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Yeah ... they had major issues. First off, the submit system was flaky (didn't work with common browser configs ... e.g. on my macbook pro with Safari). They ha

by iqster 16y ago

Yeah ... they had major issues. First off, the submit system was flaky (didn't work with common browser configs ... e.g. on my macbook pro with Safari). They had a 6 minute time limit, which caused a lot of problems. By the time someone realized their browser config didn't work, it was too late to try another combo. The questions were not worded precisely in some cases. And some people were cheating like crazy ... putting up their code/test cases for other people to use.

iqster 16y ago
I didn't quite get the 6 minute time limit. For instance, I coded up one of their problems using a bruteforce algorithm. It worked perfectly with the sample test case they provided. But when I tried it on the their time-limited test case, lo-and-behold, it took a long time. So ... what the heck was the point of that? Since we had 6 minutes to upload the answer, I can't really convert my solution to something much faster in that time period. Should I have coded a faster solution from the get-go? Well .. that isn't clear cut as we had 3 hours to code 3 problems. Oh well. I had fun coding and I have a lot more respect for non-us programmers. Some of the kids coding on the contest were absolutely amazing and far better coders than me.
- phwd 16y ago
  I am glad you enjoyed it but I don't think you should stop. Try facebook.com/puzzlemaster instead. The questions are slightly similar. The community there is quite helpful and they have been doing it for 2 years. The Puzzle Master (whoever that maybe in Facebook) is quite responsive when it comes to telling the users of errors.
ianl 16y ago
I made mistakes, which were my own doing like retrieving my personal input data for the contest answer before I started coding. I got pretty frustrated when it said my time limit had expired 10 minutes afterwards. I should of read the rules more carefully about the submission process, but even then the rules were not very clear. What they need to do in future is have a better user interface that warns the user that they will only have six minutes to submit their answer after retrieving their input and then include a javascript countdown clock telling the user how much time they have remaining.

by iqster 16y ago

iqster 16y ago

I didn't quite get the 6 minute time limit. For instance, I coded up one of their problems using a bruteforce algorithm. It worked perfectly with the sample test case they provided. But when I tried it on the their time-limited test case, lo-and-behold, it took a long time. So ... what the heck was the point of that? Since we had 6 minutes to upload the answer, I can't really convert my solution to something much faster in that time period. Should I have coded a faster solution from the get-go? Well .. that isn't clear cut as we had 3 hours to code 3 problems. Oh well. I had fun coding and I have a lot more respect for non-us programmers. Some of the kids coding on the contest were absolutely amazing and far better coders than me.

phwd 16y ago
I am glad you enjoyed it but I don't think you should stop. Try facebook.com/puzzlemaster instead. The questions are slightly similar. The community there is quite helpful and they have been doing it for 2 years. The Puzzle Master (whoever that maybe in Facebook) is quite responsive when it comes to telling the users of errors.

ianl 16y ago

I made mistakes, which were my own doing like retrieving my personal input data for the contest answer before I started coding. I got pretty frustrated when it said my time limit had expired 10 minutes afterwards. I should of read the rules more carefully about the submission process, but even then the rules were not very clear. What they need to do in future is have a better user interface that warns the user that they will only have six minutes to submit their answer after retrieving their input and then include a javascript countdown clock telling the user how much time they have remaining.