country. We have invited the 17 schools that appear on the various top 10 lists and so far Cornell, Illinois, MIT, Harvey Mudd, Purdue and Wisconsin have accepted while Washington is a strong probable. The invitations have just gone out so we're still waiting on the others.

Universities have long had national athletic championships. Now with the code war, we get an academic competition, with play-offs at each school and then the top two teams from each school in a final series competing for the national championships. This contest will demonstrate the programming skill of some of the most brilliant young programmers in the world.

What's a Code War

A code war is a contest where each team is given an identical programming problem. Each team then writes a solution to the problem in the allowed time and the solutions are run against each other. In this case we are creating a game where each team writes an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) for the game. We think an A.I. is fun because instead of the result being a score for each team with the high score winning, you watch players move on the board and shoot each other. The play-off is a lot more interesting.

The teams get the problem at 10:00 a.m. and have to deliver a working A.I. by 6:00 p.m. We provide the students with the essential food groups -- donuts for breakfast, pizza for lunch, cookies in the afternoon, and soda pop all day long (talk about a balanced meal).

We will first have play-offs at each school with the A.I.s written by that school's teams doing their best to kill each other. Then the top two teams from each school will run against each other in the final games for the national championship at 6:30 p.m. pacific time. (For game specifics, please visit Windward National Intercollegiate Programming Championship.)

Why should you care?

The future of technology is primarily software. The top teams here are the students that are going to go on and create the future. The students at these schools are some of the most brilliant programmers in the world. And showing up to spend a Saturday writing code for no reason other than the challenge demonstrates that they are the ones with the curiosity and initiative required to create the brilliant new products no one has thought of yet. It also delivers the intercollegiate fun of a football game, but on the academic field.

And it will be a lot of fun to watch the A.I. players in the game try to take each other out. The school playoffs and final will be webcast and we're talking to several TV networks about televising the final.

 

Follow David Thielen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DavidAtWindward

Comments

[programwarrior18]

06:11 PM on 12/11/2011

Reminds me of when I competed in the spelling bee and math bee at school. It lets you know that everyone has a role to play in the future and we can all get better cause other countries are doing the same aswell in this case technology programming. These competitions should be regular in lower levels to inspire future programmers that can help up stay sharpe globallly. May the best team win!

[Ashley Lee Turnbull]

01:13 PM on 12/11/2011

I wish I was further in my CS degree to participate in something like this. This is a great way for geeks to show some strength in this world. I would love to spend my Saturday just writing code and competing with others with the same skill as me.

[KaydenNguyen]

12:08 PM on 12/11/2011

This is by far one of the most exciting competitions for us computer geeks! I've been interested in Artificial Intelligence for such a long time and now I'd get to see college students make their own versions of it! Can't wait to see the result and maybe watch the replay of the matches.

[littlestar714]

03:21 AM on 12/11/2011

This is such a great idea! We're so used to athletic competitions, now this is a chance for the best of the best in the academic department to go head(s) to head(s) and see who really IS the best of the best! This is a chance to really make learning fun and what a way to do it! I think the Code Wars are a great idea! These are brilliant students and it will be a nice change of pace to see what happens when they compete against each other in this way.

[Breeezy404]

12:46 AM on 12/11/2011

It's great to see a competition that challenges students intellectually. It is a good way to encourage students to continue programming.

[Coach Casey]

11:22 PM on 12/10/2011

Finally a chance for us geeks to show some muscle. Next stop geek scholarships that match that of athletic scholarships

[MrBradarb1]

08:43 PM on 12/10/2011

This is great, all learning should be like this, hands on, interactive and fun. Oh and that menu is to die for lol!

[mrquest]

05:51 PM on 12/10/2011

These guys are super intelligent. I tried to develop a video game and unfortunately did not have a lot of success. I would like to know who wins the competition.

[distillingwater]

02:40 PM on 12/10/2011

Code-offs are such intense competitions. Friends of mine do something similar amongst themselves, and it's always entertaining watching them try to figure stuff out.

[Tiara Lewis]

02:14 PM on 12/10/2011

Wow is this insane. Am glad schools are now having academic championships. This competition just shows how far technology has really come.

[Bj Rock]

11:58 AM on 12/10/2011

wow i bet eventually something amazing is born fron this code war!

[lilpeg]

09:02 AM on 12/10/2011

It is sad that you have them programming war and death. Aren't there other uses for intelligence, artificial and otherwise?

[Sanjida Akter]

05:57 AM on 12/10/2011

I think intercollegiate programming code war will help the student a lot. it is really a good idea in this time. It is a very hard thing to accomplish­.

[VicMavedzenge]

12:26 AM on 12/10/2011

A great way to encourage young brilliant minds to collaborate and come up with solutions.The future needs such brilliant people who can work under pressure

[Frances E Fisher]

10:27 PM on 12/09/2011

Really very good concept .This type of competitio­n can be a good platform for young talents where they can show their programmin­g talents. These are some lucky guys.