xmlsuperstar.com - PROGRAMMING CONTEST

As the next big thing in the world of data, XML is pervasive in the way data is stored, exchanged, analyzed, transferred and processed. DB2 9 is a breakthrough innovation being the first of its kind data server to store both relational and XML data side by side.

Here's your chance to build an application that uses IBM's breakthrough technology and to show how well abreast you are with all that is happening in the exciting world of XML. Explain to the judges how to install, run and evaluate your application, as well as point out how your solution specifically takes advantage of pureXML or other XML technologies.

Impress the judges with your team entry and be awarded with attractive prizes!

Rules & Regulations

•	This contest is only open to students.

•	Each team requires a coach and up to 4 members.

•	Team members can be from different institutions.

•	All team members must be registered members of the site and must have completed the Quick Quiz.

•	Each team member can only enter this contest once.

•	Team members cannot be changed once all the names have been submitted. The team name cannot be changed as well.

•	Coach has to be a professional from an educational institution.

•	One coach is allowed to coach more than one team.

•	There are five categories of applications under which you could submit your entry:
	1.	Best pureXML Data Analytics Solution: Applications related to analyzing large amounts of data in a data warehouse, for instance, or in business intelligence & search
	2.	Best pureXML SOA Application: Applications that accelerate information in a Service Oriented Architecture
	3.	Best pureXML Social Application: Collaborative applications or applications that use mashups and other Web 2.0 technology
	4.	Best pureXML ACID Factory: Applications that use pureXML in transaction processing
	5.	Best pureXML Industry or Standards Solution: Applications that pertain to a specific industry solution or to a specific industry standard

•	The application must utilize DB2 Express-C V9.1 or V9.5. Support for additional DB2 editions and/or versions is optional.

•	If the application utilizes DB2 as the database, it should not require the presence of another data repository. Exceptions include instances where a connection to another database is required for migrating data or application code from the other database to DB2.

•	Minimal use or complete exclusion of DB2 will result in immediate disqualification. In addition, use of pureXML, XQuery, XPath, XSLT or other XML related technologies is mandatory.

•	Closing date for project submission is 28 February 2009.

How to Enter

•	Only the team leader can create a team and submit the team's project online.

•	To create a team, the team leader is required to submit a team name and some basic information of the coach, as well as invite all team members to join his/her team by providing them with the given team ID.

•	Each team member who has been invited by the team leader to join his/her team is to click on "Join Team" under the "Team Management" tab, enter the given team ID and await confirmation from their team leader.

•	The team leader is required to confirm all team members after they have requested to join the team.

•	The team will have to submit some information and a brief description of the proposed solution via an online form. This can only be done by the team leader after confirmation of the team.

•	The online form will have to be completed before submission of the project and by 31 December 2008.

•	The following information is to be supplied in the online form:

	I.	Solution Outline
		•	Name of solution (application/tool/utility name)
		•	Solution version/release/level
		•	Specify solution category:
			-	Best pureXML Data Analytics Solution
			-	Best pureXML SOA Application
			-	Best pureXML Social Application
			-	Best pureXML ACID Factory
			-	Best pureXML Industry or Standards Solution
		•	Brief description of the solution, including:
			-	Overview
			-	Solution capabilities (including installation, running and evaluation)
			-	How XML is a major component of the solution?
			-	Operating system(s) supported by the solution
			-	Programming language(s) the solution is written in

	II.	DB2 Integration and Testing
		•	Does the solution successfully run with DB2 without the need for any other data repository?
		•	Which DB2 version(s), edition(s), and operating system(s) has the solution been tested with?
		•	Additional comments that may help with judging

How to Submit

	•	To submit the team's project, the team leader is required to upload all project documents online. This can only be done after confirmation of the team and completion of the online form as stated under "How to Enter".

	•	All source code, make files, documentation files, screenshots, proof of DB2 usage, testing & integration, software requirements, and a readme explaining the submitted content are to be zipped up as a single file (less than 100MB) and submitted online (do not include any executable files).

	•	In addition to the submission to the contest web site, the solution must also be made available publicly as an open-source project (can post to sites such as SourceForge, RubyForge, JavaForge, etc.) and a link to the project site should included in the submission. This is so as to make the solution more easily accessible to the judges.

Voting and Winners

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Entries will be judged by a panel from IBM, local universities and partners.

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Entries will be evaluated based on the following five criteria:

Criteria	Description	Weight
Utility	How useful is your application to solve real problems?	20%
Reusability	Can your application or parts of it be reusable to solve other problems?	20%
Consumability	How easy is your application understood by others? How well is it documented and presented?	20%
Security	Is your application secure? Can others hack into your system due to weaknesses in your application design? Is it robust?	20%
Technical Innovation	How creative is your solution? How unique is it?	20%

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Completed entries that have been plagiarized from existing published sources will result in immediate disqualification.

•

Code reuse is accepted as long as the source of the code is mentioned and the amount of code reused does not represent more than approximately 30% of the entire project.

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There are a few elements that could result in your application being rated higher by the judges. These include:

Use of partner's tools/applications. For a list of partners, review this site: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/express/partners.html

Use of DB2's SQL stored procedures, SQL UDFs, triggers.

Use of emerging technologies such as AJAX, Geronimo (WAS Community Edition)

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There will be a winning team for each country and a final ASEAN winning team selected among the individual country winning teams.

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Winners will be announced on the contest site in March/April 2009.


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