The Original RAD Race, the preeminent programming competition, will be held on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st October in Hasselt, Belgium. The 2006 edition will showcase Belgian eID technology and has the support of FedICT, the Belgian Federal IT-service.
The annual RAD Race competition is a Belgian event with a solid international reputation. It is one of only a very few competitions worldwide that pit development teams – and their tools – against each other, and that provide a testing ground for software development technology.
Teams of 2 persons are given the specifications for a particular application, and have two days to develop this application. A jury then compares the results, and selects the winner. As in most modern sporting competitions, winning the RAD Race requires the combination of the best team with the highest quality tools.
What is RAD?
RAD, or Rapid Application Development, refers to various technology and techniques that significantly speed up the creation and maintenance of application software. In recent years, many large and small organizations have tended to prefer packaged software for many of their basic functions. However, development of custom software is still essential to all large enterprises, and many smaller organizations, to support specific business processes and create a competitive advantage.
Why a RAD Race?
The RAD Race has always had a double purpose. The RAD Race wishes to stimulate the development of better application development technology. It also wishes to reward individual teams who can prove their skill in using the best application development tools to develop high quality applications in a very short time.
The 2006 edition, for the first time, will have a third objective: to showcase Belgian expertise in eID. The application that the participating teams will build during the competition, will make use of the electronic identity card. It will be a realistic usage scenario of eID technology. In fact, if the program written by the winning team conforms to FedICT standards, it can be put to actual use and made accessible to the public.
Who can enter?
The RAD Race is open to all teams of two developers, representing their organisation. Information and an entry form can be found at
www.radrace.org.
The RAD Race is a ConsultiT event, with the support of Minoc Business Press, publisher of IT Professional, Unisys, Escrow Europe and Newtel.