TopCoder Inc. has announced the winners of its online programming competition, the 2003 Coding and Component Tournaments of the 2003 TopCoder Open held at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. The competition was sponsored by Intel.
Tomasz Czajka of Warsaw, Poland took the $50,000 (US) grand prize, beating out 15 of some of the world’s best programmers. He was followed by Tim Roberts of Cary, NC, and Rob Nielsen of Carters Ridge, Australia, who each went home $10,000 richer as the winners of the Design and Development component of the contest.
“I couldn’t be more excited about my win,” said Czajka. “TopCoder and Intel hosted a thrilling event, and I am thankful to have been able to participate.”
The TopCoder contest is broken down into specialized subcategories. The Coding Tournament is a timed competition in which participants must solve complex algorithmic problems using one of several programming languages, including Java, C++, C# and VB.Net.
The Component Tournament, new to the TopCoder Open this year, focuses on designing and developing reusable software components for future applications, using general guidelines. Competitors get to choose their preferred language, but the Championship round requires the use of C++ only.
Czajka began the tournament as the #2 seed, rated second among more than 34,000 developers in the TopCoder online community. After “out-coding” Jimmy Mardell of Stockholm, Sweden, Bogdan Stanescu of Fairfax, VA, and Jiqing Tang of Hong Kong in the Championship round, Czajka earned his spot as the highest-rated TopCoder member.
In order to earn a placing at the event, finalists had to best more than 1,000 programmers from across the globe in simultaneous, online competitions. One of the most well-publicized is Google’s Code Jam, which took place last Nov. at the company’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters.
“The addition of the Component Tournament to the TopCoder Open has increased the significance of this already premier competition,” said Jack Hughes, Founder and chairman of TopCoder. “The three champions crowned today are at the top of their fields and should be proud of their individual accomplishments.”
