Registration is now open for Facebook's annual Hacker Cup, a competition that tests programmers' problem-solving skills.
According to the official announcement on Facebook, the competition will begin with three online rounds. Entrants will be judged on accuracy and speed while solving algorithmic problems. Facebook will fly 25 finalists to the title fight, which will be held at its headquarters, in California.
The company says prizes range from t-shirts for the top 100 entrants, to $5 000 for the overall winner.
According to the social media site, 'hacking' is core to the building of Facebook. “[We're] always hacking to find better ways to solve problems,” the site adds.
David Alves, software engineer at Facebook, stresses that the Hackathon is a programming competition. “It's called the 'Hacker Cup' using the positive meaning of 'hack',” he explains. Alves refers to the Urban Dictionary definition of hacking as programming a computer in “a clever, virtuosic and wizardly manner”.
“It has absolutely nothing to do with attacking or breaking into computer systems,” he concludes.
The competition is open to participants around the world. According to Facebook, 11 768 people took part in last year's Hacker Cup. Alves says more than 250 South Africans participated. Last year's finalists included seven from Poland, six from Russia, four from the US, two from Japan and one each from China, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland and Ukraine.
Click here to register for the Cup.
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