Once again, it’s time we announce the CodeChef Programmer of the Month. The guy’s been topping most contests and if you’re wondering why he didn’t win the August Mini Challenge, it was because he set the problem! Everyone wants to know about the person behind the username syco and profiling him has been long overdue.
Without beating around the bush any further, let me introduce you to our Programmer for September ’09, Varun Jalan!
Name: Varun Jalan
Age: 21
Institute: Columbia University
UserID: syco
1. How/When did you start programming?
I learnt Q Basic around 8 years back. However, I’ve known C for only about 5 years. I started learning algorithms around two and a half years back. My brother taught me C (though I was very, very reluctant to learn that time 
)
2. What do you do when you’re not programming?
Mostly surfing the net and reading books.
3. What do you like most about CodeChef?
The prizes definitely 
. A couple of problems in each contest are really good, though in my opinion they are too tough to be a part of any contest of duration <= 5 hours.
4. How many hours a day do you program?
That varies greatly. Can range from 0 – 15 hours a day.
5. What’s your favourite book and why?
I read books like the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings etc. Amongst algorithms and programming stuff, I like The C programming language(Kernighan and Ritche), CLRS.
6. If you could eat dinner with any famous person (past or present), who would it be and what dish would you have?
Never given it a thought Perhaps share a pizza with Einstein ? lol 
7. What are your plans for the future?
I ll be completing my MS at Columbia Univ. by next December. I’ll mostly be working after that, though I still am considering PhD as an option.
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