I_Love_CompetitiveCoding's blog

By I_Love_CompetitiveCoding, history, 5 years ago, In English

I tried to look for how questions are scored in the HELP section of CodeForces, but I could not find what I was curious about as it seems to only apply to Div 1/2.

In division 3 rated contests, are all questions simply worth 1 point (i.e. equal) and you are solely judged based on how fast you can solve as many questions as possible?

Sorry if this was already answered somewhere... I did try to look.

Also, are the problems ordered in increasing order of difficulty like in Div 1 and 2?

Full text and comments »

By I_Love_CompetitiveCoding, history, 5 years ago, In English

Just finished Codeforces Round #529 (Div. 3). Tried my best and only answered 2 questions (though on a good day, I would've had the 3rd one. Stupid TLE).

Thank you to all the problem-setters and all others who contributed to this contest as well as all the other contests of the past. I remember the first time my younger brother showed me competitive coding while I was taking my data structures class (5 months ago). I told him, "This shit seems so stupid. I'm not gonna waste my time with this." A month after the class, I was almost exclusively doing competitive coding.

I think if this platform didn't exist, I would have lost my passion for coding, and it would have been very likely that I quit. I've done my share of drugs in the past, and honestly, nothing is more exhilarating than getting your solution accepted on 1 try and locking it with confidence.

The community here is amazing. Once I get better, I hope to contribute to the community that I love. Sucks that I can only say thanks to show my appreciation, wish I can contribute in some way. Anyways, happy holidays!

Full text and comments »

By I_Love_CompetitiveCoding, history, 5 years ago, In English

https://codeforces.com/contest/1088/problem/E

Doing a VContest and this fucking question in a bar that's open for some reason in the afternoon (I'm the only one here lol), and this fucking problem, sooooo fucking annoying. LITERALLY MAKES ME WANT TO PUNCH SOMEONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gonna go for a walk then solve it today, no matter what. SO fucking annoying that I can't solve hard codeforces problems.

cout<<"I HATE EVERYONE!";

Btw, this guy is cool. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein

P.S. My contributions were inflated (I dunno why I had so much in the first place) so seeing the minuses makes me happy XD

Full text and comments »

By I_Love_CompetitiveCoding, history, 5 years ago, In English

So I was with a group of friends and the group was asked this question by one of my friends.

What is the strongest motivator for people? One person said love; none of the ~6 people could answer the question though everyone tried.

The guy who asked the question said it is fear.

Full text and comments »

By I_Love_CompetitiveCoding, history, 5 years ago, In English

So I actually planned on this one being my 3rd contest, but last week, I tried to participate in a contest that took place 3am in my time zone. I was practicing, trying to stay up for the contest, but fell asleep. Next time, I'm either going to stay awake or not plan to attend a contest at those hours.

Anyways, solved 1, better than solving 0 like in my first contest. So one of two things are true, either I am far more capable than contest result history indicates or I am extremely delusional.

I was definitely extremely nervous, and had "butterflies" in my stomach.

Here's the one and only reason I love competitive programming: I used to box seriously when I was 20, and I get more of an adrenaline rush while participating in these contests than while I am fighting in the ring.

So much FUN!

Oh and one last thing, whatever I do in programming, I made up my mind that the next goal in my plan is to master dynamic programming.

To every other participants of Mail.Ru Cup 18: Thanks for the competition. Sorry for not being more of a challenge. I WILL get you next time.

P.S. I tried to submit this, and for some reason, it didn't go through. I was quite irked and didn't feel like retyping it. I was SUPER happy the drafts get saved automatically! What a great feature!

Full text and comments »

By I_Love_CompetitiveCoding, history, 5 years ago, In English

Hi, my name is Gary, a software engineer wannabe.

My first competitive coding contest was on LeetCode 2.5 weeks ago.

I started with the 3rd question, solved it. Then struggled to solve another question within the 1.5 hr time limit. I am here because there was a typo in the C++ specs that would cause solutions to not compile (if the solutions were tested as stated in the specs) unless you addressed this issue (I did.) LeetCode acknowledged the mistake, and apologized, but refused to remove the question or retest everyone's solution, which I believed was not "right".

That's why I am here.

It's been a week, and during this week, I really fell in love with competitive programming (the same way I fell in love with C++).

I want to post my solutions to questions that I thought was challenging and/or interesting. My hope is to receive criticism and perhaps even some useful advice. But ultimately, my main motive is to share details of my competitive programming journey, which people can relate to or laugh about.

First of those such detail is, my first contest here, I solved 0 problems! I actually couldn't believe that. So... 1500 -> 1378.

Full text and comments »