1. IEEE Xtreme Programming Competition :
Where to Start?
Dr. Oussama BEN KHIROUN
Assistant Professor,
Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sousse (ENISO)
University of Sousse
www.oussamabenkhiroun.com
oussamabk.eniso@gmail.com

2. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Format
▪ IEEE Xtreme is a global competitive programming challenge for
teams of IEEE Student members
▪ Advised and proctored by an IEEE member
▪ Supported by an IEEE Student Branch
▪ Compete in a 24-hour time span against each other to solve a
set of programming problems
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3. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
History
▪ This year is the 12th edition
▪ Started in 2006 (44 teams & 150 contestants)
▪ Last years : +1 900 teams & +5 500 competitors
▪ Tunisian Teams (2017) : +200 teams
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4. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Rules
▪ All teams receive the same problems to solve
▪ They are expected to solve the problems without assistance
from other people or prewritten code
▪ Teams are comprised of up to 3 IEEE student or graduate
student members (but can only include a maximum of 2
graduate student members per team)
▪ Teams don’t need to tackle every problem, but the more they
solve, the more points they score
▪ Students submit their solutions using an online tool
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5. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Problems
▪ Problems are developed and judged by expert programmers of
higher grade IEEE members from both Academia and Industry
backgrounds
▪ Problems will be categorized as easy, moderate, difficult,
advanced, and Xtreme to allow for students of all experience
levels to participate
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6. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Supported Languages
Language Version Language environment
C gcc 6.3.0, C99 standard Math library, -lm
C++ g++ 6.3.0, C++14 standard Math library, -lm
Java 8 Open JDK 1.8.0_131 Name your class Main for your program to work
Python 2 Python 2.7.13 numpy and scipy libraries are available
Python 3 Python 3.6.1 numpy and scipy libraries are available
C# Mono C# compiler 4.6.2
Compiled with mcs -define:ONLINE_JUDGE -
define:CS_ACADEMY
PHP PHP 7.0.18
Many others (see website)
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7. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Scoring
▪ 30 points are awarded for correct answers
▪ 70 extra points can be awarded depending on problem difficulty
▪ Time is not directly included in the scoring formula (however
counts for ranking teams)
▪ Problems contain more than one test case
▪ The higher number of solved cases a team submits, the higher
the score will be :
▪ a team solved 3 out of 5 possible cases, while another team solved 5
out of 5, the team solving 3 would receive partial credit
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8. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Winners – IEEE Xtreme 11.0 (2017)
8 (Best Tunisian team rank = 30)

9. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Winners – IEEE Xtreme 10.0 (2016)
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10. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
How to be prepared ?
▪ Practice,
▪Practice
▪ & Practice
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11. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Online contests & Training resources
Name Description Website
HackerRank
HackerRank offers programming problems in different domains of Computer Science. It also
hosts annual Codesprints which help connect the coders and Silicon Valley startups. hackerrank.com
GeeksforGeeks
A programming website with articles and practice platform. The site is mainly targeted for
programming interview preparation. geeksforgeeks.org
Codeforces
Russian resource, maintained by Saratov State University, which mostly provides frequent (up to
two per week) short contests. Special features: ability to check correctness of other contestants'
solutions during "hacking phase", virtual contests, trainings etc.
codeforces.com
CodeChef
Maintained by Directi, it hosts a 10-day-long contest and a couple of short contests every month
(one IOI styled and other ACM ICPC styled), and provides a contest hosting platform to
educational institutions for free.
www.codechef.com
Topcoder
US resource and company, which organizes contests and also provides industrial problems as a
kind of free-lance job; it offers dozens of short contests and several long ("marathons") every year. www.topcoder.com
UVA Online Judge Contains over 4,500 problems for practising. Hosts regular online competitions. uva.onlinejudge.org
CS Academy
https://csacademy.com/ieeex
treme-practice/
HackerEarth
Bangalore, India based company providing online contest like environment aiming at providing
recruitment assessment solutions. www.hackerearth.com
CodinGame
Puzzles (increasing difficulty), code golf. Hosts regular online competitions
(AI сhallenges, optimization problems) www.codingame.com
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12. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Problem solving training (1/2)
▪ Work on common algorithms and data structures
(searching/sorting an array, pattern matching in strings,
traversing trees, using stacks/queues data structures, etc.)
▪ Master algorithms paradigms (Divide & Conquer, Dynamic
programming, Backtracking, Greedy algorithms, etc.)
▪ Find tutorials here: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/fundamentals-of-
algorithms/
▪ Practice by problems’ category:
▪ Mathematics, Arrays, Strings, Graphs, Geometry, etc.
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13. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Problem solving training (2/2)
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Heavy ArtilleryLoad up the
Weapons
Take the Fast
Track
Welcome to the
Jungle
https://www.hackerearth.com/fr/getstarted-competitive-programming/

14. Dr. Oussama Ben Khiroun
Frequently Asked Question
▪ I’ve heard the contest is pretty difficult and that a lot of people
from later courses participate. I’m in my first year of university
and don’t think I’m good enough. Should I participate?
▪ YES
a) Taking advanced courses does not mean you’re necessarily better at programming.
b) This is all about the experience.
c) IEEE Xtreme is a lot of fun, and will help you face real-world problems that you may
not see during college.
d) The competition includes questions from various difficulties, from novice to expert
levels.
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15. References
1. https://ieeextreme.org/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_programming
3. https://www.hackerearth.com/fr/getstarted-competitive-
programming/
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