CodeChef has always believed that innovation is the change that unlocks new value. With this, in 2018, CodeChef opened its API for the community to experiment and develop apps that could benefit the community and also enhance the CodeChef platform. We received unprecedented response and it gave us immense joy to see the enthusiasm of our community members!
With time, the initiatives that CodeChef hosts have increased. Our responsibility for providing our community with the best experience and opportunities has also increased. This has resulted in us not being able to provide adequate support for the API. We are getting multiple requests from the community members who want to use the API but we are unable to meet the expectations. Hence, with a heavy heart, we will be discontinuing the API functionality on our platform for an indefinite duration.
We hope to bring it back, once we are confident that we can provide the required support for using the API.
To further understand your expectations from the API, we would request you to fill the following form:
This will also help us to push ourselves to bring the API back to you sooner.
We thank you for your trust in the platform and promise you to always strive for the growth of the programming community.
About the Offer
The CodeChef DSA Certification provides the software industry a benchmark to evaluate and recruit the best programmers out there. More importantly, it provides a level playing ground to every software student and professional to choose a career path that s/he wants to.
CodeChef was essentially created for the programming community as a playground to practice and improve. Hence, with the aim to empower more students to upgrade themselves, we are introducing a special student discount programme that would offer the DSA certification at 20% less.
The aim of this programme is to help more students gain access to the certification programme and get ahead in this competitive world.
Eligibility Criteria
All students who graduate in 2020 and ahead are eligible for this programme.
How to get the Discount?
The offer can be availed in 3 simple steps:
Points to consider
In case of any other queries, please contact ccdsap@codechef.com with the subject line: CodeChef DSA Student Programme.
You can read more about the Certification here: www.codechef.com/certification
Welcome to the live blog for the ACM ICPC Amritapuri Regional 2019-20. The contest started at 10:20 am IST.
11:05: Minimum Spanking Tree (Rank 2) gets WA on PRMPRT, the 3rd easiest problem of the set. Cogito Ergo Error (Rank 1) have 1 penalty on Convolution. the 2nd easiest problem of the set.
11:20: With a total of 365 submissions made we complete one hour into the contest. Team Cogito Ergo Error solve PRMPRT, their 5th problem. Here is what the ranklist currently looks like
11:40: Currently, there are 4 Teams with 5 correct submissions. The race to the top spot is becoming more interesting.
11:50: An hour and a half have passed, and teams are engrossed coding and testing their code. Team Cogito Ergo Error takes the lead, followed by PersistentTriers, and Fast_Code_Transform. 24 teams have solved at least 3 problems correctly.
12:05: 8 teams have 5 correct solutions on their plates. The total number of submissions has reached 502, as the top teams try to solve their 6th problem in the set.
12:15: We finally have a correct submission for the sixth distinct problem. There are 11 teams with 5 correct submissions now! Which team will solve their 6th problem first and take over the ranklist?
12:42: Finally, team I_See_AC from IIT Guwahati solves their 6th problem! and take the top spot on the ranklist. 12 other teams are still at 5 problems.
13:05: Persistent Triers gets a TLE on P1, and Minimum Spanking Tree has 6 penalties on P1, while no submissions have been made by team Cogito Ergo Error in the last 1hr 45 mins.
13:15: Team Cogito Ergo Error solve their 6th problem and the 7th distinct problem of the set. They take the second position after team I_See_AC while 19 other teams are still at 5 correct submissions.
13:20: We enter the fourth hour of the contest with a total of 745 submissions. 3 problems are yet to receive a successful submission while two problems have only one correct submission each.
13:35: Cogito Ergo Error solves their 7th distinct problem making their hold on the first spot even harder. Meanwhile, Fast_Code_Transform solves its 6th problem climbing up to the 2nd position.
13:40: Team tesla_protocol solve their 6th problem too and move up to Rank 4, the contest is becoming interesting as 3 teams are on 6 problems now.
14:00: Team Hold right there Sparky!! solve their sixth problem. There are 4 teams at 6 Problems and Cogito Ergo Error with 7 problems is at the top of the ranklist currently.
