Ioana's blog

By Ioana, history, 10 days ago, In English

Topcoder SRM 854 is scheduled to start at 11:00 am EDT Thursday, April 25 2024.

Here is the link to scheduled Topcoder events: https://www.topcoder.com/community/events/?tracks[6VRnpD1QYfm1cXMVh6AFOx]=0

  • Vote: I like it
  • +38
  • Vote: I do not like it

»
10 days ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Is it equal to div2 or harder?

  • »
    »
    10 days ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

    Topcoder has 2 divisions, first time participants would be assigned to Div2. There are only 3 problems per round, so it's hard to fully compare to the Codeforces divisions.

»
9 days ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Topcoder's challenge and system testing phases are so scary!

»
9 days ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

How to register for it? Here it is showing that registration would be closed 5 minutes before the start time but I couldn't find the register page. Can someone please assist?

»
9 days ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it

Some statistics from today:

Div1: Registered — 46 Opened at least 1 problem — 38

Div2: Registered — 59 Opened at least 1 problem — 46

Total: Registered — 105 Opened at least 1 problem — 84

Codeforces Round 940 (Div. 2) and CodeCraft-23: Registered — 26432 Submitted at least 1 problem — 13722

Can we make a conclusion that Topcoder SRMs are basically dead? What's your best guess when Topcoder will stop holding them altogether given such a low attendance?

  • »
    »
    9 days ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +32 Vote: I do not like it

    Or they should just start holding them on codeforces. It's a different format and a different kind of problems but they're still generally good quality so I suspect the low attendance is due to the disgusting platform and them not being advertised in the right place (eg CF main page).

    • »
      »
      »
      9 days ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +28 Vote: I do not like it

      Correct. People have just given up on the platform since Topcoder has been putting negative effort into competitive programming.

»
8 days ago, # |
Rev. 5   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Out off 42 div2 300 submissions only 24 passed.

Shows how badly this problem was written.

1) It hid information such as if we can give empty bags to children (which is cruel for the children imo). No cases to cover this case. This is where I got challenged in the end.

2) It hid information if we can move candies from one bag to another bag. I had to ping the admins during the contest to clarify this and make a resubmit. I saw other participants asking for the same after the contest in the chat room 1. So I wasn't the only one..

Unfortunately didn't ask the first doubt as the whole point of giving the bags to children is to distribute candies so giving empty wouldn't make any sense at all. Which costed me to end up in rank 13 instead of rank 5 had my 250 passed.