Swiss Olympiad in Informatics

The Swiss Delegation returned last Saturday from the 22th International Olympiad in Informatics, which took place in the renowned University of Waterloo in Canda.

Between the 14th and the 21st of August, over 300 youngsters from 83 countries came together to compete in the most prestigious programming contest for high-school students in the world. The Swiss Delegation consisted of

• Samuel Grütter, Gymnasium Kirchenfeld, BE,
• Timon Gehr, Kantonsschule Trogen, AR,
• Alain Vaucher, Collège Sainte-Croix, FR und
• Josef Ziegler, Kantonale Mittelschule Uri, UR.

Apart from the contest itself, which took place on two days with four tasks each, the organizers planned a great deal of activities, such as: An excursion to the Niagara Falls, a visit in Canada's Wonderland as well as various lectures on different subjects in computer science.

The Swiss Delegation (f.l.t.r.): Johannes Josi (team leader), Sämi Grütter, Josef Ziegler, Timon Gehr, Alain Vaucher und Richard Kralovic (deputy leader)

The four swiss contestants showed that they can stand the peace of the international competitors, even though we did not score a medal this year. We congratulate all swiss representatives on their performances.

The official ranking of IOI 2010 is available on the official website.. An inofficial –but more informative – ranking is available on SnarkNews.

A couple of images can be found on our Flickr page here.

Moreover we would like to congratulate the German Delegation with their leader Wolfang Pohl on their outstanding performance (2 golds, 1 silver). Please consult their blog for more details.

Switzerland participated as a guest country in the 17th Central European Olympiad in Informatics which took place in Košice, Slovakia, from July 12th to July 19th 2010. Contraty to most countries we do not send the IOI-delegation to CEOI but rather aspiring contestants for the years to come. This year the delegation consisted of

• Josef Ziegler, Kantonale Mittelschule Uri, UR
• Lazar Todorovic, Realgymnasium Rämibühl, ZH
• Nikola Djokic, Kantonsschule Luzern, LU
• Thomas Leu, Kantonsschule Trogen, AR

The Swiss Delegation (f.l.t.r.): Josef Ziegler, Thomas Leu, Lazar Todorovic, Sandro Feuz (team leader), Adrian Roos (deputy leader), Nikola Djokic

The niveau of the competition was really high and, in consequence, the tasks were quite difficult. Unfortunately we could not score a medal but the experiences for the participants, which they can use in contests to come are immensely valuable.

The official ranking as well as all tasks and more informations about CEOI can be found on the Official Homepage.

Our pictures can be found here on our Flickr page.

Our experiences are well summarized in this (unformal) trip report of contestant Josef Ziegler (german):

Die Schweizer Informatikolympiade 2010 ist seit letztem Wochenende zu Ende und damit das Rennen um den Titel des besten Schweizer Jungprogrammierers entschieden. Die ganze Rangliste ist hier zu finden: SOI 2010 Finalresultate. Wiederum haben wir einen Graphen mit den Punkte gegen die Zeit geplottet, dieser findet sich hier SOI 2010 Graph

Somit haben sich für die beiden Internationalen Wettbewerbe, die Zentraleuropäische Informatikolympiade (CEOI) in der Slovakei und die Internationale Informatikolympiade (IOI) in Kanda folgende Schüler qualifiziert

Der VSWO hat eine Medienmitteilung zum SOI 2010 Final rausgegeben Medienmitteilung SOI Finale 2010 - VSWO. Viele Bilder zum SOI-Finale sind hier und hier zu finden.

Niklaus Wirth gratuliert Alain Vaucher zum Gewinn einer Goldmedaille.

Die Teilnehmer bei IBM/itpoint mit einem Stoff-Tux (es fehlt: Samuel Grütter)

Juraj Hromkovic ehrt Claudia Appenzeller (ehem. Geschäftsführung VSWO) für ihre Arbeit für die SOI.

The SOI 2010 is approaching its end. Right now, as I am writing this, the participants of the SOI 2010 finals are sitting on the last of the four five-hour long contests.

After the contest ends, we are going to honor people which have achieved great things for SOI and there will also be announcment of the winners of the SOI 2010 Finals including the awarding of the medals. This event will take place at IBM/itpoint on the Altstetterstrasse 124 in 8048 Zurich-Altstetten at 16:00. It is open to the public and we especially inivite all parents, friends and colleagues of the participants to come and join us. We're also looking forward to our guests of honor from ETH and our supporting partners, who will award the medals to the winners.

After the announcment of the rankings all participants of the SOI 2010 and our honor guests are kindly invited to a dinner.

The first weekend of the SOI 2010 Finals was held 7th and 8th of May at the Credit Suisse Business School in Zurich. Just as the years before our host was very accommodating and provided an excellent environment for the first two five-hour contests of the SOI 2010 Finals.

We had prepared 8 tasks, which emerged to be a hard nut to crack for most participants. The results for both days can be found here: Results Finals 1

We also prepared a graphical representation of the individual submissions, so you can track each participants performance over time Graph Finals 1

The second finals weekend will be on 21st and 22nd of May and be hosted at IBM/itpoint. It will again consist of two five-hour contests with 4 tasks each. After the contest on the 22nd of May there will be the medal ceremony of SOI 2010 and we will announce the Swiss Delegation for the International Olympiad in Informatics 2010 in Canada. There will various representatives from both some of our sponsors as well as ETH Zurich present.

Some impressions from the first finals weekend

Participants during the contest.

Markus Moll from Credit Suisse mentally preparing the contestants.

After the first contest on Friday.

Waiting for a well deserved pizza. Jean-Philippe Roulet from Credit Suisse in conversation with a contestant.