KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 -- Every year, aspiring student coders from all over the world join the Apple Swift Student Challenge.

From the best entries, a selected few get not just a certificate and cool prizes but an invitation, travel and board provided, to Apple Park for the Worldwide Developers Conference.

These 50 winners are dubbed Distinguished Winners whose entries have been considered "truly exceptional" by Apple and this year, Malaysian Jasmmender Kaur is among them.

Ipoh-born Jasmmender, 22, is currently pursuing her bachelor's in computer science at Taylor's University Malaysia, specialising in data science.

She said her interest in technology started at an early age: "My journey with technology actually started at home at the a...