ahmed_aly's blog

Codeforces vs. TopCoder
By ahmed_aly, 14 years ago, In English
1- Codeforces contests now are more stable than TopCoder contests, there were about 2200 registrants today (not all of them participated) and the contest ran smoothly (at least for me).

2- I like Codeforces contest format more than TopCoder contest format, the contest contains more problems and more time, and I like Codeforces hacking more than TopCoder challenges.

3- Codeforces now makes much more contests than TopCoder.

4- I like Codeforces problems quality and difficulty levels more than TopCoder.


Now Codeforces is number 1 for me and TopCoder is number 2, I love Codeforces.
  • Vote: I like it
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  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (46)
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it
Of course we are comparing TopCoder Algorithm section. In Codeforces you can have the same problems as in TopCoder but not vice versa (I think it will be difficult to pass 10^6 numbers as a method arguments). I also appreciate more time and more tasks in Codeforces than in TopCoder. However I like TopCoder challenges more than Codeforces hacks.
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +40 Vote: I do not like it

Recent topcoder failure was not because of number of participants. TopCoder can handle 2200 participants pretty easily I believe.

> I like Codeforces hacking more than TopCoder challenges.
I definitely prefer TopCoder challenges rather than Codeforces hacks.

 

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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it
    In topcoder I like separation of challenge phase and coding phase. Sometimes I don't know if I should solve problems or read others codes. But usually its a good idea to skim through others solutions - lost 6-7 minutes worth 100-200 challenge points.
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    • 12 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it

      I like the combination of hacking and coding, on the contrary. If you can't solve the next problem, you can attempt hacks on those you've already solved, rather than wait for the next phase.

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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it
    I also like the Topcoder challenge phase more than the codeforce hacking, because it is somehow unfair, if you were hacked and a other person was not, and you can correct your error, while the other person cannot.
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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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    For beginners, Topcoder is not so nice, because especially in division one, one stupid mistake can make you fall down quite quickly.
    But I really like the Topcoder Educational Forum.
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14 years ago, # |
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@ahmed..  dude when are u going to update ur tool for this codejam..
i guess it does not include 2011's round...
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it
You are definately right about the first point. TC isn't very stable recently =/
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +12 Vote: I do not like it
My programing language is pascal , Codeforces allow using pascal but TC not.  So I prefer CodeForces :x
My disappointed point is that I didn't see the fighting between ACRush , Tourist and Petr :( .
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it
Codeforces have more problems, some of them are really challenging. There are many things to learn here, many people eager to join and write qualitative problems. I also agree the site is stable, especially recently, despite the increased number of participants.

As for the challenges I also will go with Topcoder: I prefer the separation of the phases that exists there.

The best thing, however, is that we have those two wonderful sites, with twice as many problems to solve and contests much more frequent than what they used to be. :)
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it
Codeforces also has more geometry problems =)
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it
But codeforces has copied many things from Topcoder, and Topcoder problem statements are still far better from that of Codeforces, for me Topcoder is still no 1..:)
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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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    I think CF problems cover wider range of programming, and I think that helding CF unknown language rounds is a very good idea
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it
I like CF more than TC .... It would be great if CF has forums properly structured
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14 years ago, # |
← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +29 Vote: I do not like it

One thing that bothers me is the option of comments in Russian. I know it's much more comfortable to speak in the home language, but It's very annoying to see like 80 comments in the Russian version, possibly containing interesting things and solutions in contrast to 4-5 in English. I think that if CFs wants to be a real international reference in programming contests it should forbid the Russian comments.
This makes me feel more as a visitor than a member. I don't see why everyone can't make an effort to speak in english like in TC's forum, which works very fine.

I think CFs is getting more stable but still behind TC. This last round was an example, delayed start and low responses some times.

I still prefer the TC challenges than the Hacks here, exactly because as other people said it's not fair to some people have the lucky of getting hacked and correct their solutions. 

Besides that, I really appreciate all the work of CFs, the quality of the problems are very good, and it's also amazing to have more opportunities to traine and have fun.

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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

    If you forbid russian comments you will get probably abount 10% of that comments posted in English (and other just not posted) and about -30% to number of users ;)
    But it would be nice for user to specify his native language and know languages. Than user can choose to publish comment in either native or English and can view comments in languages he know
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    • 14 years ago, # ^ |
      ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Well, any decision should not make the community worse. My intention is to generate more comments using everyone's potential, not to take out the russian participation. If your predictions are correct then we need another strategy hehe.
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    • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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      Maybe an option to choose whether user wants to translate his comment without assistance or he wants site to translate it using google would do?
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      • 12 years ago, # ^ |
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        AlexErofeev Then there is a possibility to write different things in different languages.

        Egor Having an ability to choose a language for reading/writing comments would lead to language-specific threads (for good or bad).

        Overall, I'd prefer English-only comments. E.g. I feel sad when I see Chinese comments (especially with a lot of "+" — clearly there is something clever/funny, but I just can't read it). And I think many people feel the same way when seeing Russian comments.

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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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    If you have some questions - ask. If it was discussed through Russian comments, someone will translate it for you.
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    • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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      Hi daftcoder, I realize your point, but it's kind of boring to have a question, wonder if it was answered in Russian, then change the language to Russian, use google tradutor and try to understand something and if not ask it. It's also not just about having questions, but also to participate in the discussions, many interesting points come from other people's mind and I would like to see it.