14:10: 10 minutes left until the ranklist freezes, 2 problems are yet to receive any successful submissions. Meanwhile, the top 3 teams are:
14:15: Right before the ranklist freezes team PersistentTriers solves their sixth problem too and make way to the 2nd spot with lesser penalty. PersistentTriers from Nirma University is the only team among the top 40 teams with 0 penalties!
14:20: Further increasing the mystery of this adrenaline packed contest the ranklist has frozen. The teams have a complete hour in hand. These are the current standings:
15:20: 10 problems, 101 teams and 5 hours which are finally up. The teams did all that they could and now they wait until we announce the winners of ICPC Asia Kanpur Regional Contest. Stay tuned!
The wait is finally over as we reveal the names of the winning teams of coders at the ICPC Asia Kanpur Regionals.
Team CodeChef thanks everyone who joined us for this exciting series of updates. We congratulate the winning teams and all the participants. And as we say Keep Coding!
With just 2 days for a new decade to start, we have a small New Year present for you. CodeChef DSA Certification will be available at flat 20% discounted rates till the 1st of January 2020.
An opportunity to conclude the year on a high note. And an even greater way of beginning the new year with a resolution to chart a path to the career of your choice. So, equip yourself with our Certification and add the CodeChef edge to your resume.
Visit here to know more about the examination and Register.
Welcome to the live blog for the ACM ICPC Amritapuri Regional 2019-20. The contest is expected to begin by 9:45 am IST.
This contest is being conducted at 3 different sites – Amritapuri, Coimbatore and Bangalore.
349 teams are battling it out today for the top spot and the competition is intense.
9:45am: The contest has begun. There are 12 problems in the contest.
9:50am: 5 minutes into the contest, we have 9 teams who have solved the first problem!
9:55am: We now have 3 distinct problems solved in the contest with no team having solved more than 1 problem.
AlgoJazz from IIIT Delhi got the first correct submission of the contest.
10:00am: pi=e=3 from BITS Hyderabad are leading the ranklist with 2 problems solved, followed by Min Cut Max Park from Shiv Nadar University.
10:05am: pi=e=3 solve their 3rd problem and continue to lead the ranklist. Team mastercode from IIT Tirupati follow at Rank 2.
10:10am: 11 teams have now solved 3 problems.
Top 3 teams currently:
1. pi=e=3 (BITS Hyderabad)
2. struct de self (IIT Kanpur)
3. AlgoJazz (IIIT Delhi)
10:13am: Boom_Shaka_Laka (IIT Patna) solve the 4th distinct problem of the contest!
23 teams have now solved 3 problems.
10:20am: 45 teams have now solved 3 problems.
10:27am: AlwaysReadyToOverkill (IIT Delhi) are the first team to solve 4 problems and they are at the top of the ranklist now!
10:31am: pi=e=3 solve their 4th problem and are back at Rank #1.
7 teams have solved 4 problems so far.
10:36am: Laila (IIT Roorkee) solve the 5th distinct problem of the contest (their 4th problem). If they quickly solve the 4th easiest problem in the set, they can move up to Rank #1.
10:46am: Laila solve their 5th problem!
10:47am: AlwaysReadyToOverkill solve their 5th problem to move to Rank #1, closely followed by Laila, 17 minutes behind on time penalty.
10:49am: 7 distinct problems are now solved in the contest.
12:13pm: 9 teams have now solved 6 problems. Laila (IIT Roorkee) leads the ranklist.
8 distinct problems have been solved in the contest so far.
12:15pm: AlwaysReadyToOverkill (IIT Delhi) solve their 7th problem to move back to Rank #1.
1:15pm: AlwaysReadyToOverkill (IIT Delhi) solve their 8th problem and extend their lead over Laila.
1 hour and 30 minutes remain in the contest. Who do you think will emerge as the top team?
The ranklist will freeze in 30 minutes.
1:30pm: With 15 minutes left for the ranklist to freeze, here’s what the standings look like:
1. AlwaysReadyToOverkill (IIT Delhi)
2. Laila (IIT Roorkee)
3. BhagwanBharose (IIT Bombay)
4. Persistent Creeps (IIT Varanasi)
5. I_See_AC (IIT Guwahati)
1:32pm: BhagwanBharose (IIT Bombay) solve their 8th problem to move up to Rank 2. However, they have 7 penalties on one of the problems!
