All Ireland Programming Olympiad
The 20th anniversary All-Ireland Programming Olympiad (AIPO) National Finals have taken place at DCU’s School of Computing. This national computer programming competition for second-level students, sponsored by the School of Computing and Fidelity Investments, pitches the best, brightest and some of the youngest programmers in the country against each other for the chance to compete for a place on Team Ireland at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Taiwan in July 2014.
The top students from the Senior Section of the AIPO National Finals will now be invited to participate in a three-day problem-solving bootcamp at DCU in June where they will be tutored by DCU School of Computing academics, Fidelity Investments architects and previous IOI competitors, exposing them to the international standards required and giving them the best chance of medalling at the IOI Finals. The students going through to bootcamp are:AIPO-IOI DCU Training Camp Attendees June 2014:
- Áron Hoffmann (16) Luttrellstown Community College, Dublin
- Daniel Mulcahy (16) Gonzaga College, Dublin
- Conor Griffin (17) Ardscoil Ris, Limerick
- Darragh Griffin (17) Ardscoil Ris, Limerick
- Maciej Goszczycki (16) Colaiste Chroabh Abhann, Kilcoole, Wicklow
- Mariusz Skoczen (18) Borrisokane CC, Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary
- Noah Donnelly (17) Our Lady's Secondary, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan
- Richard Tynan (18) Cistercian College, Roscrea
The final four best young programmers with the right ‘X factor’ qualities will then be selected to represent Ireland at the IOI competition in Taiwan in July.
Gary Conway from the School of Computing, who co-ordinates the AIPO explained the rationale of the competition,
“With the buoyant IT industry in Ireland, second-level students are becoming increasingly more interested in computer programming. This competition is targeted at those students and helps equip them with the skills they need, while also furthering the awareness of computer programming as an exciting and fulfilling career. These students represent the very best talent that we are striving to attract when we designed our new portfolio entry undergraduate degree, Computational Problem Solving and Software Development (CPSSD). Three past graduates of the AIPO competition are now students on this new degree course.”
The preliminary round of the competition was held online, with the final five-hour round held in the School of Computing, DCU. The programing challenges are graded as students advance in the competition which is supported by Fidelity Investments.
“We are delighted to be sponsoring this event for the third year,” said Tadhg O’Shea, Vice President of Software Engineering for Fidelity Investments. “The talent here today is outstanding. It is amazing to see such a high level of skill from these students, at such a young stage in their lives. One of our finalists is only nine years of age. Fidelity is proud to lend our technology expertise and work alongside the DCU School of Computing to help teach these students and empower them for success at the International Finals. Congratulations to all the students who participated in the National Final today.”
First place winner of the Senior section on the day was 16 year old Áron Hoffman from Dublin who won a Lenovo IdeaPad multimedia laptop. In the junior section, John Ryan (14), a student at St Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh, Tipperary carried off the top prize in the Junior section, an Asus Netbook.