November 15, 2013, by Graham Kendall

IEEE Xtreme Competition

This post was contributed by Mahendra Chilukuri

IEEEXtreme is a global challenge in which teams of IEEE Student members, supported by IEEE Student Branch, advised and proctored by an IEEE member; compete in a 24hour competition conducted globally to solve a set of programming problems.

IEEEXtreme is an online 24hrs programming competition conducted by IEEE annually for the student members across the world to test the physical and mental strength of the future engineers. There were 1650 teams competing globally in IEEE Xtreme for 24hrs to solve 23 problems. Around six Malaysian teams competed in IEEE Xtreme 7.0 and two of them from Nottingham University Malaysia Campus. The competition was intense and extreme as the participants have to battle sleepless night to solve problems related to AI, Machine Learning, Game Theory and Computational Intelligence. The two teams from UNMC – ProEX and MRJ survived the 24hrs challenge and finished top among six Malaysian teams. The final score and global ranking among all the teams competed in IEEEXtreme 7.0 will be announced by IEEE at the end of November 2013. The competition was held on HackerRank platform and participants are allowed to solve problems using any language from the C, C++, C#, Java, Python, Ruby, Pearl and PHP. The competition helped everyone share photos, experience, queries on unsolved problems throughout the competition on Facebook IEEEXtreme page. The organizers were effective in keeping everyone awake, particularly those who are working at odd hours and proctoring 8 teams alone round the clock for 24hrs!

IEEE Xtreme 7.0 Competition Experience

There were 23 problems to be solved in 24hrs competition with questions coming from the sponsors of the event Lenovo and Acodox. Each problem was assigned 100 Marks and depending on the results obtained, marks were awarded. There were some interesting questions from IEEE Women in Engineering, IEEE HK, IEEE UPP, and IEEE.TV. However, the Xtreme question came from IEEE Computer Society which could not be solved by any team. Overall the competition was fun and provided a unique opportunity for young engineering students to compete globally on a common platform to solve real-world problems using computing skills. The competition was innovative yet Xtreme.

Lim Yi Kai

IEEE Xtreme had been exciting and thrilling, especially in both the beginning and the end, although near the end of the 24-hour time limit I was practically in a trance-like state. I was exposed to problems I never thought was possible as a programming challenge. Having to program for twenty-four hours might not be all fun, but it had been fun in the sense that it was thrilling and some experience to stay up just to make a few codes work to satisfy all the test cases.

Brandon Chong

IEEExtreme is definitely one of the most exciting and yet challenging competition that I have ever taken part into. As a programming enthusiast, this is my very first programming competition that turned out to be a great experience in my life. Though the problems are tough, I particularly enjoy the process of thinking, analyzing, and problem-solving during the competition. I truly believe it did help me in better analyzing programming tasks and improves my problem-solving skills. Thanks IEEExtreme!

Jasmine Chen

Overall, IEEExtreme is a very satisfying experience where it made me see the opportunities that programming actually offers in real life. This had also made me realize that there is a lot more to learn, out of the module offered by the university. IEEExtreme is very exciting and tiring at the same time. If given the chance, I will definitely try again the next time after I improve my programming skills.

Raam Kumar

IEEE Xtreme Competition was a very exciting experience for me. Spending 24 hours trying to solve challenging programming questions was exhausting but at the same time enjoyable. Although we didn’t manage to solve a lot of the problems, we gave a good effort to attempt as many of the questions as we possibly could. The level of difficulty, although expected, confined us to solving only a handful of questions successfully. However, it drives us to better ourselves and maybe do better next time. The question not only put our programming skills to the test, but also other aspects such as teamwork, problem solving, mental stamina. During the 24hrs, other than writing codes, was a pleasant experience. We were provided with good food and drinks and also a comfortable place to do our programming. Overall, it was experience that we enjoyed and also learn a lot from.

Jye Lee

I registered as a participant of IEEE Xtreme, only realising the shocking fact later that the competition is really 24-hour-long. All these while I prioritise sleep above all else, this time I had decided to make an exception to test my limits. Unlike learning-oriented programming questions given by lecturers, the questions are all reality-based problems. As expected it was tiring, but during the 24-hour adrenaline rush I surprised myself by how long I can stay awake and still program coherently, but with enough sleep and more work on my programming knowledge I could have done better. It was a great experience nevertheless, something that is worth trying at least once in a lifetime.

Michael Chin Jian Ji

I would say it is awesome! Through IEEEXtreme, I am aware of how programming had been used in solving real world problems. I have better understanding about programming and feel more confident for my next int main ().

Teoh Meng Yong

Special thanks to the Faculty of Engineering for sponsoring the refreshments to participants of IEEE Xtreme programming competition. It is really good to see members trying hard and learning something new during the event and I want to join the fun for the next event too.

IEEEXtreme is a wonderful experience to the participants, student branch and organizer.