I wish I had programming contests back in college. I hope to watch this one and admire the current crop of talent. Posted by Jonathan Ritchie Yap of the University of Asia and the Pacific.

Byte Wars

Think…Create…Solve…will be the battle cry of 48 teams as they slug it out for the first-ever ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest Asia Regional site to be held in Philippines on November 12 –14, 2002. University of Asia and the Pacific will play host to around 144 contestants in teams of three university students trying to develop solutions to 9 machine problems using C++ or Java in 5 hours.

Sandra Jean Chua or "Sasha" as she is more popularly known in the Philippine IT circles after topping this year's JITSE exam and
powering the Bayanihan Computing Group to the top of the heap in
Microsoft.NET contest will lead Ateneo de Manila which also features freshman sensation Mark Punzalan. Standing in the way of Ateneo is their Katipunan neighbor, UP Diliman which boasts of many time National Team member Mario Carreon, who used to mentor Sasha back in their high school days at Philippine Science. DLSU, Mapua, Asia Pacific College, Lyceum, East Asia College, Informatics, NIIT, TRACE Computer and Business College, AMA, STI, UE, and UST are some of the 22 Metro Manila-based teams participating in the contest.

Ateneo de Naga and UP Los Baños will lead the charge of 18 provincial teams including delegations from Angeles University Foundation, Mindanao State University, Saint Louis University, San Pedro College of Business Administration, and University of Saint Louis.

China's Fudan University will be seeking a return trip to the World
Finals after placing 7th in the 26th edition of the contest held in
Hawaii last March 2002 which was won for the first time by an Asian University – Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Also trying their luck in Manila are teams from Kasetsart University (Thailand), Parahyangan University (indonesia), Tokyo Institute of Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, and Yonsei University (Korea).

Winner of the Manila site will be one of the sixty teams that will
advance to the World Finals (March 22-26, 2003), at Merv's Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills California during the Academy Awards week. The event is considered to be the "Olympics of Computer Programming".

The Manila site Steering Committee is composed of Dr. Jose Maria Mariano (Regional Contest Director), Rey Vincenzo Cruz (Contest Associate Director), Jonathan Richie Yap (Executive Sub-Committee Chair), Maria Asuncion Sahagun (Director for Publicity and Promotions), and Cyrus Paolo Buenafe (Director for Delegates Development).

IBM is sponsoring the event in a global scale with Globe Telecom's Net Express DSL leading the cast of local partners, which includes Watercare, Hot Café, Kingfisher, Goodview and yehey.com.

For more information, please get in touch with Susette Buenafe at 633-8697 / 634-2806 or e-mail acmmanila.uap.edu.ph.