Frequently Asked Questions about the IEEEXtreme Competition

Registration for IEEEXtreme opened on 1 September and will close 12 October. IEEEXtreme competition begins 24 October at 00:00:00 UTC.  See below and the next Section for more FAQs.

Yes, all members of a team have to be either Student Members or Graduate Student Members of IEEE. This is also an opportunity to promote IEEE membership and help fellow students join online.  Think about recruiting students from computer science and IT and other departments to help support your team.   

Yes, each Student Branch may have an unlimited number of teams, provided each one is made up of no more than 3 IEEE student members or graduate student members and has a required proctor.

Yes, as long as team members are all IEEE student or graduate student members.  The prizes are for the participants,so teams from multiple universities are allowed but must also have the required proctor.

It is strongly recommended to give preference to IEEE members, GOLD members or Graduate student members (GSM) as your proctors.  If the proctor is a Non-IEEE professor, they can help cover the 24 hours of the competition.  

The Proctor should make sure that it is only the team members working on the problems, ensure that they are comfortable, getting food and water and some exercise during the 24 hours.  The main goal is for the participants to have fun. The students do not have to be isolated. 

Sleep is part of making sure the team members are comfortable. The team members can alternate getting some sleep and we are not restricting where that has to take place. There may be some surprises, about every 6-8 hours, so it is important to keep monitoring the competition.  

More than one team can be under the supervision of one proctor and unlimited teams from each university.  You can also leave the venue during the time of the competition as it will be online, however, during the time that your team is working on problems, you should be under the supervision of your proctor.  

Languages supported are:  Microsoft Visual C++, C/C++, Java and some surprises.

The 2009 problems will be available the day of the competition.  A few sample problems from the first edition of IEEEXtreme are available.  The 2008 problems are described in the booklet (PDF, 296 KB).

During the competition, this will be done through an online contest management system using the Mooshak tool.  In preparation, you can review the information on the Mooshak web pages.  

 
More FAQs in the next Section.  

No, not really. Apart from the fact of sounding similar, there’s little in common: Extreme programming (or XP) is a software engineering methodology, IEEEXtreme is a programming contest over 24 hours.

Of course, teams are entitled to use any methodology they want to solve the problems: XP, Scrum, classic waterfall, cowboy programming, voodoo enchantments, or type away randomly until it compiles. The key is that the program works correctly.

Definitely, yes. For a start, being in a higher course does not mean a student is necessarily better at programming.  More importantly, this is all about the experience. IEEEXtreme is a lot of fun, and will help students face real-world problems not seen in college. Devote enough time and consider it all part of training and developing important skills.

Finally, to make the decision even simpler: this year we’ll be giving away gift bags to all participants.  The important thing is to take part but, at the same time, winning something is fun too.

More FAQs in the next Section.

The prizes so far include a trip for the first place winners' team members to the IEEE event or conference of their choice. With hundreds of conferences and meetings every year, the winners are sure to find one that interests them. Runner-up prizes will include a gift bag for participants, certificates of participation, as well as recognition on the IEEE web site and in IEEE Potentials magazine and other IEEE publications.