The Ohio State University New Technologies Student Interest Group has teamed up with Microsoft and Ohio State’s computer and information science department to sponsor a .NET programming contest to compete for more than $10,000 in prizes.
The .NET framework is a new approach to building software that makes life easier for software developers.
Any student at OSU, in any major, is eligible for the NETsig contest. The contest kicked off Jan. 23, and on May 23 the top finalists will make their project presentations and the contest winners will be announced.
For the contest, students are presented with a design problem that instructs them to design, implement, test and document a complete application, Web application or service that runs on the Microsoft .NET platform and would would benefit Ohio State students, faculty, staff or alumni. Employees of Microsoft are ineligible for the contest.
NTsig, a Microsoft-sponsored student organization at OSU that brings new technologies to students, is hosting the contest. Top teams receive cash prizes and Xboxes.
“Microsoft .NET is a fairly new Microsoft technology, and for the contest the students have to use that only that to design a program,” said Kyle Boon, a junior in computer science and engineering. “We are working on an application that gives directions around OSU campus.”
Keith Ruston, a senior in computer science and engineering, entered the competition with two other students. They are working to make a program that is fun and beneficial to students.
“Everyone else seems to be quiet about what they’re working on,” Ruston said. “So that’s as far as I’ll go.”
Ruston is a general officer of NTsig and assists with a variety of the organization’s tasks, including lab work, Web site work and advertising. He became involved with NTsig after running into the group at an activities fair three years ago.
“NTsig allows students to get hands on experience with some things not available in any classes,” Ruston said. “NTsig has its own library of over 400 books that allow its member to learn just about anything they want to. These resources have allowed students such as myself to learn Windows 2000 architecture, DirectX programming, ASP.NET, new languages such as C#, and many other tools that will help students build a resume and get an edge in the job market.”
NTsig was founded by Rick Payne and Ryan Giessl in 2000. Payne, a senior in electrical engineering, is the president of NTsig, which has more than 100 members. Over the last three years, Microsoft has provided the group with resources for projects and events.
“It’s a group of computer enthusiasts that meet regularly to discuss and compare new technologies,” Payne said. “We used to give away free software to members but stopped doing that because too many people took the software and ran.”
“We need a way to bring technologies to students that they are not exposed to in the classroom, but will greatly help their careers in the field of technology,” Ruston said.
The purpose of the contest is to give students the opportunity to learn Microsoft’s .NET platform. Microsoft’s .NET framework is a next generation programming platform and runtime that came out in 2002.
“The CIS department helped make sure that everything was within the rules,” said Payne. “They are also going to be helping with the judging.”
The applications will be judged by CIS faculty members along with Microsoft consultants. All entries must be accompanied by a guide or walk-through for the judges. The top five teams will be required to give a five-minute presentation of their project to the panel. Judges will then be responsible for scoring applications’ functionality, usability and documentation.
