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Microsoft Talkz @ AIUB

Microsoft Bangladesh and Microsoft Student Partners Network Bangladesh arranged a half day event at American International University, Bangladesh auditorium on 27 December 2010. It was basically a technical workshop with some wonderful presentations from Microsoft MVPs & MSPs.

The enthusiasm among the students was enormous! We could accommodate only one third of the total students in the seminar room. The event also covered a detailed discussion on the Imagine Cup 2011 Bangladesh Round and Microsoft TechNet Bangladesh blogging competition – both of them were presented by Mr. Omi Azad. In a separate session, he introduced the Microsoft Student Partners at AIUB with a wonderful video presentation.

Microsoft Student Partners of AIUB Campus

The workshop was on the following topics:

1. Power of Students – Omi Azad
2. SharePoint as Content Management System - Sohel Rana
3. Razor – the new view engine for ASP.net - Ahsan Murshed
4. MSDN AA Re-inauguration – Omi Azad
5. Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4 - Niaz Morshed
6. How to become a Microsoft MVP - Zikrul Ahsan Shawon
7. Imagine Cup 2011 - Omi Azad

The media coverage was more than expected. Radio Today did live interview with the speakers on air. The leading national newspapers Prothom Alo, The New Age covered the event with their stuff correspondence. Radio Today and Computer Barta were media partners for this event as they are the permanent media partner of Microsoft Student Partners Bangladesh.

Written By:
Niaz Morshed
MSP Lead at AIUB, Microsoft Student Partners Bangladesh

Quazi Azher Ali National Programming Contest 2010 with Microsoft

For the very first time Microsoft Bangladesh organized a nationwide programming contest in association with Bangladesh University called Quazi Azher Ali National Programming Contest 2010 with Microsoft. Late Quazi Azher Ali was the Founder and Former Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University. The contest provided University students with opportunities to interact with students from other universities and to sharpen and demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills. It was a platform for Programming world, industry, and academia to encourage and focus public attention on the next generation of computing professionals as they pursue excellence.

Teams from different universities went to QAA-NPC website to register themselves. So far the site got 5000 hits.

Solutions to problems submitted for judging are called runs. Each run is judged as accepted or rejected by a judge, and the team is notified of the results. Notification of accepted runs may be suspended at an appropriate time to keep the final results secret. A general announcement to that effect will be made during the contest. Notification of rejected runs will continue until the end of the contest. A contestant may submit a claim of ambiguity or error in a problem statement by submitting a clarification request to a judge. If the judges agree that an ambiguity or error exists, a clarification will be issued to all contestants. Contestants are not to converse with anyone except members of their team and personnel designated by the regional Chief Judge. Systems support staff may advise contestants on system-related problems such as explaining system error messages. While the contest is scheduled for a particular time length (typically five hours), the Chief Judge has the authority to alter the length of the contest in the event of unforeseen difficulties. Should the contest duration be altered, every attempt will be made to notify contestants in a timely and uniform manner. A team may be disqualified by the Chief Judge for any activity that jeopardizes the contest such as dislodging extension cords, unauthorized modification of contest materials, or distracting behavior. At least six problems will be posed. So far as possible, problems will avoid dependence on detailed knowledge of a particular applications area or particular contest language.

120 team from 40 universities submitted their participation application and 60 team got the approval to participate. Teams with 3 members and 1 mentor got 5 hours time to solve 10 problems. 56 of them came with at-least one solution and only 1 team was able to solve maximum 7 solutions.

During contest, the teams are given 5 hours to solve between 8 and 12 programming problems. They must submit solutions as programs in any preferred language such as C, C++, C#, or Java. Programs are then run on test data. If a program fails to give a correct answer, the team is notified about that and they can submit another program.The winner is the team which correctly solves most problems. If necessary to rank teams for medals or prizes among tying teams, the placement of teams is determined by the sum of the elapsed times at each point that they submitted correct solutions. For example, consider a situation when two teams, Red and Blue, tie by solving two problems each. The team Red submitted their solutions to A and B at 1:00 and 2:45 after the beginning of the contest. They had a rejected run on C, but it was ignored since they didn't solve C. The team Blue submitted solutions to problems A and C at 1:20 and 2:00 after the beginning. They had one rejected run on C. Then, the total time is 1:00+2:45=3:45 for team Red and 1:20+2:00+0:20=3:40 for team Blue. The tie is broken in favor of Team Blue. Compared to other programming contests (for example, ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest), the QAANPC is characterized by a large number of problems (8 or more problems in just 5 hours). Another feature is that each team can use only one computer, although teams have three students.

