UP wins int’l collegiate programming tilt

CHAMPION, ACM ICPC Asia Manila 2009, Team 'Mga SOGO ni E.T.', University of the Philippines-Diliman, and First Place, 3rd Philippine National Programming Competition.

MANILA, Philippines – A team from the University of the Philippines-Diliman won first place in the 2009 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Asia-Manila Regional Competition held at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City recently. Team "Mga SOGO ni E.T." – Kevin Charles Atienza, 3 BS Computer Science; John Eddie Ayson, 3 BS Computer Engineering; and Marte Raphael Soliza, 5 BS Computer Science – solved 10 out of 10 problems to emerge champion. The team’s coach is Eric Tambasacan. Ho Chi Minh City University of Science’s Team “Passion” - Pham Tuan Vu, Trinh Tran Dang Khoa, and Le Do Hoan Nam – coached by Dang Nguyen Tien, took first runner-up honors, while second runner-up was Team 'NUSSOC1' of the National University of Singapore, composed of Victor Loh Bo Huai, Adhiraj Somani, and Doon Hanh Hung, and coached by Steven Halim.

The following teams received special awards:

* 'Passion', Ho Chi minh University of Science, Vietnam, Best Foreign Team
* 'Mga SOGO ni E.T.', U.P. Diliman, Best Team from the Philippines
* 'SOGOng long ong moy poso', U.P. Diliman, 2nd Best Team from the Philippines
* 'LCD ver. 2', Ateneo de Manila University, 3rd Best Team from the Philippines
* 'Mga SOGO ni E.T.', U.P. Diliman, Best Team from Metro Manila
* 'Lemorcichein', U.P. Los Banos, Best Team from Luzon (Outside Metro Manila)
* 'Jaguars', University of San Jose-Recoletos, Best Team from the Visayas
* 'You I See (Ark)', University of Immaculate Conception-Davao, Best Team from Mindanao ACM stands for Association for Computing Machineries, one of the most prestigious I.T. organizations in the world. Each year, ACM holds the ICPC, which is participated in by thousands of teams from hundreds of universities worldwide. From selected regional sites on six continents, winning teams advance to the World Finals.

The ACM ICPC World Finals will be held February 1-6, 2010 in Harbin, China. The Philippine leg of the competition was sponsored by IBM. The competition involves teams of three college students and a coach who are given a set of programming tasks (from eight to 10 problems) to be solved in 5 hours using a standard computer and programming languages such as C, C++, and Java.

Fifty-five teams from four countries and 23 schools participated in the ACM ICPC Asia Manila Regional held October 22-23.

This is the first time a Philippines team has won an ACM ICPC Asia regional competition and the third time the Philippine Team advanced to the ACM ICPC World Finals.

This was also the third time Ateneo de Manila University hosted the ACM Asia Regional Competition.

This year's Asia Manila contest director was Dr. Rafael Saldaña of Ateneo de Manila University. The judges, from the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP), were:
* Dr. Henry Adorna (University of the Philippines - Diliman)
* Dr. Caslon Chua (De La Salle University - Manila)
* Dr. Pablo Manalastas (Ateneo de Manila University) (Chief Judge)
* Dr. Nelson Marcos (De La Salle University - Manila)
* Dr. Felix Muga II (Ateneo de Manila University)
* Dr. Rafael Saldaña (Ateneo de Manila University)
* Dr. Allan Sioson (Ateneo de Naga University)
* Dr. Kardi Teknomo (Ateneo de Manila University)
* John Michael Yap (University of the Philippines-Diliman)

Following are the Top 10 Schools in the 2009 ACM ICPC Asia Manila Competition:

1. University of the Philippines - Diliman (PHILIPPINES)
2. Ho Chi Minh City University of Science (VIETNAM)
3. National University of Singapore (SINGAPORE)
4. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HONG KONG)
5. University of Hong Kong (HONG KONG)
6. Ateneo de Manila University (PHILIPPINES)
7. De La Salle University - Manila (PHILIPPINES)
8. University of the Philippines - Los Banos (PHILIPPINES)
9. Ateneo de Naga University (PHILIPPINES)
10. University of Immaculate Conception - Davao (PHILIPPINES) The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) traces its roots to a competition held at Texas A&M in 1970 hosted by the Alpha Chapter of the UPE Computer Science Honor Society. The idea quickly gained popularity within the United States and Canada as an innovative initiative to assist in the development of top students in the emerging field of computer science.

The contest evolved into a multi-tier competition with the first Finals held at the ACM Computer Science Conference in 1977. Headquartered at Baylor University since the 1980s, the contest has expanded into a global network of universities hosting regional competitions that advance teams to the World Finals.

Since IBM became a sponsor in 1997, the contest has increased by a - Hide quoted text - several factors. Participation has grown to involve several tens of thousands of the finest students and faculty in computing disciplines at over 1,600 universities from more than 70 countries on six continents.

The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables students to test their ability to perform under pressure. It is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world.

For more information, visit the contest website: http://www.math.admu.edu.ph/acm.