Mikasa.Ackerman's blog

Cheating in Codechef contest "Crack me if you can!"
By Mikasa.Ackerman, history, 4 years ago, In English

Hello everyone,

Crack me if you can! was held on Codechef on 05 June, 2020. It was held by a indiviual guy ameya13.

The question set contains 5 questions, out of which one shows wrong output for sample test cases (Tony and the triplets), another one have test cases out of constraints (BT engine) and one question have ambigious statement (Interview Day). I was unable to concentrate to read the last question (Pencryption Password).

There were many high rated participants like Egor, VladProg, alexwice and many other yelow-orange coders of Codechef community. Checkout the standings here.

Now, one noticeable thing is that there are many WA verdicts. (Of course, due wrong test cases). Still, mayur2305 and starkk99 managed to solved them without any wrong submission (also really fast) and got rank one and two respectively. Third rank holder was maoni, and this is his/her first contest using this ID. There are no previous submissions. ID was made for this contest.

Now the thing which bothers me is that organiser ameya13, and rank holders starkk99 and mayur2305 were teammates in many contests. Check here. Moreover starkk99 and organiser ameya13 are from the same college! (starkk99 edited his college information in codechef for this contest.)

I think this much evidence is enough prove that this round was full of cheating. All all this was done for 250 laddus! I request codechef admins and coordinators (vijju123, l_returns) to cancel the laddus for this round.

Any edit suggestions are welcome.

Edit 1: Codechef link of the discussion: here.

Edit 2: Admins decison can be seen here.

  • Vote: I like it
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Comments Comments (35)
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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +109 Vote: I do not like it

shitty statements,shitty problems ,shitty contest :(

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

Auto comment: topic has been updated by Mikasa.Ackerman (previous revision, new revision, compare).

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 5   Vote: I like it +52 Vote: I do not like it

Summing up my recent experience with Codechef:

  1. Last whole year during short contests: (500 nginx error). Don't worry you can participate in the next Codechef Long alongwith some undeserving pieces of crap who will ultimately end up solving more problems than you through their hard team-work.

  2. The Last CookOff — Problem B was meant to be solved using suffix strings, passes through brute force. (EDIT: As l_returns says, the contest admin replaced test files as a precaution. I got the facts right, the rest remains the same.). After the contest I removed my Codechef ID from my LinkedIn profile. They don't have the technical expertise to run a system test with full test cases on all submissions later, because all the money was spent on the marketing team you will read about in the next point.

  3. As their DSA Certification started gaining some importance from recruiters, Codechef hires a marketing team and plans to give away discount for the same in the next Long Challenge. People in my hostel were literally begging for solutions.

  4. Meanwhile Indian population has been increasing at a tremendous rate and more and more beginners are creating accounts on Codechef. Most of them will go down to any level to outshine their opponents. One friend had this motto, "So much depends on your rating, guard it with your life." Dude had been giving long contests from two accounts submitting from one in python and from the other in C++, just to be on the safe side. RIP MOSS.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 4   Vote: I like it -23 Vote: I do not like it

    Get your facts correct.
    "Sorry we had to remove some test cases due to large problem queue"
    This isn't correct. Contest admin replaced test files as a precaution before contest.
    "They don't have the technical expertise to run a system test with full test cases on all submissions later"
    Seriously, you think so ?
    LMAO

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Thank You, for getting my facts right, I edited the comment. Answer to: "Seriously, you think so?" is if they still have the test file why don't they run the tests today? I am waiting... or are the system tests already running?

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
        ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it -20 Vote: I do not like it

        They have already changed the test files. You can check by submitting the brute forces solution in practice section. They can easily rejudge all submissions of a contest if they want to at any point of time. They don't have system testing unlike codeforces. They run solution against whole test data during contest. Now it is their decision to not change results of a contest after it ended.

