South African Computer Olympiad

The South African Computing Olympiad (SACO) is an annual computer programming competition for secondary school students (although at least one primary school student has participated[1]) in South Africa. The South African team for the International Olympiad in Informatics is selected through this competition.

Competition rounds

The competition consists of three rounds. The first round is a pen-and-paper aptitude examination at the entrant's school, testing a combination of general knowledge, knowledge of computers, problem solving and basic programming (entrants are often required to program an imaginary robot in a fictional Logo-like language). Although the first round is not compulsory, it is accessible to those who do not have access to, or knowledge of, computers. 31,926 students entered the first round in 2006.[2]

In the second round, actual programs must be written and executed. There are five questions, each requiring a different program to be written. Most entrants only answer a single question. The tasks usually include one basic shape-drawing program; for example, the 2004 question "TriSquare" required output such as:

  *
 * *
*   *
*****
*   *
*   *
*   *
*****

The top performers (those who have answered four or five questions in the second round) are invited to the final round. Usually between 10 and 15 students are chosen, but since the introduction of a new language and increased funding from the Shuttleworth Foundation in 2005 there have been between 20 and 30 students. The final round is held at the University of Cape Town: the finalists stay in Cape Town over a weekend. The competition consists of two five-hour rounds, the first on Saturday and second on Sunday. The problems are similar to those in the USACO, though somewhat easier. On the Monday after the competition, a prize-giving ceremony is held.

Prizes

The top six entrants are awarded medals (one gold, two silver and three bronze). There are cash prizes, both for the winners and their schools. There were bonus prizes totalling R100,000 for using Python, due to Shuttleworth's sponsorship. The sponsorship ended in 2013 and no additional prizes are given for using Python presently.

The top performers are invited to a squad which will be given additional training from the Olympiad coaches and the USACO training programme. Four programmers are then selected from the squad to represent South Africa at the International Olympiad in Informatics.

Languages

In the first round, it is not necessary to know a programming language. In the second round, contestants may use a language of their choice (within reason - Brainfuck is presumably excluded). In the third round, however, the set of languages is restricted to:

  • Pascal - the language taught in high schools in some South African provinces (including Gauteng)
  • Delphi - the language taught in high schools in some South African provinces (including Free State)
  • Java - taught in other provinces (including the Western Cape)
  • Python - sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth
  • C/C++

Python programs are given a 10x time bonus.

South African IOI Medalists

The following table lists all South African IOI medalists ordered by colour and number of medals (or ranking if gold), then by last year a medal was received. B represents a Bronze medal, S a Silver and G a Gold.[3]

Name Years
Bruce MerryG (6th) 2001G (7th) 2000S 1999S 1998B 1997B 1996
Daniel WrightG (1st) 1998
Richard StarfieldG (13th) 2004
Kevin LiuS 1995S 1994
Ralf KistnerB 2007S 2006
Carl HultquistB 2000S 1999
Keegan Carruthers-SmithS 2006
Joshua YudakenS 2006
Linsen LootsS 2003
Johan Du ToitS 2001
Danie ConradieS 1997
Brian ShandS 1994
David ButlerS 1992
Keith GuthrieS 1992
Yaseen MowzerB 2017B 2016B 2015
Ulrik De MuelenaereB 2016B 2015B 2014
Vaughan NewtonB 2012B 2011
Sean WentzelB 2012B 2010
Francois ConradieB 2010B 2009
Bronson RudnerB 2017
David BroodrykB 2017
Thomas OrtonB 2015
Robin VisserB 2015
Robert SpencerB 2013
Bennie SwartB 2011
Graham ManuellB 2010
Kosie van der MerweB 2010
Saadiq MoollaB 2008
Dirk-B CoetzeeB 2007
Timothy StranexB 2005
Shen TianB 2003
Jacques ConradieB 2002
Heinrich Du ToitB 2002
Jacob CroonB 2001
Liesl PenzhornB 2000
Hugo van der MerweB 2000
Paul CookB 1999
Rainer HoftB 1999
Jaco CronjeB 1998
Timothy LawrenceB 1997
Gert-Jan Van RooyenB 1995
gollark: ++remind 2y a 2 year reminder went through
gollark: Haskell, quite possibly.
gollark: Replying to https://discord.com/channels/346530916832903169/348702212110680064/756206691929948221Sadly, yes, some are behind the itmes.
gollark: Why are you using the stdlib malloc instead of my superior malloc?
gollark: ++delete braces

References
  1. "Computer Olympiad - Winner Archive". Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  2. "Computer Olympiad - History". Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  3. "IOI - South Africa: Hall of Fame". Retrieved 2016-09-14.
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