I invite you to participate:) Round will be non-rated, but there will not be limited registration at this time! Please, read the rules before the contest!
Could you point me to a description of how the Codeforces format works exactly, or if that doesn't exist, quickly summarize it for those of use who haven't participated in any of these contests yet?
Ok, the round seems (almost) over and so I will share my impressions.
The first thing I want to say is that I had much fun hacking the solutions, even though almost every solution I hacked had the same bug as mine :) Eventually, I've received more points in hacking solutions for the first two problems than I possibly could by solving them.
However, I couldn't get used to the way the contest proceeds - i.e. instead of solving the problems I checked my room every minute for new submissions. Did anyone else get distracted by hacking opportunities? :)
How you guys generate the hacking test cases during contest. Is it using program or paper/pencil? What would you suggest to me to become a master in generating test cases.?
Just look at the code and see what's wrong with it. If you solved the problem yourself, it shouldn't be difficult. Also, while you're coding, remember what pitfalls you had to escape and search for similar mistakes during hacking.
How you guys generate the hacking test cases during contest. Is it using program or paper/pencil? What would you suggest to me to become a master in generating test cases.?
ya, seems the room gets refreshed now and then.. and doesn't restore the code window we are looking at then.
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Overall, the new rules are good, except that 'm more concerned about, 'ok.. lets stop coding and start hack', and kept on refreshing the room tab. There is a slight chance that I may get one more question correct if I put more time in coding, without any such concerns. May be, hacking should be enabled only in the last 25% of the total contest time.
I think there's a fun strategic element in figuring out when you should stop solving and start hacking. To that end, I think you should be able to hack whenever you want.
Yes you can, open the "Hack" section in the contest and look for yourself on the "Defender" column. As i can see the Attacker was Petr and the test case was :
I don't really like how it's set out currently. Being able to hack through the entire time doesn't really help out average people - who spend more of the time coding anyway - but the best users can use it to their advantage to totally dominate.
You guys are obviously trying to stray from borrowing a lot from topcoder, but in your strive to be different I think you made the system overly discouraging to beginners.
Further, the 'pretests' didn't seem to be very comprehensive; I passed them all the first time, only to have all my solutions killed immediately after.
To solve both these problems, I think you could make the pretests more difficult to pass. This doesn't seem to have many disadvantages. It would help out beginners without hindering more experienced participants.
It's very discouraging to see all your points dwindle away!
I think for the beginners it's important to concentrate fully on the solving part. Only after you feel you can't solve anything more, you can lock your problems and try to hack someone.
As for the new format, I also think that the ability to code and hack at the same time make no sense. The contests become more like a game. And the genre is real-time strategy :) Like WarCraft or something... I hate this kind of games so maybe that's the reason I feel this way about the new format.
Actually, this system is better for beginners (compared to topcoder), because their solutions can be checked by strong coders. It can increase the gap between best and medium coders, but remember, not all problems will be so 'hackable' as in these alpha rounds.
I and my brother found a test that is not included in the test cases but will fail at least him if we add it. We are talking about problem B. If you give us: 0 2 3 0 5 11 He answers -1 but the correct is 0. Can this test be added to the test cases?
Could you point me to a description of how the Codeforces format works exactly, or if that doesn't exist, quickly summarize it for those of use who haven't participated in any of these contests yet?
The first thing I want to say is that I had much fun hacking the solutions, even though almost every solution I hacked had the same bug as mine :) Eventually, I've received more points in hacking solutions for the first two problems than I possibly could by solving them.
However, I couldn't get used to the way the contest proceeds - i.e. instead of solving the problems I checked my room every minute for new submissions. Did anyone else get distracted by hacking opportunities? :)
Also, while you're coding, remember what pitfalls you had to escape and search for similar mistakes during hacking.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9440/44506589.png
My solution got TLE on test14 . Is it because i solved it in O(n 2) ??
You may double click into cells (or ctrl+click) to view the submissions history or hack the solution
As for the new format, I also think that the ability to code and hack at the same time make no sense. The contests become more like a game. And the genre is real-time strategy :) Like WarCraft or something... I hate this kind of games so maybe that's the reason I feel this way about the new format.
We are talking about problem B. If you give us:
0 2 3
0 5 11
He answers -1 but the correct is 0. Can this test be added to the test cases?