On Saturday 15 October 2016, universities from sub-Saharan Africa competed in a programming contest. The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is a prestigious annual competition for students. It is the only computing competition that brings together all five continents each year, with more than 90 universities participating.
The competition aims to develop teamwork, excellence and competitiveness among students. It offers a platform for everyone in computing to encourage and draw public attention to the next generation of IT professionals pursuing excellence. It is a unique opportunity for students from different universities, schools and institutes to sharpen their programming skills and solve computing problems.
The programming competition is managed by a software platform and takes place in real time: a five-hour race against the clock with eight problems to solve. Each team consists of three people sharing one computer. Every computer has software that allows teams to submit their solutions. Solutions are written in JAVA, C++, C and PYTHON.
At this 18th edition, the University of Cape Town again took first place, solving seven of the eight problems. It will represent Africa in the world finals in Dakota, United States. Nigeria took second place, while Burkina Faso delivered a notable performance on its first appearance, solving four problems and finishing third.
