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tourist's blog

By tourist, 5 months ago, translation, In English
logo

Hello everyone!

We, the RGBTeam (qwerty787788, Romka and tourist), are huge fans of heuristic programming competitions and are quite saddened by the fact that they are becoming less and less frequent each year. One day, we decided to organize our own competition :) Despite the fact that such ideas often remain just ideas, this time we have a serious mindset, and now we want to invite you all to participate in the first — and hopefully not last — Code Weekend #1!

The competition will be held in a format quite similar to ICFPC/Google Hashcode — there will be one problem and several dozen tests for it. You will need to submit just an output according to the rules of the problem for each test, which can be obtained using any algorithms, written in any language, and running for any duration of time. Midway through the competition, the problem statement will be expanded, and new tests will be added.

The competition starts on June 7th at 21:00 UTC and will last 48 hours. A day after it begins, on June 8th at 21:00 UTC, a second, expanded version of the problem along with a set of tests for it will be released. The competition ends another day after the release of the second version, on June 9th at 21:00 UTC.

The expanded version of the problem will be a superset of the basic version. For instance, if the problem is "given a chess position, find the best move," the basic version may only include pawns, bishops, and knights, while the expanded version will use rooks and queens.

The competition is team-based, and there is no limit on team size, but we've tried to balance the problem in a way that larger teams don't have a significant advantage over smaller ones. Therefore, the recommended team size is 1-4 people.

Unlike ICFPC, the focus of the competition will be on heuristic algorithms rather than functional programming (although in recent years ICFPC hasn't been focused on FP either).

Attention! The contest will be held on the website https://codeweekend.dev, you need to register there (once per team). All the announcements during the competition will be in the Discord chat, so join it via the link https://discord.gg/M6pG5zp3DF. Be sure to invite your friends, relatives, pets, and anyone else who might find it interesting :)

UPD. Our competition will be generously sponsored by the TON Foundation, for which we are immensely grateful!

As a result, the following prizes will be awarded in the competition:

  • 1st place — 400 TON
  • 2nd place — 300 TON
  • 3rd place — 200 TON
  • 4th place — 100 TON

Additional prizes:

  • 1st place after the first day of the competition — 111 TON.
  • At the end of each minute of the competition, the current leader (provided there is at least one team with a positive score) receives 0.1 TON.
  • 300 TON will be distributed equally for the best solution of each test at the end of the competition. For example, if there are 10 tests, and Team A has the best result in the first three tests while Team B has the best result in the remaining seven, Team A will receive 300/10*3 = 90 TON, and Team B will receive 300/10*7 = 210 TON.

All ties are resolved by time — the team that achieves its result earlier ranks higher.

Thus, the total prize fund for the competition is over $10,000 at the current exchange rate.

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By tourist, 20 months ago, translation, In English

1786A2 - Alternating Deck (hard version)

Problem author: KAN

Explanation
Code by KAN

1786B - Cake Assembly Line

Problem author: KAN

Explanation
Code by KAN

1785A - Monsters (easy version)

Problem author: tourist

Explanation
Code by tourist

1785B - Letter Exchange

Problem author: tourist

Explanation
Code by PavelKunyavskiy

1785C - Monsters (hard version)

Problem author: tourist

Explanation
Code by tourist

1785D - Wooden Spoon

Problem author: tourist

Explanation
Code by tourist

1785E - Infinite Game

Problem author: tourist

Explanation
Code by tourist

1785F - Minimums or Medians

Problem author: tourist

Explanation
Code by tourist, O(n^2)
Code by tourist, O(n)

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By tourist, 20 months ago, translation, In English

Hello!

Welcome to Codeforces Round 850 (Div. 1, based on VK Cup 2022 - Final Round) and Codeforces Round 850 (Div. 2, based on VK Cup 2022 - Final Round) that will start on Feb/05/2023 15:05 (Moscow time). Both rounds will be rated.

This round is a mirror of VK Cup 2022 Final — annual programming championship for Russian-speaking competitors organized by VK. VK Cup started in 2012 and has grown to be a five-track competition in competitive programming, Mobile, ML, Go, and JavaScript.

