First ever programming competition helps students develop skills

Carter and Milton
Carter Clifton, left, finished in first place in the StFX Department of Computer Science programming competition. He is pictured here with event co-organizer Dr. Milton King.

StFX students put their coding skills to the test on March 13 when the Department of Computer Science hosted its first programming competition.

Students Carter Clifton, Avery Doiron, and John Kendall, took the top three spots respectively out of seven competitors who competed for a prize pool of $700. Mr. Clifton and Mr. Doiron, the top two contestants, each solved six problems during the 2.5 hour competition, with the winner coming down to time to split the difference.

Avery and Milton
Avery Doiron, second place finisher, with Dr. Milton King 

As part of the competition, students are presented with a set of questions, and each participant is asked to write a program that solves the problem. The problems vary in difficulty. The participant who solves the most problems wins, with ties being broken by the shortest time to solve the problems.

Event co-organizers Dr. Jean-Alexis Delamer and Dr. Milton King, both from the Department of Computer Science, say each student solved at least two problems.

John and Milton
John Kendall, third place, and Dr. Milton King 

It is important to have these types of events, they say, to support the growth of the students' problem solving and coding capabilities.