akulsareen's blog

Topcoder Editorials
By akulsareen, history, 10 years ago, In English

I was trying to find out the solution for a couple of problems from the past couple of SRM's but instead discovered that there are no editorials for any SRM/TCO round after TCO round 1C.

Could the people responsible for publishing editorials please release the editorials for recent rounds.

Also, I am curious as to what model Topcoder follows. On Codeforces the author of a particular round also provides an editorial. However, on Topcoder there seems to be a separate set of people who write all the editorials, which can easily cause a backlog. If that is the case may I suggest switching over to the Codeforces model of having a rounds author also write the editorials for that particular round. But all this is just me guessing stuff.

At the end of the day I would really like to see the editorials for the recent rounds.

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10 years ago, # |
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Whether the problem setter writes editorials or someone else, i think a good way is to set a deadline for writing the editorial well before the contest, a model which i think codechef also follows

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10 years ago, # |
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I suggest switching over to the Codeforces model of having a rounds author also write the editorials

You're not the first person to suggest this, but do you think giving the round authors more work will help their schedule? Because I don't.

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    10 years ago, # ^ |
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    I am open to any model. If the current one can be made to work I am happy with that too. The only reason I suggested the Codeforces way of doing things is because it seems to be working well.

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      10 years ago, # ^ |
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      I think codeforces system is working well mainly due to its social/ community aspect. Topcoder has all other better incentives for problem writers and editorialists, e.g. they pay better, less strict deadlines etc. But I think biggest letdown is decreasing discussion on forums due to which one feels that his work as an editorialist is not appreciated or useful.

      Also, many good writers of topcoder are not good at English and will be there unwilling to put efforts to write an editorial. Also editorial writing takes efforts which is why many authors will refrain from it.

      Currently, I think only person who writes topcoder editorial is Vexorian. Having a larger pool of people for editorial writing would be a good idea.

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        10 years ago, # ^ |
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        Correct me if I'm wrong. Last time I checked, ffao also writes TC editorials ?

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10 years ago, # |
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"The fall of TopCoder pt. 2"

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10 years ago, # |
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There are WIP editorials for other rounds, they are just not visible by default. You can see some of them by clicking on Browse Space link on the top right. Here are some links:

http://apps.topcoder.com/wiki/display/tc/SRM+660 http://apps.topcoder.com/wiki/display/tc/SRM+661

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