All the problems of Div. 1 round are authored and prepared by me, while KAN authored and prepared two problems for Div. 2. Thanks to errorgorn, irkstepanov, qwerty787788, Merkurev, IgorI, PavelKunyavskiy, izban, Alexdat2000, ashmelev, Akulyat, mike_live, Ekler, Kalashnikov for making this round better.

You will be given 6 problems and 3 hours to solve them.

UPD: Editorial

Congratulations to the winners:

  1. ksun48
  2. maroonrk
  3. QuietBeautifulThoughts
  4. Mr_Eight
  5. ecnerwala

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By tourist, 21 month(s) ago, In English

1782A - Parallel Projection

Explanation
Source

1782B - Going to the Cinema

Explanation
Source 1
Source 2

1782C - Equal Frequencies

Explanation
Source

1782D - Many Perfect Squares

Explanation
Source

1782E - Rectangle Shrinking

Explanation
Source

1782F - Bracket Insertion

Explanation
Source

1782G - Diverse Coloring

Explanation
Source (2nd approach)

1782H1 - Window Signals (easy version)

Explanation
Source for easy version
Source for hard version

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By tourist, 21 month(s) ago, translation, In English

Hello!

Welcome to the Codeforces Round 844 (Div. 1 + Div. 2, based on VK Cup 2022 - Elimination Round) that will start on Jan/15/2023 15:05 (Moscow time). It will be a combined rated round for both divisions and open to everyone.

This round is a mirror of VK Cup 2022 Elimination — annual programming championship for Russian-speaking competitors organized by VK. VK Cup started in 2012 and has grown to be a five-track competition in competitive programming, Mobile, ML, Go, and JavaScript.

All the problems are authored and prepared by me. Thanks to KAN, errorgorn, lperovskaya, dario2994, Monogon, Arpa for making this round better.

You will be given 8 problems and 3 hours to solve them.

UPD: Editorial

Congratulations to the winners:

  1. orzdevinwang
  2. noimi
  3. Radewoosh
  4. gamegame
  5. QAQAutoMaton

and to maroonrk for getting the only accepted solution to problem H2.

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By tourist, 3 years ago, In English

Tune in at twitch.tv/the__tourist at around 22:30 MSK, 11 Jan 2022 to watch me solving SnarkNews Winter Series 2022 Round 1 live! First I will do the round competitively without much interaction, and I'll be up for discussing the problems on stream afterwards.

SnarkNews Winter/Summer Series (SNWS/SNSS) is organized by snarknews and consists of 5 rounds. Each round is a virtual 6-problem 80-minute contest open for 10 days. The series is open to all, but problem statements are in Russian only. On stream, I'll read the problem statements automatically translated to English.

To make the stream more fun and for easier understanding of what will be going on, you're welcome to do the round yourself beforehand! If you don't understand Russian, you can also compete using automatic translators. Alternatively, you may just read the problems without solving them. In any case, don't discuss the problems in Codeforces comments before the round window ends.

Tentative schedule of future streams:

I might be streaming at other times too, so be sure to follow me on Twitch to get instant notifications.

See you on stream!

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By tourist, 3 years ago, In English

Topcoder Open 2021 Algorithm Semifinal 2 is right around the corner, starting in less than 5 minutes!

The competitors are Benq aka bqi343, Petr, scott_wu, neal aka neal_wu, SpyCheese, maroonrk aka maroon_kuri, krijgertje, and Sugar_fan.

The top 4 advance to the Finals. The advancers from Semi 1 are ecnerwala, tourist, Um_nik, and ACRush.

Watch the live broadcast on YouTube and Twitch, featuring Pena, Egor, tourist, and ksun48!

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By tourist, 3 years ago, In English

Topcoder Open 2021 Algorithm Semifinal 1 is right around the corner, starting in less than 5 minutes!

The competitors are tourist, ecnerwala aka ecnerwal, ACRush, hos.lyric aka lyrically, Um_nik, ko_osaga aka gs14004, PavelKunyavskiy aka kuniavski, and never_giveup aka grumpy_gordon.

