xiaowuc1's blog

USACO 2023-2024 Second Contest
By xiaowuc1, 3 months ago, In English

NOTE: The USACO website has been targeted by a DDoS attack and may be down for the duration of the contest.

Hi all,

The second contest of the 2023-2024 USACO season will run from January 26th to January 29th. Good luck to everyone! Please wait until the contest is over for everyone before discussing anything contest-related (including but not limited to your scores or anything about the problems).

For those unfamiliar with the USACO contest format, please refer to the contest instructions and rules. We provide a short FAQ but folks should read all the rules carefully.

I have a question about the contest. Where do I ask it?

Email the contest director via the instructions above. Do not post anything publicly about the questions (including but not limited to your scores, how you felt about the problems, any content of the problems, etc) until after the contest is over for everyone. Do not DM me or anyone else affiliated with USACO, only the contest director can assist you. The contest director does not monitor Codeforces, this blog post is merely a courtesy to inform other people of the contest.

When can I enter the contest?

The contest will open on January 26th.

If I submit multiple programs, which one gets evaluated?

Only the last submission will be evaluated for official scoring purposes.

Can I use prewritten code / templates?

No.

Can I use AI tools during the contest including but not limited to ChatGPT and Copilot?

No.

Am I allowed to use outside resources during the contest?

You may only refer to language documentation.

Can I solve problems in Rust?

No, the only languages supported are C, C++, Java, and Python. Consult the instructions for language-specific technical details.

Will Rust support be added?

Probably not. Petition IOI to add Rust support first.

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Looking forward to it!

btw there is a date typo in "When can I enter the contest?" section. :)

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Good luck everyone!!

(Also it should start on Jan 26 not Dec 15)

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

silver when

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -41 Vote: I do not like it

From difficult getting Bronze to first getting Silver and achieving Gold in this year's USACO!

（In Chinese: 难铜想在USACO首银摄金XD）

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

praying that this time will be as easy as december

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

    fax bro. but for u, u should pray that u don't sell :) lol.

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3 months ago, # |
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Man I need gold like right now

Gl all :)

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

This is going to be my first Platinum contest. I hope I do well!

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +28 Vote: I do not like it

Reminder to participants: If you are unable to visit the website, you can try https://www.usaco.org.

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Is the website down for you to ?

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

Site mostly down and impossible to submit since more than 1 hour. I suppose another attack of useless people pretending to be hackers, like last year in February. Use your skills (assuming you have) for something worth, dudes.

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    Originally in IOI mode, now it's almost changed to OI mode (in chinese OI contests, we can't view the results during the contest.).

    Even worse, the website was inaccessible for a long time :(

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      3 months ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it

      Not even close. I couldn't make a single submission.

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        3 months ago, # ^ |
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        And I didn't save the problem statements.

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +27 Vote: I do not like it

    Nonsense. I believe he's someone frustrated that he is too stupid to solve problems. Plus his mom never loved him, he has pimples on his face and he knows he's going to die alone because girls can't stand him because he's a fat guy who munches on Pringles all day. 😊

    And when he gets frustrated, he opens USACO, creates a new alt account and starts spamming! That's all he has left in life. 😊

    But if that's all he can do as an attacker, God be forgiving, even here he failed. 😊

    All kinds of pitiful people on this planet. 😊

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      3 months ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -27 Vote: I do not like it

      The "😊" emojis are doing a very poor job of hiding the fact that the based ddos'ers triggered you. Stop being a redditor on cf.

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        3 months ago, # ^ |
        ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +26 Vote: I do not like it
        Much needed context OP felt for some reason the need to leave out
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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

how long has this site had been down :(

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

Please, please, please, make the website accessible! I have to submit plat T2 bro

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    Okay, "The USACO website is currently down due to being hit by a massive denial of service attack. Please check back later. We appreciate your understanding during this challenging and frustrating situation.".

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

Now it shows "The USACO website is currently down due to being hit by a massive denial of service attack. Please check back later. We appreciate your understanding during this challenging and frustrating situation." Will the contest time be extended for us whose clock is running out in an hour or so?

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +15 Vote: I do not like it

Copypasted from USACO Website in case it goes down again

The contest page contains further details about the contest along with a link you can click to start your personal timer.

NOTE: Our website has been down several times during this contest due to being targetted by a massive denial of service attack. In case there are further disruptions, if you start the contest please keep all problems open in separate tabs (not used for submission), so you can work offline if necessary. For pre-college USA students, please also bookmark this Google form, to be used as a backup submission mechanism if the site is down again.

Several hundreds participants were affected by whomever was attacking our site. We understand and share your frustration at this happening. We are working on migrating to a new hosting platform with more robust DDOS shielding than I was led to believe about the infrastructure provded by my university. We are also looking into the feasibility of adding another contest later this season to give amother opportunity to promote, but if not, this may end up being essentially a 3-contest season for some.

For USA pre-college platinum participants: the certified platinum window was unaffected, so these scores will count, and during finalist selection, our coaches will be sure not to penalize non-certified platinum scores that were possibly compromised by outages in this contest. For example, 3 certified scores plus a potentially compromised non-certified score on this contest will receive full consideration.

We have received hundreds of emails during the outage and may not have the bandwidth to be able to respond to them all individually, at least in a quick timeframe. Many who were unable to submit code have asked about extensions. Unfortunately, these are not possible due to general policy regarding outages beyond our control, stemming from the need to preserve the integrity of our contests, which do serve as a selection mechanism for the USA IOI and EGOI teams.

Again, if you have been affected by the recent outages, we share your frustration, and we appreciate your patience and understanding.

Brian Dean, USACO Director Professor and Director, Clemson University School of Computing

Form link: here

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3 months ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

The site is working now, poor me couldn't make gold this time too :(

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