Here’s our CodeChef Programmer of the month for February 2010. He came in the top 20 for the July Challenge, and has been prominent on CodeChef ever since. He’s even submitted the tuorial Coin Game to our wiki. Lets find out more about our Programmer of the Month for February, Mark Greve.

Name : Mark Greve

Age : 25

Institute : Aarhus University

User ID : gmark

Twitter ID : markgreve

How/When did you start programming?

I started programming in BASIC around the age of 10 and switched to C++ when I
was 12. I never really wrote anything serious until I began university, and my
programming career first really took off when I started doing programming
contests.

What do you do when you’re not programming?

When I’m not spending time in front of my computer, I enjoy doing various
sports such as soccer and table tennis. I also like to go spearfishing when the
weather permits.

What do you like most about CodeChef?

The problems, of course! The problems in the monthly contests are of a really
high quality, and it’s a real pleasure working on them. Other than that I think
the CodeChef platform is quite nice. It’s cool to be able to check up on what’s
going on by looking at the blog or checking the tweets.

How many hours a day do you program?

That varies quite a lot. On average I’d say around 3 hours per day.

What’s your favourite book and why?

I have hardly read any books in recent years. However I did really enjoy
reading the trilogy in five parts about the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I’m remember being very impressed by all the extraordinarily creative and
intelligent comedic dialogue in these books.

If you could eat dinner with any famous person (past or present), who would it be and what dish would you have?

That’s too hard to answer.

What are your plans for the future.

Once I’m done with my PhD studies, I will probably go for an industry job.
Other than that I am still enjoying doing programming contests just as much as
when I started back in 2007, so I probably won’t leave competing anytime soon.