Programming contest at GIK Institute: Best minds exhibit problem-solving skills

SWABI: For the second time in the history of the Asia West Continent, the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIK) and International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Asia, Pakistan, took the lead in organizing the highly anticipated ICPC Asia West Continent Finals here on Tuesday.

Participants said that the ICPC was renowned as the “World Cup of Computing”, attracting the best minds from universities worldwide to showcase their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills. They said that with participation from over 3,322 universities in 111 countries across six continents, ICPC had become the ultimate platform for algorithmic programming excellence students from across the world. The multi-site contest spanned across three international locations, simultaneously, in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Mathura, India; and Topi, Pakistan.

Thrilling five-hour long programming showdown pushed the limits of our four exceptional teams that represented Pakistan in the contest, embarking on an intense programming competition alongside 24 teams from Bangladesh and 33 teams from India.

Pakistan was proudly represented by outstanding teams and brilliant minds from GIK Institute, FAST-NUCES Karachi, FAST-NUCES Islamabad, and Punjab University College of Information Technology, Lahore.

Prof Dr Masroor Hussain, regional director of ICPC said the final contest witnessed exceptional performances from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) leading the scoreboard. While last year Bangladesh won the contest, this year Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology fell to the 7th rank.

He said that team AC47 from GIKI solved four challenging problems and secured a respectable 36th rank. Team Cypher from FAST-NUCES, Karachi showcased their skills by solving three problems.

These achievements illustrate the significant strides Pakistan has made since the previous year, he said, adding that there was a dire need to further motivate our students, fostering a culture of problem-solving and coding excellence that will soon propel Pakistan up the leaderboard.

Sarah Sajjad, Deputy Director announced that team AC47 did a marvelous job and would represent ICPC World Finals at Egypt in November this year along with other 14 teams from India and Bangladesh.