So, I went on and signed up for this year International Google Code Jam; I was not high on hopes, I knew what kind of problems there were and I know I am not strong in many required fields (math, statistics) heck, I am not even strong on tricky algorithms (that requires dedication).
Last year I lost stupidly, I hoped to at least make better this year.
First off, the whole platform was changed from TopCoder Arena to a cool googlelooking webapplication, pretty nice and clean.
I went through the Qualification Round with 50 out of 75 points (sucessfully passed 1st and 2nd problems with small and large input sets), ranking 1386 (All people with 25 or more points passed to first online round)
This round was 24 hours long, it took me about 3 hours to complete the problems.
The issue here was the third problem; I found absolutely no way to solve it, as it required some integrals work. So I basically had no chance to solve it 🙂 (Fly Swatter, pic below)
After two weeks, I got into the First Online Round; it was 2 hours long, and well this was my first sounding failure, as I got with 0 points.
I could finish one of the problems; however I got stranded by an answer given on contest-time, which made me place and additional restriction over the otherwise simple problem. (Crop Triangles, pic below)
Anyhow, after the contest I found out that while testing the problem with small data yielded correct results, it would not be quick enough for the large datasets; in the end I think I would have ended up with 5 points at most (which is better than zero anyhow 🙂 )
So, I had my last chance next day; and I was so sure it was 4:00 PM on my timezone..
Went to work that sunday, checked out at 2:00 PM to ensure I would not miss it. Guess what: it was over already (scheduled for 4:00 AM).
So that was the end, we will see next year!
Slashie's Journal 