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it -12 Vote: I do not like it

        Just to be clear, I am not the coordinator of codechef.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    Yeah, their certification and desperate Indian crowd. Can blame neither. We as a country are in that phase where most of its population finally has hopes to improve their economic conditions with education as a means to get a job. It will take some time before we come out of this mindset.

    But the conditions are just unfortunate to say least. I hope the Indian crowd comes out of this delusion that cp ratings that too fake will somehow help them in getting a job. It is waste of effort indeed.

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      People forget that certificates do not matter much in programming. High ratings are just virtual internet points that have no value if you haven't earned them yourself. People just follow anything they listen related to high paying jobs. Even on the development side, the scenario is mostly sad. Most people do not want to create anything cool, any project to shine in the resume is okay, and worse is that they are okay to copy-paste the whole project.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +21 Vote: I do not like it

I guess that's just one of the reason you will find almost all great programmers recommending Codeforces, AtCoder, TopCoder for practice :)

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

    It may be still good for practice, but their rating doesn't have too much credibility.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

Another notorious coincidence :)

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

Wow that's genius, I mean very bad how could they?

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 4   Vote: I like it +92 Vote: I do not like it

Now I finally know how to become red

Spoiler
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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +139 Vote: I do not like it
    Step 0
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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +21 Vote: I do not like it

Honestly, I do not get it why some rating is considered so important. Is it really mandantory to get a good job somewhere?

Here in Europe it would be rather embarrassing to mention such a rating in an application. Maybe you could do that if you're in the top 100 on CF. But even then, it would only be relevant to a few specific, specialized areas.

And I would assume that a company that is looking for employees with these skills will also test these skills themselves.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +34 Vote: I do not like it

    Being in top 10% of some programming competition might be just enough to make your resume stand out. But then it won't help you much during an interview, I guess.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

If anyone noticed they have used the plagiarism avoiding technique of calling redundant function in middle, like solve(), so obviously they cheated.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Auto comment: topic has been updated by Mikasa.Ackerman (previous revision, new revision, compare).

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +78 Vote: I do not like it

I guess you cracked them successfully.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

I was too late to see the blog ,they deleted their account from codechef.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    they deleted their account from codechef.
    Codechef admin mentioned on discuss post, that codechef deleted their account.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it

Real coders don't even take CodeChef seriously. It has fallen to extreme lows with its cheater user base relying on this monstrosity named long challenges. Why do people even use CodeChef. It does not even have good editorials neither does it show you test cases. You are just stuck there.

Stop using it. Even if Modiji says be atmanirbhar, it's okay to use Russian products(i.e. Codeforces) or even Japanese for that matter(i.e. Atcoder), instead of supporting local mediocracy.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it -7 Vote: I do not like it

    I read it in Sheldon's voice!

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -28 Vote: I do not like it

      Ok bing. F.R.I.E.N.D.S is shit btw.

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

        ok shut up now..I will take you to the train store tomorrow if you do..

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

    Long Challenges are nice for practice. It's good to sometimes try harder problems and spend more time on them. But yeah, cheating becomes easier so rating matters even less.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

The point is no matter what you are i.e. a red coder or a grey code. If you can't crack the coding round of companies hiring let's say a 'SE' then that rating means nothing. So the best you can do is be honest to yourself and 'code' to prove yourself not to show off. By showing off, I mean 'unfair means' rating will get you nowhere.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

    You don't need Codeforces to crack coding rounds of companies

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

I believe thee's only so much we can do. I've also noticed some other form cheating on codeforces too where people share code and some random code and comments and include statements to bypass plagiarism (if codeforces runs it). Since in many parts of the world (including India), it has become a mark of achievement to have high rating so much so that people often link rating on CP platforms to job opportunities. There's a clear misuse of such platforms, because of which I lose my morale to compete in good faith just for fun.

PS: I mentioned India because I'm from India and have personally experienced this. Also I know at least 2 accounts which share codes (because of inconsistencies in the template of code used and uselesss code written to avoid similarity checks for submission during contests)

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