Union strikes at computer challenge

A team of first-year Computer Science students have got with the program.

Alex Flint, Dylan Owen and Matt Woolley - known as "The Cossack Union" - performed well at the recent Association for Computing Machinery International Programming Contest, regarded as one of the most prestigious programming competitions in the world.

Competing in Adelaide against teams from Australia and New Zealand, they were the top-ranked first-year team - and equal 11th overall - and finished as the top South Australian team (out of 16 teams competing).

The university's success in the competition didn't end there: the second and third best teams from South Australia were also from Adelaide, ahead of teams from the University of South Australia and Flinders University.

Coach of all five of the university's teams, Computer Science lecturer Brad Alexander, said competitors have five hours in which to solve nine programming problems.

"The problems this year ranged from a simple search for stolen jelly to a very difficult assessment of a robot assembly line building coloured toys," Mr Alexander said.

"The solutions the teams come up with are tested to the limit by the judging software and the judging panel: you either get a coveted 'accepted' message or a much less coveted 'error' message back, often within seconds.

"While they are racing against the clock, teams are penalised for incorrect submissions, so the top teams are those that get correct solutions the first time. This accurate efficiency is a highly valued skill in all domains."

The Cossack Union successfully solved seven out of nine problems, only solving their seventh (and breaking a four-team deadlock) with 45 seconds to go.

Story by Ben Osborne