With the end of the decade drawing closer, we at CodeChef thought of bringing yet another exciting way to engage and reward our community. The Chef’s Christmas Special is a contest for our audiences to stretch their creative muscles. Beginning from the 25th of December, you will be prompted to respond to a series of interactive posts on our Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram handles.
You have to respond by following the instructions which accompany each post. Each correct response will fetch you a 5% discount. Finally, on the last day, you will be provided with a discount code depending on the number of correct responses which you can then use to register for CodeChef DSA Certification.
An opportunity to conclude the year on a high note. And an even greater way of beginning the new year with a resolution to chart a path to the career of your choice. So, equip yourself with our Certification and add the CodeChef edge to your resume.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
This month at CodeChef began with the Long Challenge, from the 6th to the 16th of December. The contest was exciting with submissions from coders pouring in from all over the globe. Several coders stood above the competition in the ten-day long coding extravaganza. With noticeable gains made by 65 participating coders who climbed up from Div 2 to 1.
Beginning with Div 1: the 5-star romawhite from Ukraine finished as the leader in the rank list. romawhite drastically improved from rank 599 in November Long Challenge to the number one spot this month. Close behind romawhite, was akee, a school student from China with 799.59, and his fabulous performance bumped his Rating up by 142 points. The contest starred excellent performances from China and India in Div 1, with 13 coders from China and 7 from India landing in the Top 30.
The others who managed to finish in the Top 5 were zhouyuyang, ACRush, and xuanyiming ranking 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The highest rank achieved by an Indian Programmer in Div 1 was 12 by cskanani, who achieved a raise in his rating of 164 points.
In Div 2, the contest was fierce with 3-star coder khalid545 from Morocco acquiring the first position, and also jumping up to Div-1 consequently. Stealing the 2nd spot in Div 2 was rohit2000 from India. rohit2000, a school student, added 171 points to his Rating. Other participants who made the Top 5 cut in Div 2 were sakarak, pulak15, and sarthak007sg60, occupying the 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions, sequentially.
In Div 1, 11 out of the Top 30 were school students. However, the number dwindled to just two in Div 2 within the same bracket. Meanwhile, sanae acquiring 8th rank and minamoto ranking 27 from Div 1, were some of the best female programmers in the contest.
Overall, 65 participants improved from Div 2 to Div 1, including 4 school students, while 24 coders slid to Div 2 from Div 1.
Arriving at the problems finally: the problem to get the first overall successful submission in the contest was PLMU by sharepo in Div 2. The submission was made 15 minutes into the contest. The problem to be cracked last was TESTGEN, solved by Tomsyd in Div 2 on the second day, while in Div 1, STICNOT was the last problem to be solved by dontjudgeme on the first day.
The Long Challenge came to a close on the 16th of December, with the total number of submissions peaking at 213,696 from 15,301 distinct users. 14,507 CodeChef users made at least one correct submission in the duration of the contest. We congratulate all the users who put in their effort and time. Further, we thank the December Long Challenge problem setting panel:
Tester: Ildar Gainullin (gainullinildar)
Editorialist: Alexander Kulkov (melfice)
Statement Verifier: Jakub Safin (xellos0)
Translators:
Finally, our admin Alexey Zayakin (alex_2oo8) whose help ensured that we were able to pull the contest off effortlessly.
Let us know your thoughts and opinions on the December Long Challenge in the comments below. Plus, don’t forget to practice. We have a list of exciting contests coming up over the month. Until next time, keep coding!
Welcome to our coverage of the 2nd Indian regional this year, being held in Gwalior and Pune. The contest shall begin shortly.
10:30: The contest will begin at 10:35 am IST
We have 128 teams participating today, each with 3 members as per ACM ICPC rules.
10:35: The contest has begun. We have 12 problems today.
We have yet another “Yet Another X” problem this contest titled “Yet Another Balanced Parenthesis Problem”.
10:41: We have our first submission of the contest 6 minutes in, but WA 
10:42: The first correct submission of the contest is here from Team IC3.
10:43: 3 teams now have 1 AC submission.
10:48: 40 teams have solved the easiest problem of the contest now.
