HPE CodeWars

CodeWars is a first-class 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, New Jersey; Taipei, Taiwan; Barcelona, Spain; Bengaluru, India.

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A CodeWars event successfully combines several quality ingredients: a high-tech setting, a wide range of programming challenges, plenty of programmer food, music, plus giveaways - all in an exciting, stimulating, and competitive environment.

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Students enjoy pushing their limits in the energetic atmosphere. After the formal contest is over, we award trophies to the top competitors in each of two classifications, plus loads of exciting door prizes like computers, monitors, software, and accessories. This is the ultimate high school computer programming competition.

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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 HPE 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 HPE 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 HPE 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.
• Sponsors organize their students into competition teams. A team should be:
  • Two to three people (you can have a team of one, but we do not recommend it. Problems created for the contest assume a team size of 2-3)
  • Exceptions are sometimes made to accommodate larger teams, but that is not guaranteed
  • Most schools are limited to a single sponsor
  • Most sponsors are limited to three teams. Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis, but are not guaranteed.
  • Students selected for teams should be as ready as possible to compete on contest day. Most sponsors will get 9 slots for students to split into 3 teams. We suggest holding team tryouts if there are more students who want to be on a team than spots available.
• 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 (preferably in a STEM field)
  • 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. HPE CodeWars admin staff will have to verify the home school's registration with the state before a sponsorship account will be approved)
  • Or school personnel who hold a university degree in a STEM field, or have 5+ verified years of experience working in a STEM field (subject to review).
• All sponsors are subject to review and approval by the HPE 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 (the primary way HPE CodeWars staff verifies sponsor accounts).
• Sponsors are expected to represent a high school, not just one student. We will not accept a sponsor who wants to sponsor a single student. Parents, mentors, club leaders, and similar, will not be granted, or allowed to maintain, a sponsorship account1.

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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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