Competitive/Collaborative Programming Class

ICPC Computer Programming Contest Prep

Problem Solving in Computer Science

Spring 2026 -- CSC 2700 Section 01
1218 Patrick Taylor Hall, 6:30 PM - 8:20 PM



Class Home




A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.
--Alan Perlis
Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively
--Dalai Lama XIV
You are not reading this book because a teacher assigned it to you, you are reading it because you have a desire to learn, and wanting to learn is the biggest advantage you can have.
--Cory Althoff
The big optimizations come from refining the high-level design, not the individual routines.
--Steve McConnell
Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
--Edsger W. Dijkstra
What kind of programmer is so divorced from reality that she thinks she'll get complex software right the first time?
--James Alan Gardner
Object-oriented programming offers a sustainable way to write spaghetti code. It lets you accrete programs as a series of patches.
--Paul Graham
Good programmers write code that humans can understand.
--Martin Fowler
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
--Rick Cook
Everyday life is like programming, I guess. If you love something you can put beauty into it.
--Donald Knuth
What is a university/college when the students lose interest?
--Isaac Traxler
It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children to program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail and learning to be self-critical?
--Alan J. Perlis
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
--John Ciardi
Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer.
--Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
First solve the problem. Then, write the code.
--Waseem Latif
Perl – The only language that looks the same before and after RSA encryption.
--Keith Bostic
I'm a programmer. I like programming. And the best way I've found to have a positive impact on code is to write it.
--Robert C. Martin
Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible.
--Alan Kay
I'm not a great programmer; I'm just a good programmer with great habits.
--Kent Beck
It's got to be the going not the getting there that's good.
--Hary Chapin
A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points
--Alan Kay
When in doubt, do something.
--Harry Chapin
There is nothing good or bad about knowledge itself; morality lies in the application of knowledge.
--Jon Erickson