#competitive coding

[excludedmiddle]

hey congrats on reaching CM (? wanted to find the post where you mention that to confirm but tumblr search misbehaves). was curious as to how many problems you've solved on cf? I primarily picked it up cause ik it helped friends with interview stuff but I'm 2 months in stuck at ~1200 so wondering if I should be doing things differently. on one hand most problems <1400 are greedy or math so I worry an actual interview will be more "algorithmic" and I'll be unprepared (maybe leetcode is better in this regard?). on the other hand it's soo much easier to fantasise about being good at cp than actually practicing. so. anyway wondering if you had any advice on this? CM in one year does not sound like the journey of your average cf-er. congrats again. cheers!

Thank you!

(full disclosure: I've kind of fallen off with competitive programming - I haven't competed on codechef since January and codeforces/leetcode since April)

My solving totals, ratings, and number of contests are:

Leetcode: 824 problems, 2571 rating, 41 contests

Codeforces: 69 problems, 2000 rating, 14 contests

Codechef: 32 problems, 2046 rating, 4 contests

If you're looking for interview prep I would skip codeforces. Leetcode problems are closer to what you'll get in interviews, and their contests are much less of a time commitment. I also code in Rust on CF/CC and Python on Leetcode, and I much prefer to take interviews in Python.

If you snoop around a bit on reddit and the leetcode forums, you can often find lists of problems people have seen at a specific company's interviews to get a flavor of what you're up against. I really recommend this - the problem I struggled with the most in getting my current job was on one such list for my company and I wish I'd gone through the list. This was before I got really good, though.

I think my rapid growth was fueled by three things:

I did math competitions all the way through college that have a similar skillset

My college classes taught a lot of competitive programming concepts (I learned what a SegTree was in class!)

I had a period of 5 months between graduating and starting my job where I was unemployed and highly motivated, and I did a ton of grinding during that period. Most of my leetcode solves are from that time

If you're looking to improve but don't have a ton of time to burn, here's the regimen I recommended to another asker:

[sirtbhopal]

Department of CSIT, CSE, and AIML are organizing a National level Hackathon CODEENERGIA 2K23

[m3llowm1sh]

cringe is dead and i am free!..!!! go my stupid board game enthusiasts💥

[merakiui]

You think Idia would pass out if a girl poked him?

I think he'd pass out if anyone poked him or even perceived him. T_T he's so skittish and it only worsens if the object of his affection and desire is suddenly paying attention to him. Like, what did he do to raise your affection bar and have you acknowledge his presence????? He's sorry for existing and breathing the same air as you. Please just leave him be... treat him like a bug you found beneath a rock,,, ignore him and let him return to his hikikomori life. >_< as he thought, it's much easier to interact online or to simply watch you through the campus security feed he's hacked into.

Ortho says it's you "being friendly" and "extending a hand of friendship," but Idia knows better than to delude himself with those fluffy, romantic, slice-of-life sort of tropes. No way an SSR-tier person like you would ever pay him any mind out of your own volition!!!! OTL

This is basically Idia the moment he triggers an irl interaction event with you:

[honig-dachs]

there it is

[fullscoreshenanigans]

The little bow of reflection and smile Ray makes as he briefly soaks in the last morning Emma and Norman will be able to carry out their routine as usual knowing the horror they'll endure before night's end.

He knows they'd both prefer the harsh truth over a pretty lie, would hate to think about other siblings suffering the same fate as Conny, Hao, Sadie, Susan, and so many more before them if there was even the slightest chance of being able to do something about it. It's part of what he loves about them; where he had the tendency to give up after years of learned helplessness and self-loathing, they would resolutely say "no" and escape the system they had been born into.

(they are better, they are deserving, unlike him)

He loves them so much he can't help but let some of his fondness show on his face as he savors Emma's reaction to seeing him and Norman, because if that isn't so incredibly her, to love so effortlessly and uninhibited, to live so unabashedly authentic.

It's part of what got him through a life he cursed and part of why he has faith if anyone will be able to do this, it'll be them.

[moeblob]

WOW it's way later than I planned to just be finishing art but here we go! I did manage!

[the-architect-of-ferrari]

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A post shared by Scuderia Ferrari HP (@scuderiaferrari)

Ferrari admin with this fruity ass post like why are you using an audio from the movie where the two male competitors KISS 🤨🏳️‍🌈

[justanotherrcblog]

💎DR - date cards💎

[proudsnackeezowner]

Just watched you're cordially invited and as someone that's writing a wedding fic I am going to be sooo annoying. That premise is great, wedding planners that got double booked and fight about it??? WHY DIDNT I THINK OF THAT anyway the wedding vibes are coursing through me now going to go write furiously

[podkopayayva]

am i dumb or is it literally appalling that not a single senior has attempted to separate themselves from the absolutely massive pool of middling US all arounders by heavily specializing in an event? a single knockout bars/beam specialist - hell, even a bars OR beam specialist - could lock their spot on the team just by virtue of being the only non-simone athlete that could seriously contend for an event gold medal. it's almost like nobody is thinking about any sort of strategy? there's not an ounce of higher level thinking going into anybody's gymnastics? it just feels like a "score as many points as possible by producing generic, solid routines on every single event that fail to make a case for how you differ from any other single gymnast doing the exact same thing" fest. like what the hell is up with that? i've never been so bored in my life by this year's crop of gymnasts and it pisses me off that they dedicate their entire lives to this sport and don't even attempt to view it from any sort of strategic level

[excludedmiddle]

Sometimes I look through the submissions of the guy who made my algorithms library for inspiration on how to use it better, and I often learn things about the library (or about Rust) that I didn't know.

But sometimes I look at something he's written and I think to myself. Sir I admit that you are better at competitive coding than I probably ever will be. But this cannot be the best way to do this.

[tinfishmeal]

i hate them so much

[suspendingtime]

Anthony yelling out lilies during charades. 💀

[astraeajackson]

imagine your otp in school playing an EPIC dodgeball match BUT they're in OPPOSITE teams and it's a full-on WAR and everyone else is completely TERRIFIED of them

[rotten-vision]

binged season one of code geass and now i have two doomed edgy men with weird masks and weird capes that want a revolution and laugh maniacally my depression has doubled please mom come pick me up i dont like it here