Representing the University of Waterloo, two trios of algorithmic programmers put their coding skills to the test on the global stage at the 46th and 47th International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals. Held in Luxor, Egypt, from April 14 to 19, the simultaneous global coding competitions marked the final contests among the world’s top programming talent from some 124 universities across more than 110 countries.
“At the 47th ICPC World Finals, Andrew Qi Tang, Ramazan Rakhmatullin and Kevin Wan cracked eight of the eleven coding problems, securing an impressive eighth place win globally, earning them the silver medal,” said Professor Troy Vasiga, who coaches the teams with his colleague Professor Ondřej Lhoták. “They also clinched the top spot in North America, beating teams from other leading schools and departments of computer science across Canada and the United States.”
Meanwhile, at the simultaneously held 46th ICPC World Finals, another team of algorithmic programmers from Waterloo, consisting of Marian Dietz, Chris Trevisan and Wen Yuen Pang, came in 18th globally, solving seven of the eleven coding problems.
“We could not be prouder of our trios of coders,” said Professor Lhoták. “It’s a monumental achievement to make it as far as the ICPC World Finals, the last in a series of tiered contests where only the best teams compete. Waterloo’s teams at the 46th and 47th ICPC World Finals had exceptionally strong showings.”
At the ICPC World Finals, teams of three coders solve 12 algorithmic programming problems during a gruelling five-hour competition. The team that solves the most problems in the shortest amount of time wins.
Waterloo’s
team
at
the
47th
ICPC
World
Finals
Left
to
right:
Andrew
Qi
Tang
(4A
CS,
C&O
minor),
Ramazan
Rakhmatullin
(MMath
C&O),
Cheriton
School
of
Computer
Science
Professor
Troy
Vasiga,
and
Kevin
Wan
(4A
CS/C&O
Double
Major)
47th ICPC World Finals, top 12 teams
Waterloo’s
team
at
the
46th
ICPC
World
Finals
Left
to
right:
Marian
Dietz
(C&O
MMath,
graduated
in
June
2022),
Chris
Trevisan
(3B
CS),
Professor
Vasiga,
and
Wen
Yuen
Pang
(4B
CS)
46th ICPC World Finals, top 20 teams
About the ICPC
The International Collegiate Programming Contest is the oldest, largest and most prestigious university-level algorithmic programming contest in the world. Each year, some 50,000 students from more than 3,000 universities across more than 100 countries compete in regional competitions to earn a spot at the World Finals.
Volunteer coaches prepare their teams with intense training and instruction in algorithms, programming and teamwork strategy. Huddled around a single computer, teams of three compete against each other to solve a dozen or so complex, real-world problems within a five-hour deadline. Teammates collaborate to rank the difficulty of the problems, deduce the requirements, design test beds, and build software systems that solve the problems.
Across the various ICPC competitions, teams of three students represent their university in multiple levels of regional competition. Success at one level leads to an invitation to the next. Each region progresses differently, but the result is the same — the best teams advance. The final regional contest determines the teams that advance to the ICPC World Finals.
Waterloo’s proud history at the International Collegiate Programming Contest
The University of Waterloo is the only Canadian university to win the ICPC World Finals, taking the prized title in 1994 and again in 1999.
Learn more about the ICPC and Waterloo’s participation in the contest in an article titled “A passion for programming — An interview with Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Ondřej Lhoták.” Discover firsthand insights from Professor Lhoták, who was a computer science undergrad on the Waterloo team that clinched the 1999 ICPC World Championship.