About

The purpose of this site is to provide information to students regarding training for programming contests. Development of knowledge and skills in Problem-solving, Algorithms, and Programming is a lengthy process (i.e. cannot be done in a semester) and students should get started early. Two types of training/practice sessions are offered. The first is for students who are eager to compete and to represent ISU at competitions. These are typically led by top problem solvers. The second is for students who just want to learn and practice. Additionally, students who would like to receive university credits for their hard work at practices can additionally take COMS 295. For more information, click here.

The primary goal for training is towards participating in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), which is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world. More than 2,000 universities from over 80 countries on six continents compete and this contest tests students' ability to solve problems under pressure. Only about 100 selected teams (from about 7000 teams) go to the finals. In North America, students used to be able to participate in regionals and winning teams would move on directly to World Finals. In 2019, the North American Championship was started and since then winning teams from the regionals have to compete in this contest to qualify for the world finals.

Aside from this premier contest, there are many other programming contests for students to compete in. In addition, some technical interviews require students to face similar types of problems.

Contests