First cadathlon programming contest held at 2002 ICCAD

In the spirit of the long-running ACM programming contest, the Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA) organized an EDA programming contest, the CADathlon. SIGDA held the CADathlon on 10 November 2002, at the Double Tree Hotel in San Jose, Calif., as part of the Sunday program for the International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD). Students, working in teams of two, competed to solve six problems from different CAD areas. The CADathlon challenged students in their CAD knowledge, and in their problem-solving, programming, and team-working skills. The contest provided a platform for academia and industry to focus attention on the best and brightest of next-generation CAD professionals. The CADathlon is an innovative initiative that assists in attracting top students to the EDA field.