In celebration of Pride Month, we are excited to introduce our first Computer Science Challenge in honor of Alan Turing, the brilliant gay English mathematician and crypto-analyst who is widely considered to be the “Father of Computer Science.” His birthday would have been on June 22, right in the middle of our challenge! So let’s celebrate.
For this challenge, there is only one simple writing prompt and one winner. Our winner will receive an exclusive DEV badge of honor and a gift from the DEV Shop. Participants with a valid submission will receive a completion badge.
Our Prompt
We are bringing back the One Byte Explainer!
Your challenge is to explain a computer science concept in 256 characters or less.
You can pick any concept (i.e. “Big O Notation, “Recursion” “P vs NP Problem”) and explain concisely what it is and why it’s relevant. You have 256 characters — less than a tweet — to get your point across, so the challenge is keeping it simple.
256 characters is ludicrously few for some of these concepts, that’s what makes it a challenge!
Would you rather be coding, with a chance to win cash prizes? Then check out the Twilio Challenge with a $5,000 prize pool!
Please review our judging criteria, rules, guidelines, and FAQ page before submitting so you understand our participation guidelines and official contests rules such eligibility requirements.
Important Dates
- June 12: Computer Science Challenge begins!
- June 23: Submissions due at 11:59 PM PDT
- June 25: Winner Announced
"Father of Computer Science"
Interested in learning more about Alan Turing? Check out these posts to learn about his accomplishments and contributions to Computer Science:
Celebrating DEV Pride & Alan Turing!
Jess Lee for The DEV Team ・ Jun 23 '20
DEV Pride & Alan Turing: The Father of Modern Computing
dev.to staff for The DEV Team ・ Jun 23 '21
We hope you enjoy this writing challenge! Have questions? Ask them below.
Good luck and happy coding!
Top comments (23)
Can't wait to read what everyone comes up with!
This is a cool challenge and I will love to participate in it. It helps me decipher a very big problem in less time
This sounds like an exciting challenge to honor Alan Turing's legacy! The One Byte Explainer task will really test our ability to distill complex computer science concepts into just 256 characters. Looking forward to participating and learning from everyone's entries.
We have select one from these ( Big O Notation, “Recursion” “P vs NP Problem ) or anything else?
No, these are just examples. You can do any computer science concept you want :)
Nope, i.e actually stands for id est, which is Latin for “that is.” The abbreviation “e.g.” stands for the Latin phrase exempli gratia, meaning “for example.”
(And yes, i am fun at parties :P )
Oh, I didn't know. I'll change that, thanks.
I also need answer to this question
I think that you could choose any subject... You can check published entries page here and there is people who publish about other subjects than examples.
¡Good Luck!
Ahh, 256 characters though it will be too short. I'm waiting to see who the winner is.
Posted my first-ever Post on Dev!
Congratulations! I just posted mine today
"Submission Template" button link has an extra "H" at the URL beginning that's messing its use.
Hello,
Good luck to everyone participating in the Computer Science Challenge! 🌟💻🙂
Looking forward to the great ideas out there! 🌟💡
his Computer Science Challenge sounds exciting! What is the specific writing prompt for the challenge, and are there any guidelines or themes we should follow in our submissions?
Here’s my submission for the challenge
Bytes: The Meal That Makes Your Computer Feast Like Crazy
Christine Belzie ・ Jun 23
Hopefully, it won’t leave you too hungry! 😉
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