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Americans Are Scarce in Top Programming Contest

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the many-have-stopped-caring dept.

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Only four of the 48 best computer programmers in the world are Americans, at least according to a computer-programming competition run by TopCoder. Poland had 11 of the final 48, and Russia had 8. Wall Street Journal columnist Lee Gomes asks whether this is more evidence of a sad decline in American education and competitiveness: 'Surprisingly, the Eastern Europeans don't seem to think so. Poland's Krzysztof Duleba, 22, explained that in countries like his own, there are so few economic opportunities for students that competitions like these are their one chance to participate in the global economy. Some of the Eastern Europeans even seemed slightly embarrassed by their over-representation, saying it isn't evidence of any superior schooling or talent so much as an indicator of how much they have to prove.'"

8 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. Land of the Free Market by Mindwarp · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's because all the best American programmers refuse to work without a pay-check. Capitalism at work, Ladies and Gentlemen! ;-)

    Note for the humor impaired - it's a joke, OK?

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    The gift of death metal does not smile on the good looking.
    1. Re:Land of the Free Market by digitaldc · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's because all the best American programmers refuse to work without a pay-check

      But according to this article, if you pay Czechs, you will get 10x the return on your investment!

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      He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
    2. Re:Land of the Free Market by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, but what if the Czechs bounce?

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      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. No time to post right now... by TomatoMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...American Idol is on.

    --
    -- http://frobnosticate.com
  3. I win by saboola · · Score: 5, Funny

    10 PRINT "HOME"
    20 PRINT "SWEET"
    30 GOTO 10
    RUN

    1. Re:I win by ceeam · · Score: 3, Funny

      10 PRINT "DUDE" ' Corrected
      20 PRINT "SWEET"
      30 GOTO 10
      RUN

  4. Re:Polish politeness. by ceeam · · Score: 2, Funny

    I also note that at least 1/2 of the four Americans...

    I bow to your math skills!

  5. Re:Polish politeness. by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I bow to your math skills!

    You can certainly tell I'm not an American High School Graduate!

    American High School Graduate: OK, two brothers are Singaporian-American of four Americans, OK, thats 2/4, so I er, carry the two, um, denomi-whassit. Oh Damn, I've run out of fingers, I'll just google it

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