Many of our members who have attended our training sessions or taken part in the ICPC competition have found that they have learnt a lot from the experience. Here is what they have to say about their experiences:
Melvin Zhang (Second year PhD student in SoC, NUS)
I was aware of the ICPC group in June 2003 after taking CS1102. Wenbin (one of the TAs for CS1102 and a senior member of the group) invited a number of students to come for a series of training workshops on competitive programming. We were introduced to a number of interesting programming problems from the Spanish Judge and strategies for solving them. The ability to apply simple algorithmic ideas to solve seemingly complicated problems fascinated me and motivated me to learn more about this area.
Over the last 3 years I have been actively involved in this area, first as a competitor and later as an organiser and trainer, for both international events like the ICPC and IOI as well as local competitions such as Computron. It has been a truly enriching experience and I have learnt a lot and made many friends with similar interests.
Roopak Selvanathan (Working in an IT firm in India)
I started problem solving in August 2004 and have been doing it fairly dedicated till Feburary 2007. I honestly believe that I learnt more in problem solving than in all my computer science courses. Simply because (after problem solving) concepts taught in a class are no longer theoretical lessons but I get to visualise the code behind the concepts. And that is true knowledge. My sincere advice to all. Please don't miss out on problem solving. Make it part of your study program in NUS and I assure you that you will see the benefits in 4 years time.
Ngo Thanh Son (Final year undergraduate in SoC, NUS)
I started learning programming when I was in high school and since then programming contests have been parts of my school life. I have participated in 3 regional contests and found that ACM ICPC is unique among the competitions I have taken part in. Training for the ICPC helps to improve your coding skill and sharpen your problem solving and abstract thinking ability. The feeling of discovering a method to tackle seemingly difficult problems is very exciting. Moreover, teamwork is valued in the contest. Effective discussion and collaboration determine the performance of the team in the ICPC.
You can experience a lot of interesting things that a normal CCA cannot offer. The ACM ICPC training is where like-minded students gather, exchange ideas and learn from one another. Participating in the ICPC allows you to travel abroad and meet students from all over the world. Overall, the contest has enriched my university life.