SWABI: The Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI) and International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) organised the ICPC Asia West Continent Finals here on Tuesday.

The participants said the ICPC was known as the world cup of computing, attracting the best minds from universities worldwide to showcase their problem-solving, programming and teamwork skills.

They said with participation from over 3,322 universities in 111 countries across six continents, ICPC had become the ultimate platform for algorithmic programming excellence for students.

The multi-site contest spanned across three international locations, simultaneously, including in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Mathura, India and Topi, Pakistan.

The thrilling five-hour long programming showdown pushed the limits of four exceptional teams that represented Pakistan in the contest, embarking on an intense programming competition alongside 24 teams from Bangladesh and 33 from India.

Pakistan was proudly represented by outstanding teams and brilliant minds from GIK Institute, FAST-NUCES Karachi, FAST-NUCES Islamabad, and Punjab University College of Information Technology, Lahore.

On the occasion, Prof Masroor Hussain, regional director of ICPC, said the final contest witnessed exceptional performances from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), which led the scoreboard. He said while last year Bangladesh won the contest, this year Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology fell to the 7th rank.

He said team AC47 from GIKI solved four challenging problems and secured a respectable 36th rank. Team Cypher from FAST-NUCES, Karachi, showcased their skills by solving three problems.

These achievements illustrate the significant strides Pakistan has made since the previous year, he said, adding, however, there was dire need to further motivate students, fostering a culture of problem-solving and coding excellence that would soon propel Pakistan up the leader board.

It was announced that team AC47 would represent ICPC World Finals in Egypt in November this year along with 14 teams from India and Bangladesh.

THIEVES ARRESTED: The police on Tuesday arrested three thieves and recovered stolen mobile phones and Rs1 million cash from their possession.

On the night of April 27, thieves had taken away 140 mobiles, Rs1 million cash, tablets, memory cards and countless USBs from a mobile phone shop in Zaida.

District police officer Najamul Hussain had formed a team headed by SP investigation Khan Khel Khan to arrest the accused.

The arrested thieves were identified as Salman Khan from Totalai area of Buner, Mohammad Ahmed and Sohail, residents of Zaida.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2023