Watch the live broadcast on YouTube and Twitch, featuring scott_wu, Petr, and krijgertje!

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By tourist, 3 years ago, In English

Hope you enjoyed the round!

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By tourist, 3 years ago, translation, In English

Hello again!

VK Cup 2021 - Final (Engine) starts very soon: on Aug/22/2021 15:05 (Moscow time). Today, 32 best contestants of the elimination round will be fighting for cash prizes and eternal glory.

You can follow the course of the contest and root for your favorite contestants via this link.

Everyone except for VK Cup 2021 finalists is invited to Codeforces Round 740 (Div. 1, based on VK Cup 2021 - Final (Engine)) and Codeforces Round 740 (Div. 2, based on VK Cup 2021 - Final (Engine)) that start a couple of days later: on Aug/24/2021 17:35 (Moscow time). The rounds will be rated for everyone.

All the problems were authored and prepared by me. Big thanks to everyone without whom this round would not be possible: KAN, PavelKunyavskiy, scott_wu, xiaowuc1, Monogon, Aleks5d, lperovskaya, MikeMirzayanov. Special thanks to s-quark (2nd place of the first ever VK Cup 2012!) for inspiring problem titles.

You will be given 6 problems and 2 hours 30 minutes to solve them in both divisions. It is recommended to read all the problems. Good luck!

UPD: Scoring distribution in the VK Cup finals: 500 — 1250 — 1500 — 2000 — 3000 — 3500

UPD2: Congratulations to the winners of the VK Cup 2021 Final Round!

  1. never_giveup
  2. Maksim1744
  3. Um_nik
  4. SpyCheese
  5. budalnik
  6. vepifanov
  7. Golovanov399

UPD3: Division 1 round will be held on the VK Cup 2021 Finals problem set without any changes.

Scoring distribution for Div. 1: 500 — 1250 — 1500 — 2000 — 3000 — 3500

In Division 2 problems BDEF will match problems ABCD of Div. 1. Problems A and C of Div. 2 will be similar to problems F and E of Div. 1 (albeit being much easier). Besides that, problem D of Div. 2 will have a subtask with lower constraints than the original problem.

Scoring distribution for Div. 2: 500 — 1250 — 1250 — (1500 + 1000) — 2500 — 3500

As a reminder, the standings of the VK Cup Finals are available via this link — feel free to try gaining an advantage using all the information available before the round :)

UPD4: Editorial is available.

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By tourist, 3 years ago, In English

Hope you enjoyed the round! Editorials for all problems are out now. Also check out ecnerwala's stream where we went through individual problems and discussed the contest as a whole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q4tGWT7p7I.

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By tourist, 3 years ago, translation, In English

Hello, Codeforces!

Welcome to the Codeforces Round 733 (Div. 1 + Div. 2, based on VK Cup 2021 - Elimination (Engine)) that will start on Jul/17/2021 17:35 (Moscow time). It will be a combined rated round for both divisions.

This round is a mirror of VK Cup 2021 Elimination. VK Cup is an annual championship for Russian-speaking competitors organized by VK — a social networking service based in Saint Petersburg and the most popular website in Russia. VK Cup started in 2012 and has grown to be a four-track competition in competitive programming, ML, design, and mobile development.

All the problems were authored and prepared by me. Big thanks to everyone without whom this round would not be possible: PavelKunyavskiy, KAN, lperovskaya, ksun48, Sert, Aleks5d, MikeMirzayanov.

You will be given 8 problems and 3 hours to solve them. It is recommended to read all the problems. Good luck!

UPD: Scoring distribution: 500 — 750 — 1000 — 1500 — 2000 — 2750 — 3750 — 4750

UPD2: Congratulations to the winners!

VK Cup 2021 — Elimination (Engine):

  1. Um_nik
  2. Petr
  3. Endagorion
  4. Golovanov399
  5. 244mhq

Codeforces Round #733:

  1. jiangly
  2. ecnerwala
  3. Radewoosh
  4. maroonrk
  5. Benq

Editorial of problems A-E is out, problems F-H will appear later.

UPD3: Editorial now contains problems F-H as well.

