UNews - Association for Computing Machinery

Programming a bright future

trevor.kenney — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 21:45:36 +0000

It’s not every day that you avoid being eaten by digital zombies. But a team of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students has proven it’s just the way to earn a second-place finish at an international programming competition.

The university’s programming contest team participated for the first time in the prestigious annual world finals of the Association for Computing Machinery’s International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC). Sponsored by IBM, the competition was held in St. Petersburg, Russia last summer.

Hugh Ramp (left), Chris Martin (back left), Dr. Howard Cheng (front) and Darcy Best (right) put the U of L on the map at the prestigious ICPC World Finals.

The team, made up of Hugh Ramp (fourth-year physics), Chris Martin (fourth-year computer science), Darcy Best (second-year MSc mathematics) and coaches Dr. Howard Cheng (mathematics and computer science) and Dr. Kevin Grant (mathematics and computer science) took second prize in an open challenge competition that required the students to write an artificial intelligence program that would successfully play a zombie-filled video game on the team’s behalf.

The challenge was part of a larger competition in which nearly 30,000 students from around the world participated in regional contests, solving several complex computing problems within a gruelling, five-hour deadline.

In this battle of logic, strategy and mental endurance, each team had to huddle around a single computer while addressing various problems. For example, the students had to quantify the impact of water pollution and determine how to get commuters to their destinations as quickly as possible without traffic congestion. In the end, among the 120 teams that advanced to the world finals, the
U of L students placed third among the Canadian competitors, 12th out of 23 North American teams and 80th overall.

The competition, says Cheng, equips students for the real-world demands of computing.

“You must work together under intense time constraints. There’s no room for any failure,” he says.

What’s more, says Martin, preparing for the competition is often just as challenging as the contest.
U of L students spent 15 to 20 hours a week – on top of their regular studies – practising sample computing problems.

“The more time you put in, the better you will do,” he says.

It’s a sentiment echoed by Best.

“You have to learn to use new algorithms that aren’t taught in your courses. As a result, my coding skills have gone through the roof.”

Those abilities, he says, have given him an advantage over his classmates, who often must invest considerable time becoming proficient at writing computer programs.

Best, however, isn’t the only one whose ICPC experience has complemented his education. Teammate Ramp (BSc ’13), for instance, has gone on to pursue graduate studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, providing further evidence that hands-on learning serves as a springboard to future success.

Programming team excels in Russia

trevor.kenney — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 20:20:14 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Inter-Collegiate Programming Contest team will return from the prestigious Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals in St. Petersburg, Russia with several notable achievements after their first-ever international competition.

The team, made up of Hugh Ramp (fourth-year physics); Chris Martin (third-year computer science); Darcy Best (second-year MSc mathematics); and coaches Dr. Howard Cheng (mathematics and computer science) and Dr. Kevin Grant (mathematics and computer science) took fourth place in an open challenge competition where they had to code their way out of a video game problem – and avoid being eaten by digital zombies in the process.

Their win was chronicled on the ITBusiness News website and the ITWorld Canada website:

http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/alberta-students-scoop-fourth-place-in-international-ai-programming-challenge/37384

http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/alberta-students-4th-in-ai-programming-contest/147325

In a similar online challenge at the end of June, first-time contestant Camara Lerner claimed a second place finish among 14 teams, while teammate Kai Fender made it through three rounds of problem-solving challenges. http://www.uleth.ca/notice/display.html?b=300&s=19610

As well, the team placed third among the Canadian competitors, 12th out of 23 North American teams and 80th of all 120 teams entered in the contest, which was hosted by St. Petersburg National Research ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO).

Complete results are available here: http://static.kattis.com/icpc/wf2013/

The team will return to Lethbridge July 6.

Programming team in Russia

trevor.kenney — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:54:28 +0000

After months of training and wins at regional competitions, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Inter-Collegiate Programming Contest team is participating in the prestigious Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals in St. Petersburg, Russia for the first time.

Seeded sixth in a field of more than 100 competitors, the team's Canada Day long weekend won't be spent relaxing or camping in the great outdoors. They will instead be camped out in a university lecture hall 10 time zones away from home with hundreds of other students, looking to solve challenging computer coding problems.

The international event is hosted by St. Petersburg National Research ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO). Only 115 of the top teams worldwide make it to the world finals.

The events leading up to, and including, the St. Petersburg events are a gruelling series of problem-solving boot camps, competitions and drills designed to enhance the students' ability to work as a team under relentless pressure, the watchful eyes of the world's best judges and under extremely strict working conditions.

The team is on the road from June 27 to July 5. The competition takes place from June 30 to July 4. Team profiles and results will be posted on the ICPC website: http://icpc.baylor.edu/

In addition to sending a team to Russia, mathematics and computer science professor Dr. Howard Cheng is developing the next group of programming challenge participants.

In conjunction with the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals, an online programming challenge took place this past week among 14 teams or individuals.

Third-year U of L undergrad student Camara Lerner staged a remarkable comeback to take second place overall in the open category, following the St. Petersburg State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of IT, Mechanics and Optics – the host venue for the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals.

Lerner defeated Finland's Aalto ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia "Purple Puppy' team. Lerner's third-year colleague Kai Fender made it through three rounds, winning against the National Institute of Technology (Warangal, India) and Turkey's Yasar ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ before falling to the UBC Purple Puppy team.

