CodeChef announces the 4th Edition of its Global Onsite Programming Competition, SnackDown 2017

CodeChef, a non-profit educational initiative of Directi, a leading group of technology and web products companies, today announced the much awaited 4th edition of their annual onsite programming competition – SnackDown 2017.

CodeChef SnackDown is a multi-round computer programming contest, with teams, consisting of a maximum of 2 members each, competing for the ultimate title of “SnackDown 2017 Champions”, cash awards over USD 20,500, and many more exciting prizes. CodeChef SnackDown is the only competition globally for people across schools, colleges, organizations, and home schooled children to come together and compete on a common platform. Unlike the previous years, participants from different organizations/institutes will be allowed to form teams, paving the way for top programmers across the globe to come together and form cross-country teams to further fuel the competitive spirit.

The contest starts on 20th May, 2017, with first online qualifier round, and concludes on 1st July, 2017, with the Onsite Grand Finale in Directiplex, Mumbai.

Over time, SnackDown has become a global platform. Last year witnessed a total registration from 13,388 teams with 17,238 participants hailing from 2234 institutes spread across 96 countries. This year’s edition will see the 25 best international teams compete against each other and provide the 25 Indian teams a chance to be amongst the world’s best. To encourage programming amongst women as well as young school students, there are additional slots for 2 girls’ teams and 3 school teams, from India and one school team and one girls’ team internationally.

“CodeChef has been an online coding platform, and SnackDown lends it the real fun and excitement by bringing programmers face-to-face to interact and exchange ideas,” said Anup Kalbalia, BU Head, CodeChef. “By extending this competition to global participants, we have been able to motivate the Indian contestants and provide them with the opportunity to learn from talent that extends beyond our country. We expect this year to be bigger and grander, with every participant putting their best foot forward.”

Gennady Korotkevich, SnackDown 2016 Global Champion from ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia, said, “The experience and atmosphere of CodeChef SnackDown is amazing. Coding is all about problem solving and the spirit of competition. SnackDown had the perfect mixture of both. There is a great deal of talent that attend the competition and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

“Directi is a technology focused company and we are all extremely passionate about coding. We noticed a certain gap that existed between where India stood with respect to the world in terms of programming. Hence, CodeChef, the non-profit arm of the company, was started to provide a common platform to nurture the tremendous talent in our country,” said Bhavin Turakhia, Co-founder and CEO of Directi. “We wanted to provide opportunities for people to enhance their skill and go on to help make a difference in the world. Each year of SnackDown has surpassed the previous and I’m extremely excited to see how this edition pans out.”

The registrations for the SnackDown 2017 will open on 14th April, 2017, and will continue till 23rd May, 2017. You can find more information about the competition, its rules, eligibility, and the registration process at: https://www.codechef.com/ snackdown/2017

What is CodeChef SnackDown?

CodeChef’s SnackDown is an annual multi-round global programming competition. It’s the only competition in the world which pits schools, colleges, organizations, and pretty much anyone with a knack for programming on the same platform. It’s a team competition wherein participants are required to take part in a team of two members. Unlike its earlier editions, starting 2017 the SnackDown participants will be allowed to form a team with anyone, lifting the previous criteria that required the member to belong to the same institution/organization, making it an open contest in every sense. If you can code, you can compete in SnackDown. For more information visit: http://snackdown.codechef.com/

What kind of problems does SnackDown have?

CodeChef’s SnackDown is a programming contest where all the problems are algorithmic in nature and the participants are expected to solve them by writing codes. You can try your hand on CodeChef’s monthly contest to get an idea of problems that you will be subjected to in SnackDown. Visit: https://www.codechef.com/contests

Which programming languages are allowed in the competition?

CodeChef supports over 50 programming languages, anyone of which can be used to compete in SnackDown. You can check the complete list of languages and compiler CodeChef supports here: https://www.codechef.com/wiki/list-compilers

What is the eligibility to take part in SnackDown?

There’s absolutely no eligibility to take part in SnackDown. If you can code, you can compete in the competition. That’s what makes it one of its kind.

What’s the format of the contest?

CodeChef SnackDown is a multi-round contest with teams progressing from every round towards the onsite finale. There are four rounds namely:

Qualifier

Pre-elimination (there are 3 pre-elimination rounds, with teams progressing from each of them)

Elimination

Onsite Finale

What does the winner of SnackDown get?

First and foremost, the bragging rights to be called as SnackDown Champions. Along with that there are plethora of cool CodeChef SnackDown merchandises and huge cash prizes. The breakup of the cash prizes are:

1st Prize: $10,000

2nd Prize: $5,000

3rd Prize: $3000

Best Indian team: $2000

All girls team and an Indian school team: $500 (each).
Top 300 teams from the elimination round win SnackDown Merchandise.