The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC) is a multi-tier, team-based programming competition operating under the auspices of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and headquartered at Baylor University. The contest is highly competitive and involves a global network of universities hosting regional competitions that advance teams to the ACM-ICPC World Finals.

Participation has grown to several tens of thousands of the finest students and faculty in computing disciplines – almost 2,330 universities from over 91 countries on six continents. The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs and enables students to test their ability to perform under pressure. Simply put, it is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world.

University of Computer Studies, Yangon hosted the 2018 Myanmar Collegiate Programming Contest (MCPC) – a national-level contest for students from Myanmar universities – on August 18, 2018. Teams qualifying in MCPC will be competing in the ACM-ICPC Asia-Yangon Regional Contest, also to be hosted by the University of Computer Studies, Yangon. The top teams from the Asia-Yangon Regional Contest will advance to the World Finals.

MCPC 2018 saw 71 teams from universities from across Myanmar vying for the top prize. MIIT was represented at MCPC for the very first time by Mad Lads. The team comprised of three 3^rd year students from the B.E. (Hons.) programme – Su Eaindray Htet, Saw Htoo Naing, and Thi Ha Min Maung. They were accompanied to Yangon by Dr. Chit Nilar Win.

All three students were participating in a programming contest for the first time and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. They learnt several new things (including some useful tips and tricks) and plan to participate in the contest again. Plans are already underway to put into place a system that allows MIIT students to practice programming in similar environments. A local programming competition will also be held at MIIT very soon. MCPC, here we come!