The prize for the contest were-

• Champion – BDT 1,00,000.00
• 1st Runner Up – BDT 75,000.00
• 2nd Runner Up – BDT 50,000.00

There were 8 judges who finalize the judgment. A problem is solved when it is accepted by the judges. The judges are solely responsible for accepting or rejecting submitted runs. In consultation with the judges, the Chief Judge determines the winners of the contest. The Chief Judge and judges are empowered to adjust for or adjudicate unforeseen events and conditions. Their decisions are final. Teams are ranked according to the most problems solved. For the purposes of awards, or in determining qualifier(s) for the QAANPC, teams who solve the same number of problems are ranked by least total time. The total time is the sum of the time consumed for each
problem solved. The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the submittal of the accepted run plus 20 penalty minutes for every rejected run for that problem regardless of submittal time. There is no time consumed for a problem that is not solved. It is the responsibility of the Chief Judge to specify any additional tie-breakers. Tie-breaker policies must be announced to contestants before the contest begins.

MSDN AA with DUET and Imagine Cup Boot Camp

Today Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology (DUET) and Microsoft Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding agreement. Under the MSDN AA agreement Microsoft will provide license for all Software, Tools, Applications, Servers to the students of DUET for free of cost.

DUET students, Faculties can use these licenses to their workstations. Apart from that, DUET can use these licenses on their academic lab computers.

Vice chancellor of DUET, Professor Dr. Mohammad Sabder Ali signed the agreement on behalf of DUET and Microsoft’s country manager Feroz Mahmud signed the agreement on behalf of Microsoft. Professor Dr. Mohammad Sabder Ali appreciated the alliance as this will bridge the students with the latest technologies used by the industry today.

After signing the agreement we started Imagine Cup boot camp. Students as well as faculties of DUET didn’t know that there is a competition like this going on in this world. They really appreciated Microsoft’s initiative for arranging this event in Bangladesh and also for informing them about the contest. They may not have good internet connectivity but it seemed like they are highly motivated by looking at last year’s participants’ videos.

Imagine Cup Local Software Design Activation Started

I’m very excited to tell you that we have started the Imagine Cup Local Software Design activation in Bangladesh. We have plan for doing boot camps in 11 universities across the country and 1 mega boot camp for those where we cannot go.

From 12-14 of December, North South University Computer Club organized an IT Carnival and Microsoft was it’s workshop partner. When we got the offer from them, we didn’t miss the opportunity to run a campaign for 3 long days. They gave us a stall where we had MSPs talking about Imagine Cup. We made one laptop available with internet connection to check out the worldwide IC website and Terms and Conditions (as local site was not ready on that day). We got 1.2K+ visitors to our stall and most of them were very keen to explore the program. Apart from students, many senior teachers were there to explore IC.

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On 13 December we did our first boot camp on IC in North South University auditorium. I started with The Power of Students presentation (thanks to David Lim for his coaching on that) and later when they are excited I started talking on Imagine Cup. As none of the students and teaches had any idea what Imagine Cup is, I started with explaining about the competition & then demonstrate few 2110 participant videos to make them understand what innovation means and how they can change the world.

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We had 300+ students and few teachers in the room and as soon as I’m done with my presentations, they started shooting question at me. I was very happy to see their interest on the program. Not only the students, but also teaches were eager to learn about IC. To be honest, one hour was not enough for them.

Personally I’m very excited and I hope we will see some good results in coming days. Let’s wait and hope for some exciting results.

Written by:
Omi Azad | Developer Evangelist | Microsoft Bangladesh Ltd.

Student Professional Awareness Conference Ended Successfully at KUET

For the first time in Bangladesh, IEEE Student Branch, KUET has organized the Student Professional Awareness Conference (S-PAC) at Khulna University of Engineering & Technology. Under the banner of IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) and with the aid of event partner Microsoft Bangladesh Ltd., this grand event took place from 3 to 5 December at KUET auditorium and ended successfully. This event was also supported by Robi Axiata Limited. Around 2300 students and professionals from all over the country as well as abroad participated in the conference. The main goal of the event was to help the students and young professionals to find a way to meet their dreams. Also, it focused on various professional issues and information technology.

