The day of January Lunchtime 2014 had too much going on for it. It was the 65th Republic Day of India, it was Australia Day down under, and in the world of sports, it was the final of year’s first grand slam, the Australian Open 2014. But we were looking forward to the January Lunchtime, the most. Ok, we will be honest we were excited about the whole day. And the first thing on our agenda was to have a great first Lunchtime of the year. In our recent contests, we already have seen the glimpses of the brilliance of school students and it was now turn to witness that in the contest specifically designed for them.
The audacious performances of our school user have started getting them the due attention of the programming fraternity. And the performances continued in the January Lunchtime as well. The problem set from Roman Furko, while took the participants out of their comfort zone and into the unexplored territory. However, everyone seemed to have a good time, as we received the first accepted submission for the contest in the second minute of the contest. Yes, inside two minutes we had our first submission, from acmonster, who recently was seen atop the December Cook-Off 2013’s rank tables. His presence in the contest ensured tough competition for the fellow participants, but it seemed they did not mind it. His compatriot huzecong was not at all perturbed with his presence and took his own sweet time to book his place on the rank table. The names populating the rank table, while were not all new, there were some who were making their debut at the top. And we were happy to have them.
It was the eighth edition of our Lunchtime programming series, and the number of participants who succeeded in cracking all the problems was highest this time around. The tester and the Russian translation for the problem set Sergey Kulik, along with the editorialist Praveen Reddy Vaka were both excited to see it. As the contest progressed, the number of submissions on different problems started growing. The number of submissions on Chef and Shop was more than that on any other problems. However, all the problems were equally enjoyed by the participants and the final stats for the contest establishes that fact. Here are they for you:
Somewhere in those numbers are our top ten performers for the January Lunchtime 2014. So, let us meet them:
Congratulations to all the participants for their performance in the contest.
The January Challenge 2014 turned out to be yet another fruitful contest in terms of participation and seeing new names on the rank tables. And that clearly is a good sign for the contests to come in the future.
With that hope in mind, we conclude the January Lunchtime 2014; we hope you enjoyed the contest and the day of 26 January 2014 as much as we did. It was a tad disappointing for the Nadal fans, but then, we got a new Champion. And it is always good for a contest that the names in the rank table keeps changing. So, to help you sharpen your chances atop the rank tables, go check them the editorials for the contest here. They will help you get over your doubts; if you have any and will help, you evolve as a programmer.
That will be all from us for now, if you have any doubts, suggestions or feedback, you can always send them our ways. We would love to hear from you all, what you want from the contests.
See you all that the February Challenge 2014!
Regards,
Rudreshwar
Team CodeChef
Nothing compares to the elation of participating in a short programming contest, as far as the programmers are concerned. While, the long challenge brings opportunities to learn and execute new things, the short contest gets the adrenaline rushing for the programmers. This is why when it comes to our short contests; we are a tad more inspirit than the normal days. The January Cook-Off 2014, was just one of those days.
After the splendid opening for the year with the January Challenge 2014, we were optimistic for the first Cook-Off for the year. The luscious problem set for the contest was cooked by Abdullah Al Mahmud, aka satej, with his huge experience of problem setting and training students for prominent competitive programming contests. It meant that the problem set this time around is not going to be a cozy walkthrough for the participants. And that turned true when the curtains were lifted off the problem set at the contest kick-off. It also meant that the testing of the problems would require some serious work, and Gerald Agapov delivered just that and more, by testing the problems to perfection and translating them to Russian. To complete the decorum for the contest we needed elaborate editorials for the problem set and Praveen Reddy Vaka was ready with them. All that, together with the Mandarin translations of the problem set from Minako Kojima, made the January Cook-Off 2014 ready to be feasted upon.
The Chef and the Cake I was the first problem to be cracked, and got much more all through the contest. While everyone was enjoying the cake, some tried their hands in the Subtraction Game, but not many enjoyed it. Although, that did not stopped anyone taking part in it, and we saw many submissions on it throughout the contest. The story of Interrogating Gangsters is no different and not many were able to make the gangsters talk. Then, neither was batman. If you thought that those problems gave a hard time to the participants, then let us tell you that you are wrong. The real test for the participants was getting past the, reaching to Chef and Cakes II, and cracking it. If truth were told, at times we even thought that the two said problems would go unsolved. However, we realized that we have ACRush taking part in the contest and then it was just a matter of time before we have all our problems cracked.