      Your comment made me remember this post:

      http://www.codeforces.com/blog/entry/1197

      where I waited a long time without answer. Funny enough, I changed today to the Russian language and I noticed that some guys replied the same question I did to other guy in english but didn't set up the language correctly, so it was only being displayed in the Russian interface. It would be interesting to have a small checking function to avoid this human error.


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      • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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        Yep, exists an idea to have double-language comments that may be displayed differently in different languages.

        Or at least an opportunity to change quick the language of a comment (in the case of mistake).
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        • 14 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it
          Or simply count comment as english if it hasn't any russian character.
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          • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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            It's better to select.
            Example.
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            • 14 years ago, # ^ |
                Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it
              I think, that there are a lot of people, who don't know, that their comments has wrong language.
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              • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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                I didn't get you. Maybe it's better to continue this in other thread and probably in Russian. :D
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it
ANOTHER EVALUATION APPROACH:

Number of problems:
-CF > TC:
Obviously there is more chance to test yourself working in a 5 problems contest

Statements Quality:
-CF <= TC:
Some of the easiest problems at CF (A and sometimes B) bases their AC solution just in non generals cases (not necessary extreme cases)

Problem Set Quality:
-CF > TC:
5  > 3 more fields covered in a single competition :P

Competition Time:
-TC ~ CF:
The time in both cases is based on amount of problems.

Challenging Vs Hacking:
-TC >> CF:
Hacking in a CF contest provides randomly "hints" to users during the contest, some of them can fix their solution (thanks to the hack) and others with not such luck (weren't hacked at time) discover the WA during the System Test

Amount of Competitions:
-CF >> TC:
Thanks to Codeforces team. :)

Schedule:
-TC >= CF:
I think it's possible to schedule competitions (at least CF Beta Rounds weeks before they occur, even without a Problem set)

Connectivity:
-CF >> TC:
Who said there is need to use an applet? That's all. ;P

I love TC and I love CF. But CF is slightly winning so far. Congrats to CF team.
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14 years ago, # |
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Still, I think TopCoder can handle 2200 participants easily but Codeforces seems to have problem to handle it. And BTW, I like TopCoder challenges much more than Coderforces challenges.
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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it
    I have never seen TopCoder handling 2200 participants, and you are saying they can handle it easily!
    The best example is after few hours, the maximum number of participants for TCO qualification round 1 is 2000.
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14 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

TopCoder Rating means a lot to me rather the Codeforces..
And i think TopCoder challenge phase is more interesting... rather then viewing solutions in the contest time & also searching for others submissions wasting some valuable time. As we have seen in the Codeforces Beta Round #72 (Div. 2 Only) contest the second place gainer can't solve the 4th problem as he was waiting for others submission during contest time.
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14 years ago, # |
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I made this Facebook question, so far TopCoder wins.
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  • 12 years ago, # ^ |
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    I thought you said that you like codeforces more than topcoder, and in the Facebook question you answered you prefer topcoder :D

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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -10 Vote: I do not like it
TopCoder is so much more than just SRMs, that hearing anything like this feels like blasphemy to me. The only thing I like in Codeforces which is not present at TopCoder are Unknown Language rounds.
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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it
    It's not exactly true because CF have ACM-style competitions, team competitions. But it's unrated. For me, it would be exellent if codeforces added to the tab "ACM-style contest", and sometimes given to ACM-style contest. I think it's not too difficult because there is much problems which cannot be given in CF-style contests(for example, the problems to the fact the "stuff" into time limit).
    I know that codeforces team are working on new ideas every day. I believe that they can add new features:).

    P.S. Don't forget, codeforces in beta:)
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14 years ago, # |
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Each contest have their pleasure! :)))
But, In Codeforces Contests can't cheat. While in TopCoder SRM can create an extra account.
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  • 14 years ago, # ^ |
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    "But, In Codeforces Contests can't cheat."
    It's so pity for you?
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14 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +13 Vote: I do not like it
I really like CF, the biggest problem for me it's the schedule of the contests, they are pretty fixed, fixed in moments that I hardly have time to participate.
=(
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14 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it
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13 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it
codeforces better than topcoder!
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13 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it
i prefer both =D
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13 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -6 Vote: I do not like it
I don't think that Codeforces is much better than Topcoder, so i'm going to argue.
I'll not argue about what color is better white or black.. But I should noticed, in my opinion some arguments aren't so truely.
I agree, that number of contests on Codeforces is larger, but I'm sure, that number of offered problems to Topcoder is materially greater. So even without counting individually cases, I can conclude, that quality of the tasks on Topcoder is higher.
I'll not explain what the arena advantages are, but if arena is so bad, was it hard to not write fully new applet with huge possibilities instead of using almost ordinary judge system?
If you need to see some Topcoder advantages, so there are stable ranking system and existance of other programming contests apart algorithm.
I think yahooo's post seems ridiculous even without my words.
Sorry for English and thank you for reading.
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12 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

TC's editorial is much more comprehensive.

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    11 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +24 Vote: I do not like it

    Yeah , I like Topcoder's editorials very much. A very big effort is exerted in it. Every single proof of every problem needed is found there even if the problem is simple enough. Images are used to explain more. And also I like the match summary very much. I think Codeforces should hire some people to write the editorial of every round not necessarily the writer of the contest so that at the end we have a good library for every problem on codeforces. I Enjoy both Topcoder and Codeforces but this point goes to Topcoder.

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