Spring Break
NT team qualifies for Hungary programming competition
Michael Hernandez
Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: NEWS
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The Texas Codeboys, a group of three current and former NT students, qualified for the international Challenge 24 programming competition.
The team will travel to Budapest, Hungary, this May to compete and is the sole team representing the United States.
The Challenge 24 competition is a two-part process that starts online. Teams are given problems to answer and submit electronically.
"I was kind of hoping that there would be a bigger U.S. turnout," said John Rizzo, Houston senior and Codeboy. "As far as the accomplishment goes, it feels good. It's kind of the American pride thing. You want more American teams to do well."
This marks the third year the Codeboys have advanced to the finals and the third time they are the sole American team, said team adviser David Keathly of the computer science and engineering faculty.
Ryan Garlick of the computer science and engineering faculty is also an adviser for the team.
The team's members include Rizzo, Dallas alumn Jack Lindamood and Cedar Hill graduate student Michael Mohler.
The Codeboys are also the only American team to ever qualify for the final round, Keathly said.
About 170 teams from around the world participated, and the top 30 qualified for the final round in Budapest, Keathly said. The top two teams from last year automatically qualified, he said.
The Codeboys placed fourth in the qualifying round, he said.
The competition is not only open to students, Keathly said. Many of the teams include members working professionally as computer programmers, he said.
"I'm very proud," he said. "It reflects well on the faculty members that teach them as well."
The final round is an intense problem solving activity. Teams are shut up in a room for 24 hours and assigned a problem to solve.
"For the first 12 hours, it's OK," Lindamood said, "but then you have this halfway curve that gets worse and worse. By that last hour you just want to leave."
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