Mission statement
PolyProg's mission is to promote the interests and skills in algorithmic programming within the EPFL, particularly by running internal contests, training EPFL students for international programming contests, and organizing the trips to the contest locations where the members of the association will represent the EPFL.
Where we will lead you
Whether you are experienced or still a novice, the joy of decorticating and solving complex algorithmic problems unites us! We will transform the novices of today into the experts of tomorrow, who will represent EPFL at international programming contests.
This transformation will, of course, not operate as quickly as suggested above, but the spirit remains. We will select the teams which will represent EPFL in the regional final of the ACM ICPC in late november 2011 in Madrid, like in 2009 and 2010. This contest will offer the opportunity to qualify for the world final!
But it's not only about the ACM ICPC contests. Since march 2010, PolyProg organizes the yearly Helvetic Coding Contest, a Swiss inter-university competition! And there are other contests which you can participate in with us, such as the
Even if you are not selected for the contests, our extensive training program will help you for your studies, and beyond. You will develop fabulous analytical skills you will profit from during your whole stay at EPFL, and which will give you an edge as future engineer or architect.
How can you join us
The first step would be to register, so we can contact you later. Then we encourage you to attend our General Assembly (October 4 at 6:15pm in CM106). We furthermore enourage you to browse this website so you can learn more about our young association, which actually was legally constituted only on September 24, 2009.
PolyProg will organize several seminars and local contests throughout the academic year. We would be glad to have you among us!
What awaits you
In order to participate in the international contests, you will have to be selected in the local contest. The best 6 programmers will be invited to a week-long training camp at ETH Zurich with the ex-world-champions. It will be an excellent opportunity to bond with your teammates – the ICPC is in fact a team contest: 3 persons in front of one computer will compete against the rest of the world!
But, like in so many other settings, only continuous participation will lead you to success. For this reason, the contest season is complemented by seminars during which we explain you how to approach the different classes of problems and give you the necessary theory to solve them. These problems will be posted on our website one week in advance, so you have enough time to think about them on your own.