News about Dyalog

Jan 19, 2024

Since 2008, Dyalog Ltd has hosted the APL Problem Solving Competition. Whilst this yielded some great winners, several of whom have subsequently held APL internships and/or been employed as full-time APLers, we feel that it is time to try something new. The APL Problem Solving Competition was designed to provide a testing ground for people who wanted to see what APL could do when put to the test; over time the problems became more difficult, and at the end we mostly attracted people who enjoy learning new programming languages, rather than potential future APLers.

With this in mind, we are replacing the APL Problem Solving Competition with two different contests. The first of these is the APL Challenge (the second will be announced when it is finalised). With the APL Challenge we are lowering the bar and moving the focus towards people who have never looked at APL or any other programming language before. The aim is to provide an entry-level challenge to motivate people to learn and play with APL.

Each round of the APL Challenge comprises 10 problems:

• The first 3 can be solved with a single primitive function.
• The next 3 can be solved with a combination of 2 or 3 primitive functions or operators.
• The final 4 can be solved with a single expression.

Each round runs for three months, after which a new round begins. At the end of each round, three prizes of $100 USD will be awarded; your chance of winning one of these prizes increases with the number of problems you correctly solve.

Like the APL Problem Solving Competition, the APL Challenge is free to enter. Unlike the APL Problem Solving Competition, winners of cash prizes are not limited to those in full-time education – anyone can enter and win a cash prize (except Dyalog employees/associates and problem set contributors/testers).

The first round of the new APL Challenge will launch on 1 February 2024, and you can register to be notified when it starts. Please spread the word, and Good Luck!