NEW DELHI: Patiala-born Jaskaran Singh and Pune-based Jay Firke are among more than 350 students from 40 countries and regions who have been selected as Apple's '2022 Swift Student Challenge' winner for showcasing extraordinary coding skills.
The 'Swift Student Challenge' is part of Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC22).
Every year, in the lead-up to WWDC 22 (which starts from June 6), young people from around the globe use Swift Playgrounds to showcase their coding skills, Apple said in a statement late on Friday.
"I've always had a passion for learning and creating new things. Design and coding are outlets for my creativity. So, winning the Swift Student Challenge was always a dream for me because it's the most prestigious award a student developer can win," said Singh.
Singh, 21, is currently studying engineering at Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology.
He started coding in school, and his Swift submission uses CoreML to help users refresh themselves with simple exercises after long tasks.
Singh developed a productivity app called 'Nudges: Minimal To-Do', which is available on the App Store.
He now plans to start a Swift Club at his university and encourage as many students as possible to take up Swift.
"I learnt and grew a lot during the Apple Challenge and winning has given me confidence to do more with my skills to make a positive impact on the world," he added.
Firke, 21, is a self-taught developer and learnt coding using online resources.
He is currently studying engineering at Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering and Research.
"In WWDC 2022, I want to learn more about augmented reality and new technologies that Apple is going to launch this year. The most interesting part about WWDC are the designing and coding elements alongside the one on one labs with apple developers," Firke said.
He attended WWDC in 2019 as a scholarship winner and had also applied in 2021.
Earlier studied at MacroVision Academy in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, Jay is focused on working in the AI and AR space and his submission with 'PushARBall' is completely AI driven.