Paramanantham's blog

Beginners Request to all Codeforcers!!! Please Help!
By Paramanantham, 13 years ago, In English
I am a Beginner in Programming competitions...

Please suggests books, materials etc..for me to prepare well for competitions??

Note : I already started studying CLRS... Please suggest how to study all algorithms and Data Structures??
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13 years ago, # |
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CLRS covers a lot of it, so for a very long time, that is the only book you need for studying algorithms and data structures.

But that isn't the only thing you should do to improve your competition skills. Participating regularly, and practicing off competition is what will take you to higher levels. A strategy that is well recommended is to always solve all the problems you couldn't solve during contest, off line, making sure you get the concepts behind it. If you are unable to solve a particular problem on your own, read others' solution, ask for help, and then finally read the editorial. But at the end, do code the solution yourself.

There is no straight road to mastery here. Mix and match. Practice, read tips and tricks from here and there, and improve. :)
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  • 13 years ago, # ^ |
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    Thank you sir.. Really ur guidance is awesome...Ya I know without practice we cant do anything...I will try to improve myself sir... :)
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13 years ago, # |
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Check "Introduction to Algorithms" by Tomas Cormen, "Programming Challenges" by Skiena and Revilla and "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Programming Contests" by Hitchhiker I suppose
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13 years ago, # |
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1) Do not panic! Do not scream! Do not shout! ;-)

2) You usually need no special knowledge to solve problems A-C in Div2 here, except, sometimes, using built-in or hand-made sorting algorithm (possibly built-in hashed data structures may be convenient too, but it is rarely crucial).

3) So start with trying to improve your powers at these problems on each contest. Try to solve these problems well and try to solve them fast.

4) After each contests meditate over unsolved problems (of both divisions), try to invent solution for them, read editorials and discussions on them.

5) In those discussions and editorials you find a lot of information about necessary algorithms and data structures. Just open google and read info about all you could not understand.

6) After you understand supposed solutions for unsolved problems - just try to implement them.

This is most straightforward and obvious way. You need only google as a provider of extra information - and believe me, it is a powerful source!

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  • 13 years ago, # ^ |
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    Thank you sir... Its a nice strategy... :)
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    • 13 years ago, # ^ |
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      I may be wrong, but it seems not well idea for us all to address each other as "sir", "master", "my lord" etc. I suppose that "friend" or "comrade" is more suitable... ;-)

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