School of Computing

Saturday 22nd April - After an intense three days of competitive programming battles, four talented young men from around the country have been selected to represent Ireland at the prestigious 29th International Olympiad in Informatics this summer in Iran.

John Ryan (17yr - St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh, Thurles, Tipperary), Kieran Horgan (16yr - Davis College, Mallow, Co. Cork), Aidan Molloy (17yr - Bruce College, Montenotte, Cork) and Oisin O’Duibhir (16yr - Scoil Mhuire Agus Íde, Newcastle West, Limerick) were the top four students after the final Team Ireland qualification competition on Saturday. A total of eight students from the AIPO National Finals in February were invited to this Fidelity sponsored 3 day bootcamp on DCU campus for a mix of competitive programming training and IOI qualification contests.

With the public scoreboard keeping parents on the edge of their seats, there was a little as 3 points in the final contest between fourth and fifth position. But when the final solutions were submitted and the scoreboard revealed, Aidan Molloy to his delight had grabbed the final position. Team Ireland will fly out to Tehran on the 28th July for a week courtesy of Fidelity Investments and DCU, where they will join over 80 international teams from around the world on the trip of a lifetime.

AIPO 2017 Senior Winners - (L-R) 3rd - Oisín O'Duibhir, Scoil Mhuire Agus Íde, Limerick; 1st - John Ryan, St. Josephs College, Thules; 2nd - Kieran Horgan, Davis College Mallow

The cream of BT Young Scientists and CoderDojo took up the challenge of the National Programming Olympiad (AIPO) competition at DCU during the mid-term break (25/2/17). Sponsored by Fidelity Investments Ireland, 33 students from around Ireland flexed their coding muscles in one of the tough competitions in the country for second level students. After qualifying through an online preliminary round, the students had to code solutions for 8 algorithmic puzzles to be crowned 2017 National AIPO Champion.

2017 BT Young Scientist Technology category winner and budding Data Scientist John Ryan (17) from St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh, Thurles clinched his first Senior title with a score of 425 from a possible maximum of 600. He was closely followed in 2nd place by his 2016 Team Ireland comrade, CoderDojo Mallow’s Kieran Horgan (16) with a score of 370 points. Newcomer Oisín O’Duibhir (16) took the bronze medal with a score of 360 points. The Junior top prize went to Suneet Mahajan (14) who was competing with our youngest competitor, his sister, Ayushi (11), both from Douglas, Cork.

All of the talented youngsters at the National Finals are self taught to the level of a 2nd year University student. This shows their passion and dedication to coding, technology and self-learning. A remarkable accolade!