ACRush, might have cracked all the problems, but even for him it was not a smooth walkthrough in the corridors of January Cook-Off. After cracking the first problem, ACRush had some doubt with the flow implementation for Chef and Cakes II. He directed his concern to us and after consulting with the problem-setting panel, the solutions for the problem was rejudged after the test cases were modified. The contest was extended twice by 30 mins and 15 mins respectively due to the same reason. However, in the end it turned out that, there was no need of that, and it was all just confusion. Our problem setters felt that many of the users knew the solution for cake2, but because of the lengthy implementation, many of them did not try. Overall, with a testing problem set, a slight confusion resulting in problem extension, and a brilliant competition between the participants completed the January Cook-Off 2014.
Now, let us have a look at the rank tables:
Firstly, the non-Indian top ten:
Now the Indian top 5:
Now, the final stats for the contest:
Congratulation to you all for your wonderful performance in the contest.
The January Cook-Off presented some real testing problems to its participants and we hope you all enjoyed it to the fullest. If you missed the contest, you still can try your hands on the problem set in the practice section here. And to help you with those problems we have the elaborate editorials, on how to crack each problem, ready with us here. Go play with the problems and sharpen your skills for the coming contests.
That is all from our side; do send us your thoughts on the contest, the problems, or just the overall experience of the contest feedback@codechef.com. We love hearing from you people.
With warmth and love!
Goodbye,
Rudreshwar
Team CodeChef
Amid the flying sheets of New Year resolutions it was a tad tough to focus entirely on putting up the contest, so, instead of putting those resolution sheets into the recycle bin a week later, we did it on the first Friday of the year itself. Thus began, 2014. Happy New Year everyone.
The first challenge for the year 2014 came from the proficient panel of problem setters including David Stolp, Kaushik Iska, Konstantin Sokol, Mugurel Ionut Andreica, Nikhil Garg, Roman Rubanenko, Sergey Nagin, Tuan Anh, and Vivek Hamirwasia. With such capable hands drafting the problem set, we were assured of a great start to the year, and our testing panel comprising Gerald Agapov and Mahbub provided us an extra cushion to relax. The editorials for the ten testing problems of the contest came from Shangjingbo, which was just a cherry atop the cake. The flavors of Mandarin and Russian to the contest came from Minako Kojima and Sergey kulik. With that star-studded problem-setting panel, we were all set to kick off the opening long challenge of the year.
In all our contests there are participants who want to do well, and then there are participants who wants to write their names all over it. ACRush and Gennady, falls in the second category. Now, there have been instances when their preeminence was challenged, but the number of those instances is yet way far from getting anyone’s attention. However, with every passing contest we are seeing individuals that are adept enough to dethrone the two aforementioned mighties. And the January Challenge 2014 was no different.
This time the name that caught our attention was Alexey Zayakin, who hails from Riga Secondary School 89, Latvia. Still in his school days, Alexey has already made his mark on the big stage with his consistent performance in our monthly challenges. Along with Alexey, Dong Honghua of Shaoxing No.1 High School Zhejiang was another name from our emerging crop of programmers who made it big in the January Challenge. Even on the home front, we had some promising new names, and some other consistent ones. Names like Jitendra S Chauhan, Antarpreet Singh, kancha, were the new shining ones along with the rather familiar names including Saurabh Vats, Deepankar Anil Kumar, Gaurav Tiwari and many others. The scoreboard featuring names of emerging champions amid the established ones indicates towards good things to come in future and that is what the stats for the contest suggests as well. Check them yourself:
We hope that all those figures will go up as we progress into the year. And with that will get to meet many potential champions. For now, let us meet the champions of the January Challenge.
Firstly, the non-Indian top 10:
And now the Indian top 20:
Congratulations to all the stars of the first rank table of 2014. Now, let us move on to our special achievers category.
Firstly, the non-Indian users with highest score for challenge problem apart from our winners:
Now, the Indian users;
Finally, the little geniuses from Schools who made it big in the January Challenge 2014:
The non-Indian top 5:
The Indian top 5:
Congratulations to all the winners.
The January Challenge 2014, while brought us many new shining names, it also marked homecoming for many of our old champions like scli, which gives us one more reason to look forward to the coming contests. We hope that the ripple that the January Challenge created will go on and bring us many events that are more memorable.
With that, we wind up the proceedings of the January Challenge. Do share with us your thoughts and feedback on the contest, along with the suggestions for the future contest. Your thoughts empower us to do well for you all.
