First of all, don't get discouraged, ... most (if not all) of those top people make their time and specifically practice and train for this kind of competition. They've seen quite a bit of problem patterns so something like problem C is truly a piece of cake for them ... they probably won't think that much doing it, it's just automatic. Chances are they also went thru what you feel right now years back.
So, practice definitely is up there for you to try ... it is a way to familiarize yourself to types of problems. There are lots of online competitions like this and they have automatic judge/grader at your service. You'll probably feel overwhelmed and depressed during this journey if you want to achieve this fast, ... but it's part of the roller coaster ride. Most of the time, you'll enjoy learning new tricks and each of them will bring more motivation moving forward ... Also, do look into the solutions of those top people, ... they are so elegant it looks like magic. Try to understand how they work and learn that trick, then apply it into some of the problems sharing the same pattern (others can help find those for sure). Best, -Lego On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Satyajit Malugu <malugu.satya...@gmail.com>wrote: > Hmm.. What do you guys think, to be the way that we can improve? > > > On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 1:28 PM, David M. <b4r...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I feel the same you both. I program since I was 11 years old (now I am >> 33), and I know that I am good.But when I compare myself with the people >> that participate here... ufff... I am amazed with the level of all these >> people... >> By example, I 've been seeing the solution to problem C of the first >> people in the scores and it is so elegant and simple... and only in 30 >> minutes!, when I need 3 hours and my code was really ugly (and didn't pass >> the large dataset :( ) ... >> It's amazing... :) >> >> 2009/9/4 Ken Corbin <ke...@peak.org> >> >> >>> I know how you feel. I've been programming for living for 30 years. I >>> have a >>> reputation for being the smartest and brightest programmer people have >>> ever >>> seen. But in this group I'm going to be lucky to finish in the top >>> third. >>> These guys are really really good!!! >>> >>> Your best bet is to keep working on the 2008 practice problems. >>> Techniques >>> you find there are often helpful in solving new problems. >>> >>> >>> On Friday 04 September 2009 08:26:44 Satyajit Malugu wrote: >>> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>> > From: Prolific Coder <prolific.co...@gmail.com> >>> > Date: Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 11:25 AM >>> > Subject: Competency levels >>> > To: google-code@googlegroups.com >>> > >>> > >>> > I do programming for a living and I think I am not bad. I have been in >>> > programming interviews before and could solve 90% of questions. >>> > But this is different, I mean I am reading questions and deciding which >>> one >>> > to solve and TADA, I see solutions being submitted! I felt so bad >>> > and incompetent. Are others that good? Or worse am I that bad? >>> > >>> > But alas, I took minimum of 5 hours to solve the first problem. And I >>> know >>> > that if I don't change my methodology or practise I will not move >>> forward. >>> > I want to give it my best shot and since I have a long weekend try to >>> > practice as much as I can. >>> > >>> > Can you guys share the techniques or the mind set for solving the >>> problems >>> > fastly? >>> > >>> > Some of things I observed so far. >>> > >>> > 1. Don't try new languages or techniques. >>> > 2. Already have your IDE and language,debugger and scaffolding >>> setup. >>> > 3. Its OK to hardcode >>> > 4. cpp is the language of choice ( but I don't agree like many >>> others) >>> > 5. Practice regex's you have to become damn good at them. >>> > 6. Practice, practice and more practice >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> > > > -- > Satyajit > > > > > -- Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "google-codejam" group. To post to this group, send email to google-code@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to google-code+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-code?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
