Three computer science students are advancing to the world finals after winning the regional competition of the International Collegiate Programming Contest earlier this month at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Yogy Namara, senior in computer science, Stjepan Rajko, sophomore in computer science, and Sean Stanek, freshman in computer science, competed against 84 teams from the North Central Midwest for the regional title.

In addition to these students, another team from the computer science department and one from the computer engineering department competed, placing 21st and 23rd respectively in the 84-team field.

Each programming team consisted of three members and one reserve member.

“Basically, the contest was for people interested in computing machines,” said Ben Anderson, Computer Science Club Association for Computing Machinery representative.

“Mostly those that are involved are in computer science, computer engineering and electrical engineering, but it’s open to anyone,” he said.

Anderson, the reserve member of the winning team and senior in computer engineering, said the contest consists of six questions that have to be answered and programmed within the five-hour time limit. The questions come in a sealed packet.

“A question given in there would say, ‘If you were given a time, like 12:15, what is the angle between the hands on the clock?'” Anderson said. “That is the easiest question [out of all] of them.”

Reference materials are allowed during the competition, but Anderson said they usually don’t help.

“It doesn’t help you very much because you don’t have time to look things up,” he said. “Most of the problems are constructed so there really isn’t anything you can look at and copy down.”

To prepare for the competition, members study on their own as well as hold monthly programming contests. The meetings last two hours and focus on questions that are similar to the ones asked during competition, Anderson said.

Stanek said he has competed in competitions similar to the International Collegiate Programming Contest previously.

“I like competition and programming,” he said.

Stanek said he doesn’t believe studying is an issue; it’s “whether or not you can do good problem solving.”

Anderson said it is was fun being at the competition and seeing the “bizarre” questions that were handed out.

“Watching from the observation room with the judges updating the results every few minutes was more exciting than any football game I have ever seen,” he said. “It’s one of those [contests] where the rankings can completely change in five minutes.”

Stanek said he is looking forward to the world finals, which will be held March 15-19 in Orlando, Fla.

“I just hope for the best,” he said.