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A famous competitive programming prodigy is tourist[1]. You can find his rating graph starting from 2006 on topcoder when he was just 12 years old: https://www.

by zawerf 7y ago

A famous competitive programming prodigy is tourist[1]. You can find his rating graph starting from 2006 on topcoder when he was just 12 years old: https://www.topcoder.com/members/tourist/details/?track=DATA_SCIENCE&subTrack=SRM https://www.topcoder.com/members/tourist/details/?track=DATA... He's now indisputably the best competitive programmer in the world. But it's comforting to know that he too had to slowly grow over many years starting from a mere mortal 1200 rating. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennady_Korotkevich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennady_Korotkevich

person_of_color 7y ago
What a waste of brain cycles.
- tomcooks 7y ago
  Writing such a snarky comment? Oh yes.
- justwalt 7y ago
  Aren’t most things?
- organsnyder 7y ago
  I see no reason to criticize people that compete in this sort of thing. No different than any other intellectual sport. I would be quick to criticize any claims that success in these sorts of competitions predicts success at delivering business value (which, unfortunately, is exactly what TopCoder's home page seems to be implying).
icr0 7y ago
sometimes I read this guy's wikipedia page for inspiration
vymague 7y ago
The wikipedia article says he qualified for the 2006 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) at the age of 11 and got a silver medal. His 2006 starting point was already beyond most mortals.
soup10 7y ago
Never really liked the structure of Topcoder and similar competitions most of the "skill" is just memorizing the algorithms that show up frequently and practicing typing out the solutions fast. A great mathematician would be able to finish a math exam quicker and more accurately than a student. But someone that spends all their time practicing speedrunning math exams would smoke him, only a fool would say the speedrunner is more talented at mathematics than the mathematician that understands the material deeply and has innovated and contributed to the field.
- icr0 7y ago
  Topcoder is kinda flawed, but competitions like the IOI and ICPC are quite legit. In addition, `tourist`is the top performer on codeforces as well as basically any competitive programming site

by zawerf 7y ago

person_of_color 7y ago

What a waste of brain cycles.

tomcooks 7y ago
Writing such a snarky comment? Oh yes.
justwalt 7y ago
Aren’t most things?
organsnyder 7y ago
I see no reason to criticize people that compete in this sort of thing. No different than any other intellectual sport. I would be quick to criticize any claims that success in these sorts of competitions predicts success at delivering business value (which, unfortunately, is exactly what TopCoder's home page seems to be implying).

icr0 7y ago

sometimes I read this guy's wikipedia page for inspiration

vymague 7y ago

The wikipedia article says he qualified for the 2006 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) at the age of 11 and got a silver medal. His 2006 starting point was already beyond most mortals.

soup10 7y ago

Never really liked the structure of Topcoder and similar competitions most of the "skill" is just memorizing the algorithms that show up frequently and practicing typing out the solutions fast. A great mathematician would be able to finish a math exam quicker and more accurately than a student. But someone that spends all their time practicing speedrunning math exams would smoke him, only a fool would say the speedrunner is more talented at mathematics than the mathematician that understands the material deeply and has innovated and contributed to the field.

icr0 7y ago
Topcoder is kinda flawed, but competitions like the IOI and ICPC are quite legit. In addition, `tourist`is the top performer on codeforces as well as basically any competitive programming site