Hello, cp noob here.
After doing some USACO and Google Kickstart problems, it seems like CodeForces problem sets involve much more mathematical insights. I feel like I often get caught up in these mathematical inquiries and can implement the data structures/algorithms part more easily. Am I right?
I find USACO silver problems to be much more enjoyable/manageable when compared to CodeForces Div 2 A-D. Perhaps it's just that CodeForces is harder in general?
If I just want to learn computer science in its "purest form" (algorithms/data structures), should I continue to do CodeForces? Thanks in advanced.
I think some of the contests are definitely math heavy(those educational rounds) but most of the times they are logical and involve minimal math. By logical I mean ad-hoc, constructive, greedy, sometimes dp...uptil D2(A-C) generally.
Thing with kickstart is that it is held 8 times in a year whereas CF has 6-8 rounds in a month. So kickstart problemset is short and it is only natural to assume that it has to cover everything from easy to advanced, so you might feel that it has all kinds of problems compared to CF rounds. Same with USACO.
" If I just want to learn computer science in its "purest form" (algorithms/data structures) "If you get suggestions of such platforms or problemsets in the comments... just add it to your post as well if you can.What exactly "matematical insight" mean? Normally, CP tasks are not just "well, implement segment tree and sort", they reqiure some ideas, which are often based on mathematics.
"I find USACO silver problems to be much more enjoyable/manageable when compared to CodeForces Div 2 A-D. Perhaps it's just that CodeForces is harder in general?"
USACO problems are also different, especially gold and higher.
"If I just want to learn computer science in its "purest form" (algorithms/data structures)"
If you just want to learn algorithms and data structures, you needn't continue CP at all, just study algorithms :)
No, Codeforces is relatively less frequent in setting up only math problems. In CF, you will usually face at most some number theory and combinatorics (upto div.2 C)
AtCoder is the place where your math skills will be challenged the most, every now and then.
Example: here are 2 problems from AtCoder Beginner Contest:
Compass Walk (Beginner C, Worth 300 points only)
Circle Lattice (Beginner D, worth 400 points only)
UPD: and irrespective of which platform you're using, Japanese and Iranian rounds are almost always math-heavy.
"UPD: and irrespective of which platform you're using, Japanese and Iranian rounds are almost always math-heavy."
Interesting. Don't you think that tasks depend only on authors but not on the nationality?
As an Iranian, I can confirm that Iranian rounds have a higher probability of containing more math than usual rounds.
Imo this is because 40% of the points in INOI's summer camp and 2 out of 3 stages of the qualification rounds don't involve coding at all and are purely combi/NT problems. So I think the average Iranian cp-er is more involved with math and hence tends to set more math-heavy tasks.
My point was that is it not because Iranians are more mathematical, but because current Iranian authors like maths.
More than cf,I find Atcoder better.Atcoder begiiner contests' D E F problems sometimes contain good data structure problems while nowadays in cf,mostly we encounter are logical questions and math heavy,implementaion or greedy problems which most of the times require just a vision which is sometimes based on luck as well.Good data structure questions are found at higher levels,which are not manaegeable to be solved by begiiners like me.
u haven't seen AtCoder I think