The Indian Computing Olympiad is an annual computer programming

Computer programming

Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...

 competition that selects four participants to represent India at the International Olympiad in Informatics

International Olympiad in Informatics

The International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....

. ICO is conducted by the Indian Association for Research in Computing Science

Indian Association for Research in Computing Science

The Indian Association for Research in Computing Science provides leadership in computing within India. Its members are leading researchers in Computer Science drawn from major institutions from all over the country....

 in coordination with CBSE

Central Board of Secondary Education

The Central Board of Secondary Education is a Board of Education for public and private schools, under the Union Government of India.-History:...

. The competition is held in three stages: the Zonal Informatics Olympiad, the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics, and the International Olympiad in Informatics Training Camp. It was first held in 2002, although the name was only adopted in 2006.

Stages of competition

Students first attempt the Zonal Informatics Olympiad, which is a written paper. Most of the questions can be solved with the use of algorithmic techniques, although logic is usually sufficient. Alternatively, students can attempt the Zonal Computing Olympiad, an online programming contest.

The second round of competition is the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics, a programming competition round. Students are expected to solve two algorithmic problems in 3 hours in either C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

 , C++

C++

C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

 or Pascal. Questions in this round are similar to those in the International Olympiad in Informatics

International Olympiad in Informatics

The International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....

.

Based on results in these competitions, about 25 students are selected for the International Olympiad in Informatics Training Camp, at which students are selected and trained to represent India at the International Olympiad in Informatics

International Olympiad in Informatics

The International Olympiad in Informatics is an annual computer science competition for secondary school students. The first IOI was held in 1989 in Pravetz, Bulgaria....

.