HPE CodeWars

CodeWars is a computer programming competition for high school students. The event was first hosted at the Hewlett Packard Houston campus in 1998 and has since expanded to multiple Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. locations across the globe including: Roseville, California; Ft. Collins, Colorado; Taipei, Taiwan; Barcelona, Spain; and Bengaluru, India.

CodeWars submissions can use the following languages: C, C++, Java, and Python 3. Teams are divided into two categories: 

Novice teams:

• Are newer to programming
• Can "print" to the screen (standard out) without assistance
• Can read "words" and/or lines in from the command line (standard in)
• Are able to open a file and "read in" the contents from that file into their program
• Understand variables
• Understand conditionals
• Understand basic program design and logic (e.g. I need to gather all of my data before trying to run calculations on it, and I should not try to do math operations on string data, etc.)

Advanced teams:

• Understand all concepts listed in the Novice section
• Usually have competed in CodeWars (or a similar contest) at least once before, or have completed at least one semester of an AP Computer Science (or equivalent) course.
• Understand more advanced concepts such as: string interpolation, recursion, base conversion, string parsing/splitting, run-time limits (and how to optimize), parallel processing, etc.
• Are able to open and traverse directories, examining and working with files in those directories.
• Note: advanced teams may face tougher problems on contest day, and at the contest organizer's discretion.

• To be eligible for CodeWars team registration, students must:
  • be age 13-18
  • be enrolled in a public or private accredited high school (secondary school), or state-registered home school, and sponsored by an approved adult sponsor (see sponsor eligibility section)
  • not have been previously banned/disqualified from prior CodeWars events
  • be in good standing with their school in terms of grades, graduation progress, discipline, and behavioral policy
  • (In-Person Only) be able to arrange for transportation to the in-person contest site.
  • (Remote Only) physically located in the United States or Canada and able to participate remotely using devices/networking/internet which they or their school provide.
• All CodeWars teams must be sponsored by a teacher, or a similarly suitable person as defined below.
• A sponsor must be an adult (19+), non-student person who is:
  • a credentialed teacher working at a licensed and accredited school in a STEM field subject (preferred)
  • or a home school teacher working as part of an accredited school's home school program (e.g. the home school is registered with the state, and progress is verified with the state for all students. CodeWars admin staff will have to verify the home school's registration with the state before a sponsorship account can be approved)
  • or hold a college degree in a STEM field working as a formal STEM-subject club technical lead (if no school sponsor is available)
  • or have 5+ verified years of experience working in a STEM field (if no school sponsor is available)
• All sponsors are subject to review and approval by the CodeWars administration team. Sponsors may need to supply additional documentation if not employed as a credentialed teacher and listed as a teacher for their school on the school's website – which is the primary way CodeWars staff verifies sponsor accounts.

• Registration opens approximately one month prior to the contest date, and closes about 2 weeks prior to the contest date.

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• Participants must create and maintain an account in the CodeWars contest system for themselves with an email address that is able to receive e-mail from the domain name(s), e.g. hpe.com and hpecodewars.org.
• CodeWars will send account and contest updates to your registered e-mail address on your account. 
• During registration, approved sponsors accept students onto their student roster, students select their school and teacher/sponsor, and sponsors assemble those students into teams which are then submitted to a contest.

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