When you’re ill, seeing the doctor is one thing. Getting your prescription filled is another. If you live in an industrialised country, you probably wouldn’t think twice about the latter — you walk into a pharmacy and there’s the medication you need.

Choice is good, but sometimes having too much choice can be a bad thing. Just ask anyone who’s ever tried to delve into a new film on Netflix, discover new songs on Spotify, or search for a suitable toy to buy their niece on Amazon — the options seem endless and often paralysing.

In 2014, Tan Tianhui was in the second year of her PhD at NUS Computing when she heard about a “special product” that everyone back home in China couldn’t stop talking about.

The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is one of the most prestigious competitions in the computer science world. Held every summer since 1987, the tournament sees exceptional high school students from over 80 countries gather to test their programming and problem-solving skills.