Codeforces

Codeforces is a competitive programming website. It was created and is maintained by a group of competitive programmers from Saratov State University led by Mikhail Mirzayanov. Since 2013, Codeforces claims to surpass Topcoder in terms of active contestants [1]. As of 2017, it had more than 600 000 registered users [2]. Major online judges like Codeforces are used by top sport programmers like Gennady Korotkevich, Petr Mitrichev or Makoto Soejima, but also non-celebrity programmers interested in furthering their careers[3] [4].


Overview

The Codeforces platform is typically used when preparing for competitive programming contests[5] and it offers the following features:

  • Short (2-hours) contests, called "Codeforces Rounds", held about once a week;
  • Educational contests (2-2.5 hours), held 2-3 times per month;
  • Challenge/hack other contestants' solutions;
  • Solve problems from previous contests for training purposes;
  • "Polygon" feature for creating and testing problems;
  • Social networking through internal public blogs.

Contestants are rated by a system similar to ELO. There are usually no prizes for winners, though 2-3 times a year special contests are held, in which top performing contestants receive T-shirts. Some bigger contests are hosted on Codeforces base, among them "The Lyft Level 5 Challenge 2018", provided by Lyft [6] or "Microsoft Q# Coding Contest — Summer 2018" provided by Microsoft [7].

Contestants are divided into ranks based on their ratings. Since May 2018, users with ratings between 1900 and 2099 can be rated in both Div. 1 and Div. 2 contests. At the same time, Div. 3 was created for users rated below 1600.The table below was up-to-date on 2018-05-15 [8].

Rating Bounds Color Title Division Number Number (by color)
≥ 3000 Red Legendary Grandmaster 1 14 261
2600 — 2999 Red International Grandmaster 1 90
2400 — 2599 Red Grandmaster 1 157
2300 — 2399 Orange International Master 1 134 792
2100 — 2299 Orange Master 1 658
1900 — 2099 Violet Candidate Master 1/2 2101 2101
1600 — 1899 Blue Expert 2 5186 5186
1400 — 1599 Cyan Specialist 2/3 10408 10408
1200 — 1399 Green Pupil 2/3 15584 15584
≤ 1199 Gray Newbie 2/3 6250 6250

History

Codeforces was originally created for those interested in solving tasks and taking part in competitions [9]. The first Codeforces Round was held on the February 19, 2010 with 175 participants. As of the end of January 2016 over 300 rounds were held, with over 5000 registered competitors per round on average. Before 2012 Codeforces Rounds were titled "Codeforces Beta Rounds" to indicate that the system was still under development.

Use in Academia

According to Daniel Sleator, professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, competitive programming is valuable in computer science education because competitors learn to adapt classic algorithms to new problems, thereby improving their understanding of algorithmic concepts. He has used Codeforces problems in his class, 15-295: Competition Programming and Problem Solving [10].

Hello Barcelona ACM-ICPC Bootcamp

In February 2017, Codeforces supported the Hello Barcelona ACM-ICPC Bootcamp, a training program for students preparing for the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. Codeforces founder and CEO Mike Mirzayanov participated as a coach for the program, which invited 150 university students [11].

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Codeforces results 2013". codeforces.com.
  2. ↑ "Codeforces results 2017". codeforces.com.
  3. ↑ "The jocks of computer code do it for the job offers". bloomberg.com.
  4. ↑ "Are programming competitions a good use of time?". wordpress.com.
  5. ↑ Difference between HackerRank, LeetCode, topcoder and Codeforces (Youtube). Event occurs at 1:45. Difference between HackerRank, LeetCode, topcoder and Codeforces: "Topcoder and Codeforces is a website that's typically used when preparing for actual competitive programming contests"
  6. ↑ "Lyft 2018". blog.lyft.com.
  7. ↑ "Microsoft Q# Coding Contest". cloudblogs.microsoft.com.
  8. ↑ "Codeforces: Updates in rating and rounds". codeforces.com.
  9. ↑ "Codeforces Founder Will Teach Web Development at ITMO". news.ifmo.ru.
  10. ↑ "Barcelona Bootcamp". gsnmagazine.com.
  11. ↑ "15-295: Competition Programming and Problem Solving, Fall 2016". cs.cmu.edu.

External sources

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