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Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

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Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#31

Post by middleclick »

Noxchi wrote: post #14

When someone asks why not outsource the coding to India, point them to this page. The first Indian winner is #236, but if you go to the last page, there are a bunch of them trying. EDIT: I'm gonna make a script to list the best countries that output programmers.

What kind of reasoning is this? How is performing in a programming competition like Code Jam an indication of whether you are a good developer or not? Unless of course if you just want to hate on outsourcing, in which case, go ahead and do it but please don't try to make it sound like you are basing yourself on logic.

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#32

Post by just2n »

raphaelj wrote: post #25
just2n wrote: post #8

So all evidence suggests that the 3rd problem is the hardest, by far, which is likely just some number of non-obvious edge cases. Curious why the "hard problem" disclaimer is on the 4th? The 4th also has a 90% solve rate (with 50% more submissions) while the 3rd has 44%.

The 4th is definitively the funniest. In addition to the disclaimer, one thing which worried me was the N <= 1000 in the large problem specification. I got a quite elegant fast solution and a so low bound was really surprising.

My solution for 4 was quite efficient in design (and very simple). I was able to be very inefficient in the rough implementation (being lazy and copying arrays, reading the entire input file at once and breaking it up into lines in memory) and still, using JS, solve the large set in only a few milliseconds.

That should probably be a few orders of magnitude higher to realistically make the time constraint remotely difficult.

This was a fun problem to think about, though. Naomi is such a cheater.

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#33

Post by WildUtah »

just2n wrote: post #32
raphaelj wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 4th is definitively the funniest. In addition to the disclaimer, one thing which worried me was the N <= 1000 in the large problem specification. I got a quite elegant fast solution and a so low bound was really surprising.

My solution for 4 was quite efficient in design (and very simple). I was able to be very inefficient in the rough implementation (being lazy and copying arrays, reading the entire input file at once and breaking it up into lines in memory) and still, using JS, solve the large set in only a few milliseconds. That should probably be a few orders of magnitude higher to realistically make the time constraint remotely dif…

Please don't give potentially useful hints until the end of competition

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#34

Post by awda »

pedrosorio wrote: post #28
prezjordan wrote: post #3

Had a lot of fun with this one. Seems much tougher than previous years.

I disagree. Unlike other years, there is no "hard" problem in this round. So far, 2581 users have submitted an answer to C-large (the "hardest" this year). Last year only 547 users submitted an answer to D-large (and only 141 got the correct answer).

This is just quals...

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#35

Post by pedrosorio »

middleclick wrote: post #31
Noxchi wrote: post #14

When someone asks why not outsource the coding to India, point them to this page. The first Indian winner is #236, but if you go to the last page, there are a bunch of them trying. EDIT: I'm gonna make a script to list the best countries that output programmers.

What kind of reasoning is this? How is performing in a programming competition like Code Jam an indication of whether you are a good developer or not? Unless of course if you just want to hate on outsourcing, in which case, go ahead and do it but please don't try to make it sound like you are basing yourself on logic.

Performance at Google Code Jam != Ability as a software developer, for sure. However, being unable to solve a couple of the simple qualification round problems in a language of your choice with no time pressure is a strong negative signal (for reasoning and/or coding skills that are essential to any software developer).

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#37

Post by svas »

Noxchi wrote: post #14

When someone asks why not outsource the coding to India, point them to this page. The first Indian winner is #236, but if you go to the last page, there are a bunch of them trying. EDIT: I'm gonna make a script to list the best countries that output programmers.

Looking above (dllu's comment) a significant factor in success at these competitions is practice. There's a good chance a lot of these folks are just students trying this for kicks. Basically, its really unclear how much self selection goes on with these contestants. Genuinely "trying" here means genuinely practicing; its unlikely that you would fail the first round if you practiced

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#38

Post by pedrosorio »

awda wrote: post #34
pedrosorio wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Unlike other years, there is no "hard" problem in this round. So far, 2581 users have submitted an answer to C-large (the "hardest" this year). Last year only 547 users submitted an answer to D-large (and only 141 got the correct answer).

This is just quals...

"Seems much tougher than previous years."

I am comparing these quals with the quals from last year.

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#39

Post by eggie5 »

just2n wrote: post #8

So all evidence suggests that the 3rd problem is the hardest, by far, which is likely just some number of non-obvious edge cases. Curious why the "hard problem" disclaimer is on the 4th? The 4th also has a 90% solve rate (with 50% more submissions) while the 3rd has 44%.

spend SO MUCH time on the 3rd. I have too much fatigue to even read the 4th now...

Re: Google Code Jam – Contest scoreboard

#40

Post by ebzlo »

eggie5 wrote: post #39
just2n wrote: post #8

So all evidence suggests that the 3rd problem is the hardest, by far, which is likely just some number of non-obvious edge cases. Curious why the "hard problem" disclaimer is on the 4th? The 4th also has a 90% solve rate (with 50% more submissions) while the 3rd has 44%.

spend SO MUCH time on the 3rd. I have too much fatigue to even read the 4th now...

Same thing happened to me, but the fourth was so much more fun to solve than the third.
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