Bright boys visit CHPC

"Where are the girls?" was the first question CHPC staff asked when 14 Computer Olympiad finalists arrived to be introduced to the centre by Dr Daniel Moeketsi on 28 September 2009. They were very excited and inspired to see the biggest computer in Africa.

"Girls in the Computer Olympiad finals are rare" admitted Peter Waker, the manager of the South African Computer Olympiad. "At first-round level, the ratio of male to female is nearly 50:50, but somehow girls lose interest when it comes to the follow-up rounds. This is a phenomenon worldwide."

Moeketsi took the learners through the CHPC and answered many questions relating to high performance computing (HPC). "I am encouraged by the real interest from these learners in the possibilities that HPC brings to the research arena," he revealed. "It is hoped that through visits such as these, we can spread the word about our national facility and the potential of HPC to change the face of research in our country."

The Standard Bank/CSSA Computer Olympiad is an annual competition to identify, encourage and reward programming skills among high school learners. The competition attracted more than 33 000 entries for the first round this year, and 2 770 for the second round. Fourteen learners were invited to take part in the final round which took place at the University of Cape Town on 26 and 27 September. They used the opportunity to visit the CHPC on Monday 28 September - before going to the Kelvin Grove Club for the awards function.

This year all the participants in the Olympiad used Python, the language used by Mark Shuttleworth to write the computer program that made him a multi-billionaire. Shuttleworth wants to encourage other young South Africans to have the same opportunities he had and therefore donates R100 000 prize money annually for Computer Olympiad finalists who use Python.