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

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

Themed at "Coding the Future", the grand event also included scientific exhibitions and competitions to gather leaders in the software industry from home and abroad and representatives from renowned software companies and scientific research institutes.

A joint effort of the Xi'an municipal government and the China Information Technology Industry Federation (CITIF), the two-day event was attended by over 10,000 people in person, and attracted roughly 100,000 programmers on the Internet.

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

Wang Yongkang, Xi'an municipal Party secretary, declares the opening of the ceremony by writing a piece of programming. [Photo/cnwest.com]

A special Outstanding Programmer Award was given to ten 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 youngsters who stood out in the recent programmer contest after fierce competition.

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

At the ceremony, the MIIT, Shaanxi provincial and Xi'an municipal government 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 Qihu 360 Software.

The Agreement of Building Xi'an Software City was signed between the MIIT and the Shaanxi provincial and Xi'an municipal governments. [Photo/miit.gov.cn]