The first Global Programmers Festival is inaugurated in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province Nov 9. [Photo/cnwest.com]

The first Global Programmers Festival was inaugurated in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province Nov 9.

With a theme of "Coding the Future", the grand event also included scientific exhibitions and competitions to attract leaders in the software industry from home and abroad and representatives from renowned software companies and scientific research institutes.

A joint effort by the Xi'an municipal government and the China Information Technology Industry Federation (CITIF), the two-day event had over 10,000 people attending in person, and drew roughly 100,000 programmers via the internet.

Wang Yongkang, Xi'an municipal Party secretary, declared the opening of the ceremony by writing a program, paying tribute to programmers around the world. Zhang Yaqin, among the first generation of programmers in China, and 82-year-old Masako Wakamiya, the world's oldest programmer, also sent greetings to their counterparts.

A special Outstanding Programmer Award was given to 10 individuals in honor of their contributions to the country's software industry and social development. Xie Shaofeng, director of the Information and Software Services Division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) also presented awards to a group of young people who distinguished themselves after fierce competition in a recent programming contest.

"The festival is held to give recognition, respect and support for coder groups, provide a wider development space for them and boost the country's software industry," Qu Weizhi, deputy president of the CITIF, noted in his speech.

At the ceremony, the MIIT and the Shaanxi provincial and Xi’an municipal governments joined hands by signing an agreement to build Xi'an into a software city.

A job fair was also organized as part of the festival in the Xi'an Hi-Tech Industries Development Zone, with nearly 1,000 jobs up for grabs from 71 name-brand companies led by Alibaba Cloud, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Qihoo 360 Technology.