The Chicago team's travel expenses will be paid by ThoughtWorks, a Chicago software company that employs several University alumni. Students were judged according to how many problems they solved and how fast they solved them. The problems related to a variety of tasks, such as image processing, text formatting and solving puzzles. Only the first-place team managed to solve all six problems within the time limit at the regional contest. The Chicago team has been practicing weekly, using problems from previous contests.
Time pressure is critical.
Sensible people don't write real programs in a day, much less an hour.