A new paradigm for programming competitions

The annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest produces a competitive paradigm that is at odds with the pedagogical goals of modern computer science and software engineering degree programs. This paradigm stresses the fast completion of a programming task and evaluates the results solely with black-box testing specified by the judges. In contrast, the pedagogical goals of contemporary college degree programs in computing emphasize the quality of processes inherent in software development and implementation. In 2007, the College of Charleston student chapter of the ACM hosted its annual high school programming competition by turning the conventional programming paradigm on its head to focus on quality-of-process rather than timeto-complete. The judging criteria included both technical and artistic merit. The implementation of the competition emphasized success by giving students working skeleton solution programs. This paper presents the motivation for the new paradigm, th...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: SIGCSE
• Authors: James F. Bowring
• Keywords: ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, Education, Paradigm, Pedagogical Goals, SIGCSE 2008