Sprints are beginner friendly events where you can work on your own projects or engage in a friendly competition involving solving Project Euler (http://projecteuler.net) problems for points. Project Euler is a series of increasingly difficult computational math problems that must be solved with code (generally speaking - we've had some impressive solutions in pen and paper as well as on an Excel spreadsheet).
Each problem is harder than the last, so each problem is worth its problem number in points. Problem #1 is easy, so it's worth 1 point, while problem #50 is much harder, but it is worth 50 points. You can form teams of 4 people and solutions can be in any language as long as the code is written at the event.
* Check ins involve showing the code, running it to produce a solution, and showing that the solution is correct on the Project Euler site. This means there needs to be at least one person per team who has a Project Euler account (sign up here).
The Project Euler Sprint is a beginner-friendly community of mathematically oriented coders (and vice versa) who come together to solve computational mathematics problems from Project Euler in the form of a competitive game. But more than just a competition, the Project Euler Sprint is about community, learning, and inclusivity. We do not discriminate. Anyone with any level of experience in math or programming is encouraged to participate, including those with no experience.
Our core values are as follows:
The Project Euler Sprint is first and foremost about fostering a community of learners, experimenters, and enthusiasts of both programming and mathematics.
The Project Euler Sprint is a place for people of all experience levels to come together. But beside experience, we welcome people regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion*.
Finally, The Project Euler Sprint is about having fun while solving problems, meeting new friends, and learning new things. If it's not fun, it's not worth doing.
Well, hello there! I'm Brian Kung, the founder and organizer of the Project Euler Sprint. I'll let you in on a secret. Well, it's a really badly kept secret, so it's probably just the group's history at this point.
When I first made this event, I was trying to figure out how to repay the Chicago software development community for all the free food I had scored by going to meetups all around Chicago - 8th Light University, Groupon Geekfest, Open Gov Hack Night, and many others. I wanted to give back - and feed myself and my friends in the meantime ;) so I thought of a Hack Night style event with the rules you see below, and pitched it to my company at the time (Aggrego) as a monthly event. They graciously agreed, and that kickstarted The Project Euler Sprint.
We're now hosted by ThoughtWorks. Food is still provided.
The Project Euler Sprint is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of attendees in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any Project Euler Sprint venue. Attendees violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event without a refund at the discretion of the organizers.
The Project Euler Sprint was inspired by and takes its name from Project Euler:
Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve.
The Project Euler Sprint is merely rules for a game played with problems on the Project Euler site.
Check out more at projecteuler.net!