mailslayer675's blog

Recent Codeforces Contests: More Observation, Less Programming
By mailslayer675, history, 4 months ago, In English

Hey everyone,

It seems like there's been a change towards problems that require more observation skills rather than complex programming.

Observation vs. Programming Challenges In earlier contests, we often had problems that tested our coding skills and knowledge of algorithms. These challenges required us to write efficient code and solve complex problems. However, in recent contests many problems seem to focus more on noticing patterns or clever insights rather than writing intricate code.

Example 956 A,B,D

Conclusion Overall, while I appreciate the creativity in problem design, I also value the balance that earlier contests had between programming challenges and observation-based puzzles

What do you think about this?

(or maybe I am being fuzzy about my poor performance lol)

Happy coding

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4 months ago, # |
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cf users writing more than 50 lines of code without complaining challenge:

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4 months ago, # |
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ig this is done to stop chat gpt usage in contest, most of the times llms are not able to solve constructive or observation based adhoc problems which stops a sudden growth in submission for easier problems so in my view a nice approach to make fair contests

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    4 months ago, # ^ |
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    https://codeforces.net/blog/entry/131231?#comment-1168111

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      4 months ago, # ^ |
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      ChatGPT is inherently inconsistent. It's rare for it to be able to solve a problem above ~1200 difficulty without a lot of precise prompting in my experience. Even with 800-900 rated problems it sometimes struggles if any logic is required beyond implementation. It definitely is much worse at problem solving compared to pure implementation.

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4 months ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +34 Vote: I do not like it

There is nothing wrong with that in my opinion, also I wouldn't really call these problems observation based problems. Programming is just a medium through which you solve problems, the emphasis is on the problem solving aspect.

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    4 months ago, # ^ |
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    yeah, i just wished there were more problems on other topics such as binary search, dp etc

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4 months ago, # |
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Absolutely agree with you bro. Atcoder is best in this regard, they prepare problems on algorithms rather than some absurd observations.

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4 months ago, # |
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why so many downvotes? ;(

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