19 September 2007

One computer, three people, five brain-bending programming problems and a looming deadline. To the average person it sounds like torture but to the winners of the UNSW High Schools Programming Competition, or ProgComp, this is a recipe for fun.

The UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering held the final of the 2007 ProgComp on-campus on September 1, with a three-person Year 11 team from James Ruse Agricultural High School emerging victorious.

James Ruse team members Jarrah Lacko, Willy Mai and Xi Chen scored a perfect 100 and shared a $3000 first prize for their efforts tackling the five problems posed in the ProgComp final, held at UNSW on September 1.

Trinity Grammar came second in the competition, followed in order by MacKillop Catholic College, Alstonville High School, The King’s School, Narrabundah College and The Hills Grammar School.

Geoff Whale, senior lecturer at CSE, said the high schools programming competition, now in its eleventh year, was a test not just of individual computing brilliance but the ability of young programmers to work as a team.

“It requires strategic planning about which task is likely to suit each person better,” Mr Whale said.

“The competition involves working on a really tough deadline under pressure and being able to reason through the solution to a problem.

“The competitors are the kind of people we want to become undergraduates. The purpose (of the competition) is to identify students who are likely to be the high-flying computer people of the future.”

ProgComp teams were given five programming problems to solve within two-and-a-half hours in the final.

James Ruse student Jarrah said the competition tested their teamwork capacity because they had to share one computer to create and test their programming solutions.

“Each of us individually could probably solve all of these problems on our own, given enough time, so it’s about working out how to share these problems out,” he said.

After furthering his computer studies at university, Jarrah hopes to work as a programmer, either for a major company such as Google or in his own enterprise, while team-mate Xi wants to do computer science research and perhaps some game development on the side.

Until then, all the competitors are likely to be getting plenty of programming practice.

“I find this incredible fun,” Jarrah said.

“When I’m on the train I’m doing programming problems - I wouldn’t say it’s my life but it is incredible fun.”

(Left to right) James Ruse Agricultural High School students Xi Chen, Willy Mai and Jarrah Lacko.

(Left to right) James Ruse Agricultural HS head teacher, secondary studies, Megan Connors; James Ruse AHS principal Larissa Treskin; James Ruse student Xi Chen; UNSW Dean of Engineering Dianne Wiley; UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor Richard Henry; James Ruse student Jarrah Lacko; James Ruse student Willy Mai; CSE Head of School Paul Compton.