Dr. Dobb's Architecture & Design World 2008 to Feature Software Design Contest Powered by TopCoder

TopCoder®, Inc. and Think Services today announced that a live software competition will take place on-site at Dr. Dobb's Architecture & Design World 2008, being held on July 21-24, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago (http://www.drdobbsarchworld.com/). The Software Architecture Contest will provide attendees with a real-world exercise in architectural design, facing off on an even playing field with their peers to determine who can create and document the best comprehensive software solution to address a set of system requirements.

"We are happy to be partnering with TopCoder on this software architecture contest and look forward to seeing the creative solutions developed by the Architecture & Design World community members," said Amber Ankerholz, Conference Manager, Dr. Dobb's Events.

TopCoder tournaments are known worldwide as the most grueling, comprehensive test of skill in the field of competitive programming. The events allow competitors to solve complex algorithmic problems and design and develop working pieces of reusable software, and incorporate all current industry standard technologies, including Java, C++, C#, VB.NET, UML, J2EE and .NET.

During Architecture & Design World attendees will be able to browse and score competitor submissions using the same scorecards and criteria that TopCoder uses to judge competitions for our clients, exposing participants and observers to a wide range of software architecture backgrounds and approaches. The competition allows software architects to explore the minds of their fellow attendees in ways that conversation typically does not allow. TopCoder's standardized deliverables enable an independent review board to judge and compare architectures -- thus enabling competition and ranking. Submissions are judged on a wide-ranging variety of criteria -- efficiency, security, concurrency, transactionality -- as well as completeness and validity with respect to the system requirements. The winners will be determined based on the highest review score, and announced at the conclusion of the event.

"Competition is a powerful way to improve a software professional's architecture and design skills while having fun," said Dave Messinger, chief architect of TopCoder. "Participants gain understanding of their individual capabilities compared to peers, as well as the wealth of feedback that results from the judging process and observation of how other competitors tackle the same problems in very different ways."

The contest will take place both online and onsite leading up to the conclusion of Dr. Dobb's Architecture & Design World, and is open to residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) and Canada (excluding the province of Quebec), with free registration as a TopCoder member required to compete in the arena. For more information, including rules and conditions, please visit the contest page at: http://www.topcoder.com/dobbs.

About Dr. Dobb's

Dr. Dobb's is recognized worldwide as the leading resource for the professional software development community. With an award-winning monthly publication (Dr. Dobb's Journal), worldwide technical events and conferences (Dr. Dobb's Events) and one of the web's most comprehensive sites (Dr. Dobb's Portal), Dr. Dobb's attracts the industry's most authoritative audience of professional developers, architects and managers and provides marketing partners highly actionable integrated marketing solutions to reach the software development buying team.

About Think Services

Think Services connects specialized communities worldwide using innovative media, educational events, consulting, training and certification. Providing comprehensive opportunities for people to learn from, network with, and inspire each other, Think Services builds strong brands and works within communities to foster a unique affinity with its products and services. The division's flagship products include the Game Developers Conference, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com, Game Developer magazine, the International Customer Management Institute, HDI, and Dr. Dobb's Journal. Think Services is a subsidiary of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion. To learn more, visit http://www.think-services.com/.

About TopCoder, Inc.

TopCoder is the world's largest competitive software development community with over 160,000 developers representing over 200 countries. TopCoder hosts the largest and most comprehensive developer ratings and performance metrics available. The TopCoder community builds software for a wide-ranging client base through a competitive, rigorous, standards based methodology. This methodology results in a highly consistent set of software components allowing a software-as-parts approach to application development. TopCoder makes this large library of software components built through competition available to all of our clients. Utilizing a world-wide member base and this library, TopCoder seeks to lower the cost of software development while increasing both the speed at which applications can be developed and the quality of the ultimate application. For more information about sponsoring TopCoder events, recruiting TopCoder members and utilizing TopCoder's software services, visit http://www.topcoder.com/.

TopCoder is a registered trademark of TopCoder, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

   Contacts:
   Jim McKeown
   TopCoder, Inc.
   860.633.5540
   jmckeown@topcoder.com

   Jenny Searles
   Think Services
   415.947.6162
   jsearles@think-services.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

SOURCE: TopCoder, Inc.

CONTACT: Jim McKeown of TopCoder, Inc., +1-860-633-5540,
jmckeown@topcoder.com; or Jenny Searles of Think Services, +1-415-947-6162,
jsearles@think-services.com

Web site: http://www.topcoder.com/
http://www.think-services.com/