Блог пользователя TooGoodToLoose

Автор TooGoodToLoose, история, 6 лет назад, По-английски

Hello Codeforces Community.

This question is for people who have been doing CP for a lot of time. Given a chance to start all over again, what advice would you give to your former self to improve faster? You can include anything from mistakes you frequently did and improved upon after a long time to topics you procrastinated studying.?

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6 лет назад, # |
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We would really love to hear from the pros.

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится +129 Проголосовать: не нравится

I would tell myself to start younger. Now my brain is all mushy, slow and unwilling to accept new things.

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    6 лет назад, # ^ |
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    i'm a bit curios, being red means a lot of skills and knowledge. this should — i think — help you to learn the new things more easier/faster !

    this is just what i think, could you explain more, please?

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      6 лет назад, # ^ |
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      You got it backwards: ability to learn new things fast can lead to you becoming red.

      I can certainly observe the difference in my cognitive abilities compared to when I was half my age. Note that I don't have any objective measurement, so it might be subject to some bias or have different causes then just age.

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    6 лет назад, # ^ |
    Rev. 2   Проголосовать: нравится +8 Проголосовать: не нравится

    How old are you now? And at what age do you think your brain started mushying? I am 23 and wondering how long I've got left to cram :P

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится +487 Проголосовать: не нравится

Buy Bitcoin.

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится +80 Проголосовать: не нравится

When practicing, it's better to solve a few difficult problems than a large number of easy problems.

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    6 лет назад, # ^ |
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    Actually I think solving many easy-med problems will lead you higher in all ranks. Consistency in not too hard problems is more important than solving very hard ones. Sad, but true. However climbing up codeforces rank ladder doesn't have to be somebody's ultimate goal :). Solving hard problems is of course more fun.

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6 лет назад, # |
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6 лет назад, # |
Rev. 4   Проголосовать: нравится +51 Проголосовать: не нравится
  1. (insert any competitive programming topic here) is not as hard as you thought. Don't hesitate to learn it.

  2. There are no hard problems, only ones that you haven't known how to solve.

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6 лет назад, # |
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Am I allowed to go back in time before I even started competitive programming? I would recommend starting doing it earlier. I wish I had started when I was like 13.

If I am not, I would just say the standard adage:

"Solve more problems."

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6 лет назад, # |
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I wish I had known "when ur rating drops it doesn't mean that ur bad"

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6 лет назад, # |
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Rating is just a number, enjoy and have fun :D

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится +14 Проголосовать: не нравится

I would advise me not to start competitive because I will fail ! Now I am addicted to that, there is no medicine !

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6 лет назад, # |
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One word: math

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    6 лет назад, # ^ |
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    Why? Can you explain in details?

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      6 лет назад, # ^ |
      Rev. 8   Проголосовать: нравится +36 Проголосовать: не нравится

      The first editorial I read talked about solutions with data structures. I was under the impression that learning many data structures would improve my problem solving skills dramatically. So, I started learning about different stuff like trees, graphs, persistence, and different programming paradigms like functional and event-driven programming. I did benefit from all these stuff, but later on I realized how much I was merely compensating for my lack of good mathematical background. I was comfortable with geometry but discrete math wasn't my strongest point. It became even more apparent when many competitors that I know of with close or better rating expressed their discomfort about learning some of the things mentioned above and how they found solutions or alternatives based on some mathematical theories or by proving that some big cases can be skipped or solved separately with a different formula.

      It's like riding a racing car, just getting the best car out there isn't enough to guarantee winning a race. The racer himself should also work on his strategies and techniques to increase the odds of winning

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        6 лет назад, # ^ |
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        I did benefit from all these stuff, but later on I realized how much I was merely compensating for my lack of good mathematical background

        Well said! I think this is the problem with most div 2 coders. They try to compensate their weak math/problem solving skills by memorizing complex data structures and algorithms and hope to apply them "in their entirety" to solve problems. Then they complain that div 2C, div 2D is so hard.

        Lol. That's funny!

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6 лет назад, # |
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It's not just about knowledge.

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    6 лет назад, # ^ |
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    I don't know why this was downvoted :D anyway I still believe it is not just about knowing many algorithms..

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится +3 Проголосовать: не нравится

don't play dota2

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится -39 Проголосовать: не нравится

Kill yourself now because what is in sight for you isn't pretty.

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится -10 Проголосовать: не нравится

Learn about the algorithms BEFORE starting CP and see your rating go down

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    6 лет назад, # ^ |
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    If you are gray or green your problem likely isn't that you haven't learned the right algorithms. Solving Div2A or Div2B problems rarely if ever requires knowing any standard algorithms, they are all only about being able to think.

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6 лет назад, # |
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Learn more math — especially Combinatorics.

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится +2 Проголосовать: не нравится

Be more hardworking I guess

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6 лет назад, # |
  Проголосовать: нравится +46 Проголосовать: не нравится

Drop it in 2016.