mug's blog

By mug, history, 7 years ago, In English

Hi all, I am new to codeforces and competitive programming in general. Right now I am just trying to solve as many practice problems as I can. When I get stuck on how to implement a solution, I try and look around for other people's solutions. When I find a solution that I can make sense of, I will code it up pretty much line for line the same, work through it so I understand it, and submit it so I can keep track and make sure the implementation is correct. Obviously in a contest situation, this is not allowed but is it considered bad practice/cheating if I'm just using the practice archives to submit others solutions? I don't want to get myself or others flagged if this is the case.

edit: Looking back at a couple of my practice submissions, it seems like I actually have been doing a decent job "paraphrasing" the solutions of others I used, bar one or two instances where our codes were pretty similar. Hoping this is not a big deal as I'm gaining nothing from it as its just practice archives and I'm citing the true author in the comments.

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7 years ago, # |
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It's probably fine; plenty of people submit others' solutions for fun or something. (Also see the top of the problemset leaderboard lol)

It is advisable to try to implement the code with your own coding style though, which is probably different from most other peoples' styles anyways given the wide range of style here on codeforces.