10:57:
Cogito Ergo Error (IIITD) makes their 2nd correct submission and they are now at Rank 1!
11:00: We have submissions pouring in and within quick succession, 2 more different problems have been solved. We now have 4 distinct problems solved.
FacelessMen2.0 (IITK) is just above Cogito Ergo Error (IIITD) in the ranklist on the basis of time penalty.
10:57: 35 mins into the contest, we have 6 distinct problems solved.
11:20: IIT Bombay is only 19 seconds behind IIIT Delhi in terms of time penalty and both teams have 2 problems solved.
11:27: cleansweep_789 is the first school team to solve a problem! They now have 2 problems solved. No other school team has solved a problem yet.
11:28: Team Cogito Ergo Error (IIIT Delhi) solve their 4th problem and are now at Rank 1.
11:32: FacelessMen2.0 (IIT Kanpur) solve their 4th problem as well and take over the lead from IIITD. They have 12 minutes ahead in time penalty.
11:32: fenmentTree (IIT Indore) is the 3rd team to solve 4 problems. They are now at Rank 3.
11:51: FacelessMen2.0 AC two problems within 8 minutes and are now up to 6 solved problems.
12:01: IIITD and IIT Indore both solve 1 more problem and both now have 5 problems solved. IIITD stands at rank 2 and IIT Indore at Rank 3.
12:06: FacelessMen2.0 solve their 7th problem and extend their lead.
12:30: Cogito Ergo Error (IIITD) are at 2nd place with 6 problems. fenmentTree (IIT Indore) at rank 3 and AlwaysReadyToOverkill (IIT Delhi) at rank 4 follow with 6 problems but greater time penalty.
12:30: Last 10 minutes have been quite exciting as all teams at Rank 2, 3, 4 and 5 have solved 1 problem each and are now at 7 problems each.
12:45: FacelessMen2.0 solve their 8th problem!
12:51: 4 problems remain unsolved so far.
13:28: AlwaysReadyToOverkill (IIT Delhi) solve their 8th problem and move up to Rank 2 with 2 hours remaining in the contest!
Hello everyone!
We are now an hour into the contest. I’ll be posting live updates in this blog.
There are 12 problems, and five distinct problems have been solved. The public ranklist is available here:
https://www.codechef.com/public/rankings/ICPCKH19
FacelessMen2.0 from IIT Kanpur and Laila from IIT Roorkee are on the top two positions with a penalty difference of a mere 10 minutes. Both have solved 5 problems each and these are the only distinct problems that have been solved till now.
1:10 : Team BhagwanBharose from IIT Bombay moves to 2nd rank by solving the problem AWKMINI. They have 0 penalties so far.
1:20 : Team HighHopes solve the 6th distinct problem, ANAJOBS (P12 in the public ranklist). They’re on the 4th rank now. The problem reduces to the following interesting problem:
Given n items each having volume 1 or 2, what is the minimum number of boxes each of volume V that the items can be put into?
1:30 : Team FacelessMen2.0 extends their lead by solving their 6th and the 7th distinct problem, RECARR ( P6 in the public ranklist). The problem is an interactive problem:
Find a hidden binary array of size 10^5 by asking<= 9 * 10^4 subarray sum queries.
1:45 : FacelessMen2.0 further extends their lead by solving ANAJOBS. They now have 2 more problems solved than any other team!!
2:00 : Teams Laila, HighHopes and CompilationTerror solve their 6th problems. They are now 2nd, 3rd, 4th on the ranklist respectively
2:10 Team BhagwanBharose solves ANAJOBS too and moves to the 3rd rank.
Team Laila solves their 7th and overall 8th distinct problem, GRAPHCON(P3). FacelessMen2.0 gets a WA verdict on the same problem. They seem to have the correct solution but wrong output format.
2:25 FacelessMen2.0 solves GRAPHCON too by fixing the output format. Here’s the problem:
Of all 3-regular graphs with exactly k bridges and <= 10^5 vertices, print a graph from which one has to remove the minimum number of edges to make it bipartite.
2:35 BALLSUM (P5) is the 9th distinct problem solved. It has been solved by team DU_SwampFire from University Of Dhaka
2:55 Team CompilationTerror solves RECARR to move to 3rd.