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By tourist, 4 years ago, In English

Tune in to my Twitch to watch me solve today's Codeforces Round 672 (Div. 2) virtually.

UPD: Video on YouTube.

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By tourist, 4 years ago, In English

Hey there!

During my last stream (link to YouTube), besides the expected SNSS Round 5, I did Codeforces Round 669 (Div. 2) virtually trying to explain most of my thoughts in the process. I'd say it went pretty well!

Tomorrow I'll hold another stream solving the most recent Codeforces Div. 2 rounds: Round 670 and Educational 95. I might also do today's AtCoder Beginner Contest 178.

I'm planning to go live right after Educational 95 finishes — that is, around 19:45 MSK.

A question is, given that I will do both Round 670 and Educational 95, which one should I do first? Vote here :)

As usual, the stream will be live on my Twitch, make sure to follow and get instant notifications. Stream recording will be posted to my YouTube afterwards.

See you!

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By tourist, 4 years ago, In English

It's this time of the year again!

Tune in at twitch.tv/the__tourist at around 21:45 MSK, 21 Aug 2020 to watch me solving SnarkNews Summer Series 2020 Round 1 live! First I will do the round competitively without much interaction, and I'll be up for discussing the problems on stream afterwards.

SnarkNews Winter/Summer Series (SNWS/SNSS) is organized by snarknews yearly and consists of 5 rounds. Each round is a virtual 6-problem 80-minute contest open for 10 days. The series is open to all, but problem statements are in Russian only. Unlike last series, I'll be reading problem statements automatically translated to English on stream.

To make the stream more fun and for easier understanding of what will be going on, you're welcome to do the round yourself beforehand! If you don't understand Russian, you can also compete using automatic translators. Alternatively, you may just read the problems without solving them. In any case, don't discuss the problems in Codeforces comments before the round window ends.

Tentative schedule of future streams:

I might be streaming at other times too, so be sure to follow me on Twitch and get instant notifications.

See you on stream!

UPD: Round 1 stream is available on my channel: link. Round 2 stream is starting as planned, in 8 hours — be sure to join! Here is the contest link if you'd like to do the contest or read the problems beforehand.

UPD2: Round 2 stream: link. Unfortunately, Round 3 has not started yet — therefore, the next streams have to be postponed. Follow this blog and my Twitch for updates.

UPD3: New dates of Rounds 3-5 (and hence my streams) have been announced!

UPD4: Just a friendly reminder: Round 3 ends in less than 24 hours, and thus my next stream is coming tomorrow! Also note that Rounds 4 and 5 are about to end as well, there are just two days between consecutive rounds.

UPD5: Round 3 stream: link. Round 4 stream is coming in less than 4 hours from now!

UPD6: Round 4 stream: link. The last stream of the series, Round 5, is coming today in less than 3 hours!

UPD7: Round 5 stream: link (with virtual Codeforces Round 669 (Div. 2) as a practice before SNSS). This was the last stream of the series, thank you for tuning in! However, this was not the last stream of the season — check this blog post for more.

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By tourist, 5 years ago, In English

XX Open Cup Grand Prix of Gomel takes place on Sunday, February 16, 2020, at 11:00 AM Petrozavodsk time.

The links to the contest:

You need an Open Cup login to participate.

I'm the writer of all the problems. Let's discuss them here after the contest!

UPD: Thanks for your participation! Editorial is available.

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By tourist, 5 years ago, In English

(Previous episodes: Episode 001, Episode 002, Episode 003, Episode 004)

Hey there, it's time for the final stream of the series!

Tune in at twitch.tv/the__tourist at around 22:45 MSK, 06 Feb 2020 to watch me solving SnarkNews Winter Series 2020 Round 5 live! I'm going to do the round competitively without any interaction, and I'll try to explain the problems in English on stream afterwards.

As usual, I invite you to do the round yourself before I do! If you don't understand Russian, you may compete using automatic translators, or you may just read the problems beforehand without solving them. In any case, don't discuss the problems in Codeforces comments before the stream ends.

See you on stream!

