Winners of the 1015Challenge in 2017

The second year of the ‘1015Challenge’ just completed, which was an additional activity to the core introductory Computer Science course, CSC1015F: solve as many problems as you can during the semester, in the least number of submissions, requiring both problem-solving and programming skills.
The problems in need of a computational solution were versions of various aspects of society. For instance, recycling bottles efficiently, dealing with overlapping wireless access points, recognizing a natural language, and predicting protests based on a political party’s prior behaviour. They required students to apply all the knowledge learned during the semester, and for the last 3 problems, a bit more as well, thereby pushing the students’ Python programming skills a step further.

66 students attempted to solve one or more problem out of a current roughly 600 students enrolled in the course, of whom 42 had at least one correct solution, and one student had solved all 12 problems. The highest number of attempts to get it right was 8, the lowest 1. There were three categories of prizes, with the winners as follows:

Top-5 overall
1. Hannah Clayton (522 points, all 12 problems solved)
2. Derick Diana (444 points, 11 problems solved)
3. Johannes Steffen (396 points, 9 problems solved)
4. Callum Tilbury (395 points, 10 problems solved)
5. Shane Weisz  (369 points, 9 problems solved)
Of note in this list compared to other programming challenge results, is that Ms Clayton was new to computer science, like most CSC1015F students who do not have, or do not take, the opportunity to take IT in secondary school.

First to solve a problem: Problem A: Luc Hayward, Problem B: Stuart Mesham, Problem C: Kaedon Williams, Problems D-F: Stuart Mesham, Problem G-I: Callum Tilbury, Problems J-K: Hannah Clayton, Problem L: Nicholas Kroon.

First new student to solve a problem: Luc Hayward (problem A), Callum Tilbury (problem B), Kaedon Williams (problem C), Rory Ellis (problem D) Emil Kenguerli (problem E), Johannes Steffen (problem F), Lawrence Godfrey (problem G), Derick Diana (problem H), Melcom Smit (problem I), - (problem J), - (problem K), - (problem L).

The winners received various prizes from the Computer Science Department, being UCT goodies such as UCT coasters, mugs, wooly hats, and/or a 8GB USB stick. As the prize-giving ceremony was in the consolidation period, most were studying hard, but the ‘post mortem’ discussion of the solutions with some of the winners was lively nonetheless. In the photo below, fltr: Derick Diana, Callum Tilbury, Nicholas Kroon, and Hannah Clayton.

Congratulations to all for their impressive performance!

We hope to see you again for another challenge—and more prizes—in CSC1016S in the next semester.