Details can be found at this website: http://icpc.baylor.edu/Challenge/

Math teams conquer problems

trevor.kenney — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:29:59 +0000

At some point in elementary, high school or university, everyone has faced text-based mathematics problems that seem deceptively simple, but actually require a lot of thought to work through.

You're given facts and numbers in a story format, and you have to arrive at an accurate conclusion based on the information as presented. While some people breeze through the problems, others are completely, utterly stumped.

If you've ever stared at a page of these problems and wondered – "Who thinks these things up?" – you only have to look to Dr. Howard Cheng (mathematics and computer science) for the answer.

Cheng has been creating, and helping students solve, these simple but deviously complex problems for the past eight years as a volunteer, coach and lead faculty member of the U of L teams that compete in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).

Members of the U of L's ACM/ICPC teams (Back row L to R) Colton English, Rio Lowry. Sitting (L to R) Christopher Thomas, Keilan Scholten, Christopher Martin, Darcy Best, Fei Wang, Dr. Howard Cheng. Missing from the photo are Hugh Ramp, Ian Stewart, Mark Hunter, Kim Wikkerink, Cody McArthur, James Ward.

His work, combined with the students' dedication and interest, is paying off.

Four, three-person teams of students recently competed in the ACM/ICPC regional programming contest, which involved universities and colleges across North America. The teams are made up of primarily undergraduate and masters-level students who cross disciplines in mathematics, computer science and physics.

The U of L group placed third overall in the competition, and two U of L teams finished in the top half of the 51-team roster. While an excellent result, it regrettably left them out of the running for the international competition, which takes place in May 2012 in Warsaw, Poland.

"I learn a lot from this experience as well," says Cheng. "The students did a great job this year and I am proud of them."

Cheng and the team train for the competition for months beforehand. Beginning next term, a specifically designed course (CPSC3200) will begin – created to make the most of the ACM/ICPC format as a hands-on educational experience for the students.

Cheng knows well the stress that the contest places on the students. He competed in 1997 and 1998 while a student at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, and made it to the world finals. He has created problems for regional and international competitions, and continues to be involved in the ACM/ICPC organization as a judge and mentor to other teams.

So, what does it take to be able to solve a typical ACM/ICPC contest question? Cheng has selected some problems from the recent competition for the Legend's readers. Try these yourself and see how you do. As with the student challenge, you have about an hour.

1. EMPTY THE PILL BOTTLE: Each day, you wish to take half a pill from a bottle. If you happen to take a whole pill, you take half of the pill and put the remaining half back in the bottle. How many ways can you empty a bottle with 30 whole pills initially?

2. APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP: You are given the dates of your immigration application, start of residence, landing date, as well as the date of all your trips outside of Canada. When can you apply for Canadian citizenship (using official rules)?

Cheng has posted the complete problem statements on his website (www.cs.uleth.ca/~cheng/contest/probs.html)

You are welcome to send your answers to Cheng at howard.cheng@uleth.ca to see how you've done. A winner, if there is one, will be announced in a future edition of UWeekly.

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Programming Team Earns Second Place Finish At Rocky Mountain Regional

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:55:22 +0000

A 12-person group is split into four groups of three, and has to solve nine complex computer programming problems in a very short time. All the while, they are competing against more than 50 other teams from across North America as part of the Rocky Mountain region of the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest.

How did the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge group fare? Very well. Of the four teams in the competition from the U of L, one group took second place and three other teams landed in the middle third of the results – 23rd, 25th, and 29th place overall.

"Students have to apply what they learn in different courses, and some problems require knowledge of techniques or algorithms that are not taught in any course," says team advisor
Dr. Howard Cheng (mathematics and computer science). "These are taught during our regular practice sessions, where the teams spend several hours per week training for this contest."

The competition draws students from large and small colleges and universities throughout Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Eastern Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Mexico. The group received funding from the Faculty of Arts and Science as well as Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures to support the costs for participation.

Cheng says the contest requires logical thinking skills and precise implementation of their ideas.

"If their solution is incorrect for even one test case, it is considered wrong," he says.

The groups had limited time to complete a series of nine problems, which ranged from supposedly simple, to very complex.

"We had to figure out how to write code based on where the letter 't' appeared in a series of words," says Keilan Scholten, a third year mathematics and computer science student. "It seems simple, but we wound up using more than an hour and a half of our time allotment. The first six of our problems were done in just over two hours."

Among the problems, the group successfully created a ranking of teams for a soccer league, figured out the maximum number of climbers a piece of climbing rope can support and worked out a way to determine if packages of certain dimensions were the right size to be mailed.

Team group members included: (Team A) Darcy Best, Keilan Scholten, Hugh Ramp; (Team B) Jeremy Andrijancic, Johnny Boldt, Kim Wikkerink; (Team C) Mark Fischer, Mark Hunter, Fern Leavens; (Team D) Falcon Momot, Jason Racine and Fei Wang. Best (fourth year), Ramp (second year) and Scholten (third year) also finished third in the Alberta Collegiate Programming Contest, held in mid-October as a warm-up to the regional contest.

For a look at the full issue of the November Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Association for Computing Machinery

Programming a bright future

Related Topics

Programming team excels in Russia

Related Topics

Programming team in Russia

Related Topics

Math teams conquer problems

Related Topics

Programming Team Earns Second Place Finish At Rocky Mountain Regional

Related Topics