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GrandLock's blog

How many hours do you solve problems every day?
By GrandLock, history, 4 years ago, In English

I try to solve problems for more than 2 hours every day. How many hours do you spend?

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

i generally try to solve problems for more than 3 hrs a day, sometimes its 3hrs, sometimes its 4, sometimes i dont even solve lol :/

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +99 Vote: I do not like it

40 hours everyday!!

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

    Wow! I need to learn how to extend a day from you.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +41 Vote: I do not like it

    Ling Ling, is it you?

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    that's the goal. Some day I will code 40 hours a day. ( But honestly now a days I am practicing problems on codeforces all day. At least I think on problems, a lot).

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +17 Vote: I do not like it

I think what matters is how much above your comfort zone problems u are solving If you are spending time on a tough prblm then don't just look at the prblm and don't think -ve (i am not able to solve it,very tough, etc),try to deduce smthing from the testcases given, pattern logic or anything else,if testcases are easy ones,generate your own testcases, write some code,try to debug it if not working just do smthing instead of thinking that its out of your scope prblm.

What i do

I always try to make out some logic,pattern or any algorithm over that ques(which might be very tough to implement but then also i try to find out one) and sometimes i spend 2 hrs or 3 hrs or sometimes it takes a day also on the same prblm.I try to ensure that after reading the editorial i should not feel that it was so much easy concept,i should not be disappointed after reading the editorial (thinking that prblm was easy),so basically i try as much as i can

Sometimes i try to generate my own testcases if my code is wrong on other testcases(ones not shown).If i am not able to find out mistake then i look at the testcases and try to debug it,if testcases are hidden (bcoz of being long) then i try to print the testcases in my answer (basically try to bring the testcase out) and if the testcases is very huge say n=1e5 in such cases i try some other testcases which are small and my code has not run over them (as that was testcase 20 and i got WA on testcase 5), and basically this takes a lot of time, and if all this fails and i am not able to get it still, i refer to editorial.

If i have spended a lot of time over a ques and not able to think anything near to that ques,lets say 40 or 50 mins then i refer to some lines of editorial or just have a overview of it so as to get some hint.

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +9 Vote: I do not like it

Nothing less than 69 hours will suffice. On a more serious note... I solve until the voice inside me says "Okay,I'm tired! That's it for today." (and trust me.. this lazy dumbo gets tired really fast)

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +26 Vote: I do not like it

I_love_Tanya_Romanova used to practice 12 hours per day (I read from his answers) .

galen_colin does continuous streaming for 4 hours and thus i believe that he can continuous code for 4 hours.

This tells how much dedicated red coders are. There is no secret other than practice . Practice hard , have patience .

But instead of counting hours as your productivity metric , it's better to count how much easy,medium,hard problems you solved and understood . Of course more hours means more count. .

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    Can confirm. Red coders have insane amounts of dedication.

    For example, an anonymous red coder I know spent like 7 hrs a day playing this weeb game.

    Not showing a full screenshot to avoid leaking their account but just shows how much dedication they have for the things they love.

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

      Wow, I wonder who that weebiosity is orz.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +38 Vote: I do not like it

    To clarify, there is a bit of a difference between "Had days when I did something related to competitive programming for 12+ hours" and "Practiced for 12+ hours on average over significant period of time".

    The latter was never the case for me, even during the period of time when I was quite serious about competitive programming (during my ICPC WF times). I can't recall a single person doing 70+ hour practice weeks on regular basis, and I don't even know how sustainable that is if anyone tried. From what I know about chess, strong chess players are spending less than that training — and strong chess players seem to be much better at playing chess than strong competitive programmers are at competitive programming.

    People are always quick to make up some crazy stories, and it usually goes both ways:

    1. Strong contestants spend 20 hours per day training, and up to 30 hours during the days when they are really dedicated to it, that's why they are red and you are not.
    2. "I'm training 40 hours per week, why am I not red yet?" (while in fact it is more like 40 hours per month, and usually less than that). This one is then explained by #1 — it should be 40 hours per day, go practice some more.

    I know a lot of people who spend 12+ hours per day in front of their computer, it doesn't mean they are practicing competitive programming 12+ hours per day :)

    Now "can continuous code for 4 hours" is a different story — it is perfectly reasonable, as in some ICPC setups participants may actually have to write code / work with code more or less continuously for 5 hours.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +28 Vote: I do not like it

On average maybe 1 hour? On some days I don't do anything and on others I do a couple hours of practice. My philosophy is that you don't need a rigid practice schedule; simply doing a lot of contests, discussing ideas with friends, and enjoying the problems gives you all of the practice you need.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    This really inspires me quite much, and thanks a lot grandmaster. In fact, recently I find it more difficult for me to spend like 1 or 2 whole hours practicing than before. But perhaps as you have mentioned, instead of a rigid schedule, simply thinking about problems, reading tutorials talking about some detailed technique when I have spare time seems more suitable for my current situation. I would like to try your approach :D

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

It is said that tourist solved more than 10k problems, and that was a few years ago.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    Actually I have heard that too. I wonder if he will confirm that?

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      I'd be more surprised if he hasn't...

      I've been doing cp for 2.5 years and have solved maybe like 2000 problems, at least i've done 1000 on cf for sure. tourist has been doing cp far longer than I have, so surely he's done well over 10000 problems by now.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

0

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

It depends on the day. I haven't really practiced problems on cf at all in the past few months because of other things happening in my life. Prior to that there were days where I would practice way more than I normally did. It's also good to focus on quality over quantity. In general, I don't think about how much I practice. I think about how good my practice is, if that makes sense.

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