The three day event was divided in two sessions every day. The ever first session started with the inauguration ceremony presided by Professor Dr. Md. Rafiqul Islam, Dean, Faculty of EEE, KUET. The vice chancellor of KUET Professor Dr. Mohammad Alamgir was the present as the chief guest at the ceremony. Professor Dr. M. M. A. Hashem, Jumanah Shireen Khan, Mr. Omi Azad and Dr. Nalin Sharda were also present as special guests in the ceremony.

The technical sessions then started with Dr. Nalin Sharda of Victoria University, Australia. He is a distinguished IEEE speaker. Naming his presentation as Developing Creativity and Innovation: for personal and social wellbeing, Dr. Nalin Sharda pointed on the rapid growth of technology and emphasized on a technical training to improve creativity and innovation. Dr. Khairul Alam of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, East West University, Bangladesh followed him with his presentation An overview of CMOS and beyond it: the emerging nano electronics devices. Professor Dr. M. M. A. Hashem was the next speaker. Dr. Hashem is currently working as a test consultant at Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN) at HEQUEP, University Grant Commission, Dhaka. He discussed about BdREN and what is ahead.

The day’s second session started with Dr. Nalin Sharda. This time he spoke about higher studies facilities in Australia. The day ended with a panel discussion about higher studies all around all over the world, presided by Dr. K. M. Azharul Hasan, Head of CSE, KUET. Distinguished teachers of KUET were present as the panel speakers.

The second day was dedicated for current IT industry trends and Microsoft stepped forward to give some light on the issue to the students and young professionals. The day started with a seminar on Professionalism Inside Out by Mr. Omi Azad, Developer Evangelist of Microsoft Bangladesh Ltd. He pointed on some critical aspects of professionalism with the examples of social networks. He showed us some common facts of interpersonal communication.

Tanzim Saqib, designer of British Telecom and Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) followed him with his discussion about Developing Windows Phone 7 Applications. He discussed about the advanced technologies used in the smart phone and how to develop applications for this device. The next seminar was about ASP.net on How to Improve Security and Performance in ASP.net. The crucial facts about the relationship of security and performance in the well-known framework ASP.net from the view of Microsoft Visual Studio was discussed in this seminar. Ahsan Murshed, software engineer of Cyber Jahan Ltd. conducted this seminar. Mr. Salahuddin Ahmed, Vice President and Head of Alternative Delivery Channels (ADC) at Prime Bank Ltd., Bangladesh, also a fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh was the next speaker with his speech about Transition From Engineering to Management. Then there was a GRE (Graduate Record Examination) information session conducted by Mr. Khalid Ahmed from GRE Centre, Bangladesh. The day’s second session began with a discussion about How to become and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) by MVP Jikrul Ahsan. The day ended with a panel discussion on jobs, business and higher studies presided by Professor Dr. M. M. A. Hashem. Mr. Omi Azad, the head of the departments of KUET and other distinguished personalities took part in the discussion.

The final day of the international conference started with an Ethics Contest participated by various IEEE Student Branches of all over Bangladesh. In the afternoon session, the previous IEEE Student Branch members of KUET were present and attended an alumni session. Then there was an introduction to Talentfest: Enterprise Award Winner Initiative of IEEE Student Branch, KUET. Followed by a grand closing ceremony and prize distribution of event contests and the announcement of the next S-PAC, this was the last session of the three-day-long conference.

Participated by distinguished technical personalities of the world and students and professionals from all over Bangladesh, this was the first and biggest technical conference in Bangladesh. With exclusive prizes in various contests sponsored by Microsoft Bangladesh Ltd. and question answer sessions, this event provided great attraction for speakers, guests and participants. Also, there was a blogging contest open for all the engineering students of Bangladesh arranged by Microsoft Bangladesh Ltd. The winners of the first round were given away the prizes of Qubee internet modems and the second round will start soon. In fine, participated by the well-known universities and personalities form both home and abroad, this event was a great success.

Written By: Md. Shihab Uddin
Chair, IEEE Student Branch,
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology