galen_colin's blog

Starting to screencast
By galen_colin, 4 years ago, In English

Hi everyone! I've gotten a few recommendations to start screencasting/making video solutions, and I was initially reluctant, but I realized it's kinda fun to do it. I've started out by screencasting today's Div. 3 and explaining my solution ideas at the end, arguably a bit awkwardly, but I'll get better as I get more experience with it. There are, of course, other awesome youtubers like SecondThread who do the same thing (and better), but I figured the more resources, the better for everyone.

Anyway, my first video is here. The quality's a bit bad for this one, but I know how to fix it for the future so it's just a one-time thing. In this video, you can see me spending too much time on C and F, watching my rank falling over time, and somehow still placing 14th with no mistakes. Enjoy!

As it's my first video, some of the explanations may be confusing (especially F). If you have questions about them or just feedback in general, feel free to leave comments (preferably on this blog, since there's math mode here). Expect more screencasts for the upcoming Div. 2's, contests on other sites like AtCoder and maybe CodeChef, and probably algorithm tutorials in the future.

edit: jesus christ, 100 subs in less than a day. You guys are insane, and I love you all!

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Comments Comments (19)
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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +53 Vote: I do not like it

Coding in Notepad++? What a madlad.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +44 Vote: I do not like it

    clearly it works :D

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    what's wrong with that? Notepad++ autocompletes and is also lightweight. Notepad++ + MS VS is optimal in my opinion...

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +50 Vote: I do not like it

Welcome to the club! :)

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +27 Vote: I do not like it

    Glad to be here! Of the CP channels I've seen, yours is definitely one of the best, so I hope you keep being awesome!

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

      For those who might be wondering how a contest is, for a noobie.

      Taking the inspiration from my favourite SecondThread here is my screencast :)

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    I guess now, secondthread will finally have to do something about his writing...lol...

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      Hey now, I don't want to put pressure on any other youtubers in terms of quality. Besides, have you seen my writing yet? ;)

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
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        I was hoping....this wouldn't come up!!

        BTW...thanks to both of you for doing such an amazing work.....benefits a lot..... Also secondthread we have company....

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +25 Vote: I do not like it

        No, pressure on quality is good! Competition creates innovation, as they say!

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

That's awesome. This really helps and motivates beginners.

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +31 Vote: I do not like it

I don't understand how the streamers get such fast connections! I've seen many screencasts and the problems seem to appear instantly after the contest starts!
But no matter how fast my connection is , there's always 10+ seconds delay between contest start and the problem A actually appearing on my browser..
What kinda black magic Wifi do you guys have?!!!!!! :(

galen_colin can you please tell the specification of the network you use?

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it -11 Vote: I do not like it

    You don't need wifi for recording. galen_colin uses OBS.

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

      I think you misunderstood my comment.
      I am asking how is their connection to codeforces so fast.
      During contest start my connection to codeforces is always very slow and problems take a lot of time to load.

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

    I guess it's based on location? I don't really know what causes it, but I've definitely had my fair share of slow loading times (and CF errors).

    Don't really know what most of this means, but here's some information (blurred out the mac/ip address because they seem important and also unnecessary to show):

    Spoiler
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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      Yeah, location seems to be the issue. Thanks for replying bdw.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

Suggestions: Face cam, thinking out aloud while solving problems (as much as is comfortable), a writing tablet so that things are easier to draw in the end.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    I'll add a facecam maybe after I hit some milestone in the future. No guarantees on specific numbers for now.

    I like the idea of thinking out loud and maybe even describing whole solutions as I go for unrated contests. The issue with that is that there's almost always some sort of background noise — loud lawnmowers, parents being on meetings (and being loud), etc. For the short time of explaining solutions at the end, it's not much of an issue, but if it's for the whole contest it'll probably be bad. Since my current capacity for video editing is next to none, that may be hard to deal with.

    Writing tablet — good idea, but will probably not happen soon.

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