Hey Guy’s, it’s time to disclose the Programmer of the Month for September, Anton Lunyov. He’s a 23 year old student from the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics of National Academy of Science of Ukraine. Anton has been participating on CodeChef since its inception in March 2009. He’s been extremely active in the past few month’s and been amongst the  winners in many of our challenges. He also did exceedingly well in both the July Cook-Off and the August Cook-Off. Lets find out what our Programmer has to say.

Name: Anton Lunyov
Age: 23
Institute: Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics of National Academy of Science of Ukraine
Userid: anton_lunyov

How/When did you start programming?
I started programming relatively late in 10-th grade after I enter the lyceum “Erudit”. I met many talented students there and wanted to be like them.

What do you do when you’re not programming?
I am a postgraduate student of my institute so I prepare my PhD thesis on spectral theory of differential operators, study scientific publications on different topics. Programming is just a hobby. I also like to play table tennis.

What do you like most about CodeChef?
I like to solve hard and challenging problems and compete with the world’s best programmers who participate here.

How many hours a day do you program?
Approximately 4-5 hours. But it depends on many things.

What is the secret to being a good programmer?
You should work hard and solve many problems per day from various online judges. But I guess without a deep knowledge in math you don’t have any chance of being a good programmer.

What are your plans for the future?
After I complete my PhD course I will continue the work of theoretical scientist in the field of operator theory but I guess I will still participate in many programming contests because I enjoy it very much.