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When techies have a ball
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The Google Code Jam was a chance for computer whizzes to pit themselves against the best in the business
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Problem-solving is fun for Madhusudanan, Akshay, Shyamal and Vivekanand. — Photo: Murali Kumar K.
WE HAVE all heard about rock stars jamming to produce new music. But how about a Code Jam for our software engineers? Sounds nerdy?
Consider this. Google Code Jam, one of the toughest competitions of its kind, concluded late last and the winner walked away with a cool Rs. 3 lakhs. Put your eyeballs back into their sockets and read on. Of the 50 finalists who were best among 14,000 participants, 15 were from Bangalore.
I caught up with four city-based techies who participated in the contest — Akshay Pundle, Madhusudanan Kandaswamy, Shyamal Pandya and Vivekanand Kirubanandan — to find out what the deal was with Code Jam that makes it so popular...
"It is one thing to talk about a solution to a problem but is something to go there and solve it and make it pass through test cases. Basically a code has to work for any input. At the Code Jam you not only have to do that for one question but for three in 60 minutes," says Akshay.
Big deal the same as an exam. But that's where the fun begins.
"Then people get to see your solution or code for 15 minutes and try to find flaws in it. If you find a flaw in someone's code you get points and he gets nothing. You also get points for submitting your code fast," adds Akshay.
The questions that these guys fret over are nothing but simple day-to-day problems that need to be expressed in computer language. For example, one the questions this year was how to get from point A to B in a map in the fastest and efficient way, which is also the simplest.
"The questions are all simple algorithms that are real-world problems and need efficient solutions. If I give you a paper and a pen you should be able solve it," says Vivekanand.
"You have to understand the problem, come up with a design, code, test and pass it," adds Madhusudanan.
The tools these guys use to program are also not that complicated. They use Java, C and C++ that any kid learns in school nowadays.
But Shyamal argues: "The tool is just a mechanism to express what you want to do. It is just about building on the basic stuff. You can't really imagine how much you can do with C++."
"It doesn't matter how well you know Java, it all about how you tackle the problem. It is pure computer science. I read Java only two days before the event," adds Madhusudanan.
And to make matters even tougher, the completion is for individuals only, no teamwork. In fact TopCode, an organisation that specialises in online programming competitions, monitors the contest.
"There is no teamwork and also no personal rivalry. It is basically about the challenge of solving a problem and finding flaws in the solution. I have 49 guys looking at my solution," says Akshay.
"Basically the idea is to root out bugs. More the people looking at the problem lesser the bugs," adds Vivekanand.
While it might all sound fun and games, it is very serious at the sharp end. A good run in this competition can look very good on one's resume and is an ideal benchmark to assess oneself.
"It is a chance to test yourself among peers. You can find out how good you are in the world outside. Some do this for a living but for me it is just a hobby," sums up Madhusudanan.
ANAND SANKAR
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