Programming Contest IEEE Extreme 2009 is announced

I found there are some informal information could be there in IEEE Extreme website. So here, I am trying to sum up as much information as I can. This will cover information for both organizers, and participants.

IEEE Extreme is a 24-hour programming contest for IEEE student members (assumably college/university students). It is an international contest, thus prestigious for the winners. For 2009, the contest is planned to be held on 24th October at 00:01 GMT. To participate, you need to contact your local university/college IEEE Student Branch. They are supposed to organize this contest preferably using university labs and other facilities.

For Organizers: How to organize:

All the information is given at IEEE Extreme Website. If you are one of the IEEE Student Branch execs, I can tell what we are planning at IEEE Carleton University Student Branch. These are the steps we are following:

1. Get proctors: Check the website for proctor requirements. We are planning to get at least 3 proctors who will be able to be present during the contest and will change shift.

2. Get lab/facilities booked: If the branch does not have enough computers to host the contest, the departments can be contacted. This is important and needs to be done asap.

3. Promote the contest: Once the first 2 are confirmed, the contest needs to be promoted. As it is IEEE members only event, at least the Chair can send e-mail to all members using his/her SAMIEEE access.

4. Get volunteers: We will have 1-2 volunteers at any given time. They won’t participate into any kind of conversation/gesture with the participants. They will be there to help if the proctor needs anything.

5. Food: Get some coffee and pizza (depending on your geographical position, you might have different food habits). Departments can contribute in this financially. I am not sure if participants can be charged (most likely NO). However, participants can be reminded to bring their own food in case the branch can’t provide any.

For Participants: How to Participate:

As I told before, check the website for all rules and regulation.  Just keep this in mind:

1. It is a 24-hour event. Have enough sleep before you attend the contest. Otherwise you won’t be able to perform very well.

2. Make sure you have enough caffaine and food. Talk to organizers before.

3. Ask the organizers if there is anything special you will need to bring.

4. Make sure you are comfortable with the submission system as fast as you can. Try to avoid extra characters when you take input or give output. (Some judges use automated software to diff your output stream).

For now, that is all. If you want to participate, but not sure if your student branch is organizing the contest, find your local student branch here. If you are not member yet, you can become a member from here (6 months/1 year). This article is completely my idea. It does not have anything to do with original IEEE or IEEE Extreme contest team. If you have any question, feel free to contact the organizing team at this e-mail address: ieeextreme (at) ieee (dot) org.