FacelessMen2.0 solve their 9th and the 10th distinct problem of the set VARMIN (P4):
Given n sets, select an element from each set such that the variance of the chosen elements is minimized.
3:15 FacelessMen2.0 and Laila both solve BALLSUM one after the other.
3:30 BhagwanBharose solves VARMIN. They have 8 problems now and are on 3rd rank
3:45 Laila solves RECARR and VARMIN back to back, moves to 10 problems just before ranklist freezing!
4:00 The ranklist has frozen.
FacelessMen2.0
Computer Programming is an avenue which until very recently has remained largely unexplored in India at the school level. Although it’s easy to find computer departments in almost every school, yet, to find students with a comprehensive understanding of algorithms and coding is extremely rare.
One instance where a student got early exposure is the story of Sidhant Bansal, or sidhant007 (full marks for stylized username) as he’s known on the pages of CodeChef. Like his counterparts with more exposure in Russia or China, and unlike so many Indians, Sidhant received early exposure to the field of competitive programming and began his journey somewhere in 8th grade.
Under the wings of a Mentor
Fortunately for him, Sidhant had access to something that most lack- a mentor. A senior, Yash, at his school agreed to take him under his wing, provided Sidhant first solves the initial 25 questions of Project Euler. Sidhant recalls the experience as a “fun exercise” and evidently enough, there was no looking behind for him after that.
Sidhant recounts how after some time Yash helped him to move onto more proper judges such as CodeChef, Codeforces, and WCIPEG. “In 9th grade, I took my first attempt at Zonal Informatics Olympiad (ZIO) and was lucky enough to be able to clear it,” Sidhant reveals. Unfortunately, though, he couldn’t make it past the next level, the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics (INOI). But quite remarkably, he didn’t let this experience dampen his passion for Competitive Programming, and persistently kept at it throughout his 10th grade.
The sheer fun of problem-solving is what drove Sidhant during this stage and kept him persistently at competitive programming. Not to mention, right around this time he found a group of friends in his school, DPS Dwarka, who matched him in enthusiasm and determination to crack INOI. So, together they prepped for the exam, and incidentally, all of them were able to clear it.
At the Training Camp
And then came the IOI-Training Camp. In some sense, his experience at the camp, which he describes as “revelatory” and “deeply humbling”, is what largely shaped his future endeavors/forays in competitive programming. “You are surrounded by some of the most passionate students in algorithms and mathematics in IOI-TC. I think the Training Camp played a very important role in inspiring me and [it helped me to] see people do great things over there.”
Trying to climb through the ranks of IOI-TC in the next two years was arguably the hardest period for Sidhant. His break came, and that too, at his last possible go, in the 12th grade. He managed to finish in the top 4, and so secured a ticket to IOI. Before this, even though he qualified for the Training Camp two times, he never managed to secure a top 4 rank. He goes on to stress on one’s need to have a good amount of self-confidence no matter how prepared or unprepared one is.
Sidhant, time and again, mentions encountering some truly gifted students along the way that greatly influenced his own personal trajectory. Be it fellow competitive programming enthusiasts at school, or the brilliant students he met at IOI-TC, these encounters widened his worldview and vastly contributed to his learning as an individual.
IOI at Last
Unsurprisingly so then, that it was at IOI finally that he realized that: “Although, competitive programming stands for doing programming as a sport and competitively but I finally understood that it is not all about the competition. It is also about appreciating what others have achieved in terms of skills through immense hard work, intellect and passion.”
And subsequently, Sidhant walked away from the IOI experience, a bronze medal around his neck, but more importantly, as a more humble and respectful person. It was being at the global stage, amidst the best programmers in the world, that made him realise the need for self improvement, and hard work that comes along with it.
Beginning to prepare under a senior in school, to landing a medal at IOI, there is indeed a lot to learn from the transformative journey Sidhant underwent. India’s journey at IOI includes only one gold medal which we won in 2014. We at CodeChef want this number to increase by enabling every school student who is a programming enthusiast to become a part of ICO. We are doing this by enabling school students who are enthusiastic about computer programming to participate in ICO. We invite you to help us in this initiative by spreading awareness among students, their parents and teachers around you.
Cheers,
The Chef
