I've always had a secret desire to appear on Jeopardy. My mind is full of what my husband terms "useless knowledge": definitions of rare linguistic terms, far-flung capitals and the complete names of D-list celebrity stars from long-forgotten TV shows. If you need a second for your pub quiz team, I'm your gal.

So, it wasn't a surprise to anyone that I lobbied for the return of SD's Developer Bowl during a brainstorming session two years ago. Our version of a TV trivia show was always a lot of fun and has proven to be one of the highlights of SD West for the past two years, with top-notch teams from such companies as Google, IBM, CodeGear, Yahoo and Intel. 

In fact, Google swept the competition in 2007, defeating Yahoo in the first round. CodeGear's team , lead by David Intersimone, competed valiantly against Google in the finals, but the search-engine giant was victorious, thanks to team members Peter Norving (AI Guru), Josh Bloch (Java Superstar), Guido Van Rossum (Python) and Peter Weinberger (creator of awk). In 2008, IBM's team, lead by Chris Laffra, came out on top, narrowly defeating Google in the championship round.

This year, SD's Developer Bowl will be Thursday, March 12 at 5:30 PM at SD West 2009 . I'll be there, timing the rounds with my handy stopwatch (well, cellphone!), along with Dr. Dobb's Editorial Director Jon Erickson, who has graciously agreed to be our Alex Trebek once again.

Which teams will vie for bragging rights this year?  Stay tuned.

What questions will be thrown at them?  Well, that's where you come in. 

We're asking for your help putting together this year's questions. Send me any and all questions related to software development's past heroes, new languages, bleeding-edge open source tools,and other industry-related trivia at tcarter@techweb.com . If we pick your question, we'll give you your 15 seconds of fame, and let the teams and audience know who to blame!  

OK, send those questions on. I've cleaned out my inbox and am waiting to hear from you.