The International Collegiate Programming Contest is an algorithmic programming contest for college students. Teams of three, representing their university, work to solve real-world problems, fostering collaboration, creativity, innovation, and the ability to perform under pressure. Through training and competition, teams challenge each other to raise the bar on the possible. Quite simply, it is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world.
The ICPC traces its roots to 1970 when the first competition was hosted by pioneers of the Alpha Chapter of the UPE Computer Science Honor Society. The initiative spread quickly within the United States and Canada as an innovative program to raise ambition, problem-solving aptitude, and opportunities of the strongest students in the field of computing.
The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables students to test their ability to perform under pressure. The contest has raised aspirations and performance of generations of the world’s problem solvers in the fields of computing sciences and engineering.
Over time, the contest evolved into a multi-tier competition with the first championship round conducted in 1977. Since then, the contest has expanded into a worldwide collaborative of universities hosting regional competitions that advance teams to the annual global championship round, the ICPC World Finals.
The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is the premier global programming competition conducted by and for the world’s universities. The ICPC is affiliated with the ICPC Foundation.
The ICPC features several levels of competition:
- Local Contests
- Regional Contests
- Regional Championships
- The World Finals
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