Till next time, have fun.
Grace and Peace.
Rudreshwar
Team CodeChef
We have been witnessing the imminence of a new crop of programmers through our contests. We recently saw acmonster of Nanjing Foreign Language School, Jiangsu emerging triumphant in the December Cook-Off 2013. There has been several instances like that where the brilliance of our young programmers from school have mesmerized us all. User handles like sy2006, zeulb, meteora, mbrc, and many alike them have started carving their place among the big players. We get to see many such emerging geniuses in our Lunchtime battleground. And December Lunchtime 2013, provided us yet another opportunity.
With December Lunchtime set on the final Sunday of the year 2013, we were all geared up to pull curtains on 2013, on a high (no pun intended). And thanks to all our little masters, we got just what we wanted. Making his debut in the Lunchtime programming series, our problem setter Constantine Sokol delivered a problem set, which not only tested the knack of the participants, but also gave them enough space to play. Welcome aboard Constantine. And it was apparent with the flow of submissions. The multitasker Roman Rubanenko, who was once again juggling the roles of Russian Translator and tester, handled the testing for the problems. And we must say, he seems good at it. Another debutant in our December Lunchtime was the editorialist Praveen Vaka, so a warm Welcome to him as well. Finally, the Mandarin translator Minako Kojima, completing our panel of problem setters.
The nearing year-end already had everybody geared up for celebrations, and bid adieu 2013 in style. And it became apparent right from the beginning of the contest. We are saying that because of the first 50 submissions we received, 46 were accepted ones. The participants wore their party hats and were ready to rock the final Lunchtime of the year. Problems MIKE1 and MIKE2 were turning out to be the favorites among the participants as the submission flow towards them were a tad on the higher size. It also meant more and more users were able to crack them, which is superb for the contest as it motivates everybody taking part in it. While participants were having fun cracking the MIKE duo, the SuperFunction and Perfect Subarrays were putting them through some tough tests. And it was utterly pleasing to see that many of you enjoyed that test while acing it. That is what the overall numbers for the contest reflects. Here are they for you:
To have such numbers in the final Lunchtime of the year, gives a lot of hope and inducement for the coming year. That is what we shall be taking in with us as we enter 2014. Now, let us introduce you to the top ten performers of the December Lunchtime 2013.
Our sincere congratulation to everyone on their performance in the December Lunchtime. We are sure it is only going to get better for you all in the coming year.
On that note, we will wind up the tale of the December Lunchtime 2013. We hope you all had a fruitful 2013 and that 2014 will be even better for you in all your endeavors. We know it is a bit too late to say it, but better late than never.
So, A Very Happy New Year everybody!
Apologies for all the delay in the blog posts, we hope to not repeat the same from next year onwards. But then, we are humans. And you know how they are. So, keeping all that behind lets come together to make 2014 the year of young programmers from school. If you have any suggestion, feedback, or a new year greeting that you are yet to dispatch, send them all to us at feedback@codechef.com.
We hope you had fun in the recently concluded January Challenge 2014. If you had any trouble cracking, the problems you can go through the editorials for them here. With that we move towards the January Cook-Off 2014 in anticipation of meeting you all there. We hope you all are ready for it.
Till next time, adios from everyone here at CodeChef
See you at the contests.
Regards,
Rudreshwar,
Team CodeChef
Quick thinking and quicker implementation, they say, are the virtue of great programmers. It also accounts for their success in various coding competitions. Especially, in the shorter format, like our Cook-Offs. Look at our short contest rank table, and you will know what we are talking about. You will find names that are admired globally in the competitive programming fraternity. Participate in our Cook-Offs and you will experience the sheer brilliance of these brilliant individuals. This is why when a new name tops the rank table in a short contest it forthwith catches our attention. That is what exactly happened in our December Cook-Off 2013.
Like every Cook-Off, we were set for a fiery contest on yet another second last Sunday of the month, waiting eagerly for you all to munch on the problems of the contest. Tasnim Imran Sunny tested the problems crafted by Gerald Agapov, aptly to make them suitable for the contest. The desert for the contest in the editorials for the problems was penned down by shangjingdo. The spices for the contest in the form of Russian and Mandarin translation came from Sergey Nagin and Minako Kojima.
