The final four have been decided, the trip booked and the passports sorted, as Ireland’s team gears up for the Programming Olympiad in Russia this August.
After eight of the top programming students in the country descended on DCU for the final tests to determine who represents Ireland at the Programming Olympiad, four lucky men made the grade.
Eoin Davey from Summerhill, Sligo; Teofil Camarasu, Dundalk Grammar School, Louth; John Ryan, St Joseph’s College, Thurles, Tipperary and Kieran Horgan, Davis College in Mallow, will head over to Russia for the August event.
The first trio of that list actually won the Irish Olympics-themed event earlier this year, also held at DCU, which is where the top eight were decided on.
The All Ireland Programming Olympiad committee (AIPO) judged the competitors at a three-day session late last month, with programme manager Gary Conway looking forward to the “exciting and hugely challenging event”.
“The competition is all about problem-solving and computational thinking, all under intense pressure and all vital skills for the world of software programming and the ICT sector.”
The Irish team, from left: Kieran Horgan of Davis College in Mallow, John Ryan of St Joseph’s College in Thurles, Teofil Camarasu of Dundalk Grammar School and Eoin Davey from Summerhill, Sligo
The Olympiad is actually running for 27 years now, with secondary-level students taking part since its inaugural 1989 event.
Held between 12-19 August, 82 countries will be sending teams to Russia for the tournament.
“This event […] brings together some of the brightest and youngest problem-solvers and computational thinkers in Ireland,” said Tadhg O’Shea of Fidelity Investments, which sponsored the project.
“The programme is a great way of supporting these students to develop their technical skills further, and encouraging them to consider a future career in IT.”
Medal image via Shutterstock
