National contest seeks game programmers of the future
Tuesday 3 March 2009
During this year’s National Science and Engineering Week the University of Surrey will be launching a National Student Programming Contest in association with the BCS (British Computer Society). The contest will use a platform developed by Dr James Heather from Surrey’s Department of Computing, as part of his 2007 SCEPTrE Fellowship.
Contestants are required to create a strategy for playing in a turned based game; in this case Four-in-a-Row – better known as Connect4tm. The platform of the competition provides a structured way for participants to write their strategy in Java. All entries will be played against each other on a cluster of machines at the University to create a giant league table. Whoever tops the league table is crowned the winner.
There will be two streams within the contest, an open stream for experienced programmers, as well as a beginners’ stream. The winner of each stream will receive an ASUS Eee PC.
The contest itself will run until 01 June 2009 giving students a healthy submission period, so that it cannot be said to interfere with their studies. During this period there will be an opportunity for players to submit their work in progress for a practice tournament before the final games are run.
Dr James Heather comments: "I think one of the reasons students struggle with programming is that the tasks that we set them are generally quite tedious and artificial and you don't get much satisfaction out of completing them. What I've tried to do with this system is to create an environment where students can compete against each other and compete at something that is intrinsically fun, games that they like to play anyway.”
Jennifer Hewitt, chair of the BCS Young Professionals Group (YPG) says: “The BCS Student Contest 2009 highlights our commitment to students who are studying for IT-related qualifications at schools, colleges and universities, as well as providing a unique platform for meeting fellow students.
As the largest member group within BCS, the Young Professionals' Group (YPG) is extensively represented at a local level by a wide network of volunteer ambassadors located within academia and industry around the globe. It is with thanks to the work of our YPG volunteers within the University of Surrey that the BCS Student Contest 2009 has been made possible.”
The SCEPTrE Fellowship Scheme aims to promote excellence in Professional Training (placement learning) and enhance students' experiences through enquiry-rich approaches to learning.
The contest is free to enter. Full time students, including those at FE colleges, plus undergraduate, Masters and PhD students are all eligible to enter. Submissions from teachers and lecturers are welcome, however, they would not be eligible for prizes.
For further information about the contest please visit: www.bcsstudentcontest.com
Media Enquiries
Peter La, Press Office at the University of Surrey, Tel: +44 (0)1483 689191, or Email mediarelations@surrey.ac.uk