With everything in place, the contest began started bang on time. The contest, after the quiet first five minutes, got its first submission, which also was the first accepted submission of the contest. Now, we have had first submission as the accepted one earlier as well, but this one was a special one. That is because it came from one of our little geniuses, acmonster. The username might have a monster in it, but this little genius hails from Nanjing Foreign Language School, Jiangsu Nanjing. To get first accepted submission from a school student is not something we call “expected,” and is something that came to us as a pleasing gift from the going year. It gave us joy and hope for the coming year. Things got even sweeter once the contest came to end, as acmonster, evolved as the winner for the last Cook-Off of 2013.
In a contest, featuring seasoned campaigners like uwi, mikhailOK and many others to have a winner from a school was just apt end to the year, which were inception of our CodeChef For Schools initiative and the birth of a dedicated programming series for school students in CodeChef Lunchtime. And we hope that the emergence of school students among the top programmers across the globe will continue in the coming year as well. So, in anticipation to see many of our school geniuses make mark in the big league, let’s take you through the rank table of the final Cook-Off of 2013.
Let us start with the global top 10:
Now, the Indian top 5:
Let us have a look at the total stats of the contest:
We have thoroughly enjoyed the amazing competition between the seasoned campaigners and the new kids on the block in December Cook-Off 2013 and we hope you did too. This means we have a lot to look forward to and we hope you all will give many more.
With that, we now only have the December Lunchtime 2013 to cover up for you, and we shall be doing that rather soon.
However, until we do that, you send us your thoughts, feedbacks, and wishes to us at “feedback@codechef.com.”
That is all for now from CodeChef.
See you at the contest.
Regards,
Rudreshwar,
Team CodeChef
The December Challenge 2013 was set in close quarters with the onsite ACM ICPC India regionals, which made it a practice ground for everyone participating in the onsite rounds. Users who were visiting the onsite regionals geared up to put themselves through a final test; while those who were not, ensured that, they had a tough one. With everybody in the mood of playing, we were all ready to have glimpses of the potential world finalists from the Indian regionals.
The play for the December Challenge 2013 was created by Bruno Oliveira, Iaroslav Tverdokhlib, Ivan Zdomsky, Constantin Sokol, Minako Kojima, Roman Rubanenko, Sergey Kulik, Vitalij Kozhukhivskij, Vivek Hamirwasia, and Tuan Anh. Gerald Agapovand Md Mahbubul Hasan tested the problems while the editorials came from Balakrishnan Varadarajan and Shangjingbo. With that star-studded problem-setting panel and the impending ACM ICPC regionals, we just had the perfect setting for the final long challenge of the year.
The fact that the span of December Challenge was covering the two onsite ACM ICPC India regional contest, meant that everyone taking part there had a healthy practice arena, featuring some of the finest programmers from around the world, set up for them. We were sure that the participants would rejoice in the contest, and that become evident with the first accepted submission of the contest coming inside the first five minutes of the contest. We have witnessed it before, but somehow, it never fails to enliven us.
With the progress of the contest increased the number of submissions and users alike. The first weekend of the contest saw plenty of action with over 37K submissions from 3.7K users. The initial bang of the contest assured of a steady contest and that it was. There were plenty of changes in the rank tables, as everyone wanted to put their names on the final long rank table of 2013. Who stood where, let us see:
Firstly, the global top ten:
Now, the Indian top 20:
Now let us move on to the special achievers category:
Firstly, the global users with top scores for the Challenge Problem SMPAINT:
Now the Indian users:
Now, our little geniuses from schools:
Global top five:
Indian top five:
It is worth mentioning that our little friend ivan100sic from Gimnazija Svetozar Markovic Nis, is also among the top ten global winners for the December Challenge 2013. A big round of applause for him and his special feat. It is now your turn to make your school proud and feature among the big league of programmers.
With all those fond memories, we bid adieu to our final long challenge. Like always, it has been a sheer pleasure to witness you all genius in action. In 2013, we saw some new names carving their place among the winners, and some old ones reinventing themselves. All that and many more made 2013 a year to be remembered. Thanks to you all.
We know it has been a tad late to put up this post, and we are sorry for that.
We have already embarked upon our journey in 2014 and hope to see you all with us all through it. So, keep sending your hugs, bugs, and wishes atfeedback@codechef.com. We love hearing from you all. We always have, and we always will.
We hope you are enjoying the ongoing January Challenge 2014. All the best for the contest.
Till next time, goodbye.
See you at the contests.
Regards,
Rudreshwar,
Team CodeChef
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