Today there is not a single journalist in the United States – the cradle of IT – who would not be aware of where Warsaw University lies. For 20 straight years, its students have been taking part in the World Finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest and have won the event on two separate occasions (the second win coming in 2007 in Tokyo). The only other team with an equally long final streak comes from the University of Waterloo, Canada.

“I remember that during the award ceremony we sat in the last row. When we were declared the winners, we had to traverse the entire hall, so there was plenty of time for the other guests to acquaint themselves with us, and for us to lap up the applause,” reminisces Jan Madey, a professor at Warsaw University’s Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics. That Polish team had a lot to be proud of, since in the final round they simply blew away the competition. “Our team was the only one which solved the most difficult problem, which involved an integrated circuit with a imprinted fractal through which a current was meant to pass in the fastest possible way – exactly as the task’s author had designed it. The professor who came up with the problem worked on it for two years and when we submitted our response, he literally began jumping with joy,” Professor Madey added.

Poland’s IT phenomenon

So how come programming has become a Polish speciality? “We offer a very good development path for especially gifted children and youths,” Professor Jan Madey said. “There is the National Children’s Fund, which provides assistance to over 500 young people every year. The laureates do not receive money, but are instead given scientific assistance. Most of the participants of the Programming Contest profited from the assistance given by this organization Furthermore, we also have good schools and subject-specific Olympiads in the field of mathematics and IT. The knowledge and diligence acquired during these event are like an internal motor which drives people to want to be successful – all this leads to Poles winning the World Finals,” the Professor commented.

Andrzej Gąsienica-Samek was a member of the World Final-winning team in 2003. He had been taking part in IT competitions and Olympiads since primary school. “To win, the team of three participants must not only be made up of good programmers, but first and foremost must be able to communicate and know each others’ strengths and weaknesses,” Gąsienica-Samek said. Warsaw Univeristy’s Bartosz Klin, PhD – a World Finals participant in 1997 and 1999 – adds, “The most difficult bit is learning to correct the errors and finding them in your friends code.” Preparations in the run-up to the competition last one whole year. During their daily, five-hour training sessions, the three-person teams of programmers analyze thousands of complex problems.

In 2003, when the team from Poland won the World Finals for the first time and Americans began searching for the town of Warsaw on their country’s map, the team from the United States came 13th. 

During the first few minutes of the World Finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest the silence is quite unlike anything else you may experience. The competitors are so intensely focused on reading the problem descriptions that you can almost hear the buzzing of their neurons. Then, suddenly, the sound of typing fills the auditorium.