UPD: Video at YouTube. This series is over now! Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoyed the streams.

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By tourist, 5 years ago, In English

(Previous episodes: Episode 001, Episode 002, Episode 003)

Hey there!

Tune in at twitch.tv/the__tourist at around 21:45 MSK, 28 Jan 2020 to watch me solving SnarkNews Winter Series 2020 Round 4 live! I'm going to do the round competitively without any interaction, and I'll try to explain the problems in English on stream afterwards.

As usual, I invite you to do the round yourself before I do! If you don't understand Russian, you may compete using automatic translators, or you may just read the problems beforehand without solving them. In any case, don't discuss the problems in Codeforces comments before the stream ends.

See you on stream!

UPD: Video is available at YouTube.

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By tourist, 5 years ago, In English

(Previous episodes: Episode 001, Episode 002)

Hey there!

Tune in at twitch.tv/the__tourist at around 21:45 MSK, 22 Jan 2020 to watch me solving SnarkNews Winter Series 2020 Round 3 live! I'm going to do the round competitively without any interaction, and I'll try to explain the problems in English on stream afterwards.

As usual, I invite you to do the round yourself before I do! If you don't understand Russian, you may compete using automatic translators, or you may just read the problems beforehand without solving them. In any case, don't discuss the problems in Codeforces comments before the stream ends.

See you on stream!

UPD: Thanks for watching! Video is available at YouTube. My performance was remarkably bad, but hopefully that didn't make the stream less fun :)

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By tourist, 5 years ago, In English

Episode 001

Hey there!

Tune in at twitch.tv/the__tourist at around 21:45 MSK, 17 Jan 2020 to watch me solving SnarkNews Winter Series 2020 Round 2 live! I'm going to do the round competitively without any interaction, and I'll try to explain the problems in English on stream afterwards.

Just like the last time, I invite you to do the round yourself before I do! If you don't understand Russian, you may compete using automatic translators, or you may just read the problems beforehand without solving them. In any case, don't discuss the problems in Codeforces comments before the stream ends.

See you on stream!

UPD: Video at YouTube. This time with more implementation-oriented problems and worse performance of mine, but clearer sound and more thorough explanations :) Do let me know what you think.

The next stream is planned at the end of SNWS 2020 Round 3: 21:45 MSK, 22 Jan 2020.

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By tourist, 5 years ago, In English

Hey there!

Tune in at twitch.tv/the__tourist at around 21:45 MSK, 12 Jan 2020 to watch me solving SnarkNews Winter Series 2020 Round 1 live! First I will do the round competitively without any interaction, and I'll be up for discussing the problems on stream afterwards.

SnarkNews Winter/Summer Series (SNWS/SNSS) is organized by snarknews yearly and consists of 5 rounds. Each round is a virtual 6-problem 80-minute contest open for 10 days. The series is open to all, but problem statements are in Russian only. Nevertheless, I'm going to discuss the problems in English.

To make the stream more fun and for easier understanding of what will be going on, you're welcome to do the round yourself before I do! If you don't understand Russian, you may compete using automatic translators. Alternatively, you may just read the problems beforehand without solving them. In any case, don't discuss the problems in Codeforces comments before the stream ends.

See you on stream!

UPD: The stream is over. If everything goes well, the next stream will happen at the end of SNWS 2020 R2: 21:45 MSK, 17 Jan 2020. Do let me know whether you liked it and any other thoughts/suggestions in comments!

UPD2: The video of the stream is now available at YouTube.

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By tourist, history, 5 years ago, In English

We will hold AtCoder Grand Contest 041. This is the last contest of 2019 that counts for AtCoder Race Ranking.

The point values will be 300 — 700 — 900 — 1200 — 1600 (800 + 800) — 2000.

We are looking forward to your participation!

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By tourist, history, 5 years ago, In English

Enjoy!

A. Balanced Rating Changes
B. Balanced Tunnel
C1. Balanced Removals (Easier)
C2. Balanced Removals (Harder)
D. Balanced Playlist
E. Balanced Binary Search Trees
F. Balanced Domino Placements
G. Balanced Distribution
H. Balanced Reversals

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