by Sara Peters

They're newlyweds. They're among the finest programmers in the world. And they're ours.

Two graduate students, who are husband and wife, from the Department of Computer Science used their coding skills to win $14,000 and are now competing for more cash.

Zhiyan Liu and Ruoming Pang were awarded the cash for their successes in the semiannual TopCoder Invitational held Nov. 22, and 23, 2002, and are now participating in the spring 2003 competition.

TopCoder Inc. organizes and hosts online programming competitions at www.topcoder.com, and twice a year organizes a large competition that gives coders the chance to win up to $50,000. TopCoder invites the 1,024 top-ranked coders, who go through several rounds of online competition to winnow the group down to 16 semifinalists.

The top 16 are invited to an on-site event, which was held this fall at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn., to vie for the grand prize.

Zhiyan, a fifth-year student working with Professor Kai Li on data theorization, came in fourth place overall, winning $10,000.

She bested her husband, Ruoming, in the semifinals. A third-year student working with Professor Larry Petersen on network systems, Ruoming won $4,000. The pair wed Feb. 4, and now are in the spring competition as husband and wife.

The preliminary competitions go like this: Members sign on with their TopCoder handles. Zhiyan is known as moira, and Ruoming calls himself Obfuscator.

The competitors meet online at a scheduled time. The competitors are given three coding tasks of varying difficulties, and they have 75 minutes to complete all three. Each problem is assigned a fixed point value, and more points are earned for the coder's quickness in completing the problem.

Another way to earn points is during the challenge phase. Competitors have 15 minutes to view the programs created by their opponents and look for errors. If a coder finds an error, they can earn 50 points for themselves. However, if they're wrong, they lose 50.

"The on-site competition is basically the same," Ruoming said. "But a lot scarier," Zhiyan added.

At the semifinals, the coders do their programming behind translucent booths on a stage. Though the coder can't see his or her opponents, they can see shadows of the spectators moving across the translucent walls.

Facing out to the audience are four screens that mirror the coders' monitors, so spectators can follow along as the competitors type out the program line by line. The soughs and susurrations of the watchful spectators' commentary can rattle concentration.

"It was much more difficult than the on-line competition," Ruoming said, "because every time I made a typo, I would be embarrassed."

The couple has high aspirations for the ongoing spring competition, particularly for one another.

"I think Zhiyan has more potential in the semifinals than I do," Ruoming said, ignoring Zhiyan's protests to the contrary. "I'm not very comfortable with that style of competition. She's pretty good under pressure."

Indeed, Zhiyan surpassed expectations in the fall competition. When the original 1,024 were selected, Ruoming was seeded 17th place, but she was seeded only 59. She climbed the ranks with each round, stopping at 19, a few rungs shy of semifinal eligibility.

Then luck stepped in. Three of the competitors in the top 16 were from China, and unable to make it to the States for the on-site competition. Zhiyan modestly said that she did not deserve to compete in their stead, but she felt very fortunate and privileged for the opportunity.

Thus, Zhiyan became the first woman ever to make the semifinals at the TopCoder competition, later breaking more new ground by moving into the finals. While Zhiyan is pleased that she broke the ice for female coders, she thinks it a dubious honor and is uncomfortable with the attention that she's received for it.

"What bothers me is that it shows men and women still aren't equal in this field. I truly hoped there would be more women in the competition," she said. "I don't like people saying I'm the first female to be in the finals, because the stress is on 'female,' as though it's a bigger achievement for a woman."

Zhiyan hopes more women will become involved in the spring competition. In the meantime, the newlyweds have to keep working and thinking about how to spend their winnings.

"We both like traveling and hiking," Zhiyan said, "so maybe we could spend it by going somewhere exotic."