Negationist's blog

By Negationist, history, 6 weeks ago, In English

I feel like there are certain questions which have a specific type of implementation(maybe I am just thinking of implementation tho i feel like this may be different) where, even though you may know exactly what pattern you want to create, finding an implementation that is simple and doesn't was time with potential bugs and corner cases and such is hard. For example, I was just doing the problem: https://codeforces.net/contest/1898/problem/C.

In this problem, even though I found the conditions for a solution and the cycles in my graph that I needed, I struggled to put it together into code and went and looked at jiangly's code for it: https://codeforces.net/contest/1898/submission/233522554.

It was elegant as expected, but it made me realize am I missing this critical skill of sleek implementation that he has for annoying problems. Does any one know what I'm talking about or how to improve at this. Thanks!

  • Vote: I like it
  • +27
  • Vote: I do not like it

»
6 weeks ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -75 Vote: I do not like it

I think that good implementation skill is very close to IQ. Some people can just see great big implementation shortcuts, and they can also somehow type the whole thing out without having to take breaks to recollect their thoughts. It might unfortunately be the case that implementation cannot be improved that much.

  • »
    »
    6 weeks ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    I feel like it’s the exact opposite lol. I feel like implementation is the easiest thing to improve. I’m still not good at it but I can implement tricks I learn from someone else’s implementation very quickly and feel it tangibly, however my problem solving skill can vary more day by day and hour by hour. I just happen to have higher baseline problem solving from math skills

»
6 weeks ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +9 Vote: I do not like it

A tag called implementation may be helpful for you.

  • »
    »
    6 weeks ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    For some reason the problems I struggle to implement aren’t necessarily the ones under that tag though

»
6 weeks ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -11 Vote: I do not like it

Problem type: grid, graph theory, graph coloring, combinatorics. Solution: even-odd bit tricks.

»
5 weeks ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

constructive algorithms & implementation