Monday, August 6, 2012

In the Olympics of Algorithms, a Russian Keeps Winning Gold

1 mooing cows require instant mathematical insights and quick fingers on the keyboard. Mitrichev is known for his "short pause"—that is, he starts to answer questions nearly as soon as he sees them.

To Mitrichev, competitive programming offers a rare island of absolutes in a subjective world. "The beautiful aspect is that it's totally automatic and there is no human judgment involved at all," he says. "It's one of the fairest competitions I've ever seen."

Not only algorithm crafters such as Mitrichev see beauty in that. Technology companies use the sport programming scene as a place to discover the world's smartest—and fastest—coders. Giants such as Facebook and Google sponsor the top competitions, plastering their logos around event halls like Rolex at Wimbledon (see "Letting Hackers Compete, Facebook Eyes New Talent").

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