In the morning of 12 October, the Técnico Innovation Center powered by Fidelidade hosted the ‘World’s Largest Computer Programming Lesson’, organised by Instituto Superior Técnico and Magma Studios that ended up setting the Guinness record of the same name, with 1668 participants (the minimum would have been 724). The lesson was taught by Rodrigo Girão Serrão, and the Técnico professors Inês Lynce and Arlindo Oliveira.
Even before confirmation that the record had been successfully set – which would come from an official Guinness World Records representative a few minutes later – Rogério Colaço declared, in his speech almost at the end of the event, that it was the largest class given at Técnico. The president of Técnico declared the day to be ‘a celebration of young talent’, a necessary condition for the country’s development.
‘It’s a great joy to have entered the Guinness Book of Records for this noble purpose: teaching engineering to young people; we’ve been doing it at Técnico every day for 113 years,’ declared Rogério Colaço after the event. ‘We hope that this record will inspire more young people to study and make a better future with us – computer science and, in particular, programming are key tools for our sustainable growth as a society,’ he said.
Luís Ferreira, the rector of Universidade de Lisboa, congratulated and praised the event’s organisers and professors, also pointing out that many company representatives are Técnico alumni and that ‘Técnico is the biggest and best engineering school in the country’. Miguel Gonçalves, CEO of Magma Studios, recalled that ‘a line of code has the potential to be the start of something that changes the world’ and thanked Técnico for accepting the challenge, proving to be ‘an incredible partner’.
A lesson lasting one hour and fifteen minutes with 1668 students
After an hour and a half of check-in (so that all the students piling up outside the Técnico Innovation Center could get in), not only was the main room full, but the mezzanine was also crowded with participants eager for the event to begin.
‘[In terms of audience,] it was the biggest class I’ve ever given and, despite being so big, students were very well-behaved’, shared Inês Lynce after the event. The Técnico professor gave an introduction to the concept of an algorithm, which involved challenging more than 1600 participants to produce paper aeroplanes by following instructions projected onto a screen. As other examples of algorithms, she mentioned solving Rubik’s cubes and even got the audience to collectively fill in a Sudoku grid. ‘I think that’s what surprised me the most was seeing such an enthusiastic atmosphere from people who got up very early to be here on a Saturday morning with rain…’, she shared.
Arlindo Oliveira, also a Técnico professor, gave the last part of the lecture, covering topics related to artificial intelligence. To introduce the concept of a cellular automaton, he had the audience play the ‘game of life’, inviting those present to stand up and sit down depending on the number of people standing or sitting around them. Using a language model based on the book “Os Maias”, he posed various questions to an artificial intelligence that imitated Carlos da Maia, and the answers were ‘in the tone’ of the main character in Eça de Queirós’ novel.
Arlindo Oliveira shared that ‘Técnico was absolutely key in achieving this record’ also praised the participation of ‘many women and girls, showing that computer programming is for everyone’, he defended.
Rodrigo Girão Serrão, a Técnico alumnus, gave an introduction to Python programming language.
In the audience, Teresa Bonifácio listened attentively. The alumna completed her electrotechnics degree at Técnico in 1982 and, 42 years later, she still loves learning new things (she went on to take a master’s degree in cognitive science after she retired).
That’s why she made a point of attending this lesson and becoming a record holder. ‘I saw this event advertised and thought I couldn’t miss it – it was good to have a class at Técnico again’, she shares, describing her academic journey at Técnico as “something useful for the rest of my life because I developed a lot of mental skills”.
Miguel Costa, a computer engineering master’s student at another school, explains that, besides wanting to be part of the record, he attended the event to socialise with other people interested in programming. ‘This event showed what Técnico is all about; being able to bring together almost two thousand people is a great achievement’, he shared.
As part of the event, seven scholarships funded by the Axians company were awarded to students Cristiano Mendonça, Daniel Alves, Diogo Rego, João Carlos Norte, João Tamagnini, Mehakpreet Khosa and Mikail Amade.
The initiative was supported by the Técnico Students’ Union, the Lisbon City Council and the Unicorn Factory Lisboa. It was also sponsored by ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal, Axians, Deloitte, Galp, Millennium BCP, NOS, NTT Data, Vodafone and Worten.
