Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#1

Post by andrewparker » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 2:24 PM UTC

When I have been on flights recently without Wifi, I've been passing the time by doing programming problems I find online before the flight.

A few times now I've found myself scrambling before a flight to download some random CS course PDF or digging around recruiting sites for hiring challenges that don't assume I have an Internet connection.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a big page or site full of interesting problems that I could download locally? Generally problems that take from 30min - 2hrs to complete?

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#2

Post by roadnottaken » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

Gah! But how would I complete a programming challenge without Google!?

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#3

Post by Dachande663 » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 2:47 PM UTC

More for the mathematician than programmer, http://projecteuler.net/ offers a nice collection of challenges, some of them very tricky.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#4

Post by haasted » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 2:48 PM UTC

Take a look at http://codingkata.org/.

Best suited for playing around in a new language, but could perhaps inspire exploration of a language you are fluent in.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#5

Post by michael_dorfman » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 2:55 PM UTC

If you're up for challenge, I'd try "Ed's Programming Contest Problem Archive" at http://www.karrels.org/Ed/ACM/, and the Baylor archive at http://icpc.baylor.edu/Past/PastProblems.html.

Both contain problem sets from the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#6

Post by marcog1 » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 3:04 PM UTC

I'm not sure about sites that let you download all their problems in one go, but look at my list of sites of programming problems here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4697615/are-there-any-sit...

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#7

Post by Khroma » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 3:06 PM UTC

http://www.ioi2009.org/index.jsp;jsessionid=0B6696CAD77A7898...

This is the International Informatics Olympiad 2009's page. They have PDFs. Problems range in difficulty, but it does take a lot of thought and time to solve each of the problems.

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#8

Post by radq » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 3:24 PM UTC

You can download the SPOJ problem set as a PDF or PS file.

http://www.spoj.pl/problems/classical.pdf

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#9

Post by bajsejohannes » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 3:26 PM UTC

I recommend trying to implement a classic game (e.g. tetris). If you download the documentation for the graphics library, it's surprising how much you can do in two hours. Even without knowing the library from before.

(Unfortunately, we just got internet on trains here in Norway, which have reduced my train-productivity noticeably)

Re: Ask HN: Programming Problems for Plane Rides

#10

Post by RodgerTheGreat » Sat, Apr 02, 2011, 3:28 PM UTC

I often do this on flights, and in addition to solving "puzzles" you can always try to build a well-defined system from scratch. For example:

  - A JSON parser (bring the BNF from http://json.org/)
  - Simplified Lisp interpreter
  - Forth compiler (for example: https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Four.Ps)
  - Emulator for a simple CPU or MCU (6502, 1801, etc- bring a datasheet)

Projects like these are not "practical", as everything here has been done before, but great learning experiences.