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The claim was that all computer science graduates should be able to solve those problems in a few hours each, the counter claim was that only one percent of the
by danbruc 3y ago
The claim was that all computer science graduates should be able to solve those problems in a few hours each, the counter claim was that only one percent of them is capable to do so. The existence of one computer science graduates capable of winning the contest does not really tell us anything and I think nobody doubted that there are computer science graduates that are easily capable of solving such problems. But the question was or is, are they the exception or the norm?
- d0mine 3y agoThe problems are essentially an elaborate IQ test (follow instructions, pay attention to the actual input, do some googling to get some polygon, graph algorithms/libraries). No deep knowledge is required. You don't need a CS degree for that. ~5% of those who solved the first 2 problems solved all 49 of them. Given that it is a significant time commitment to spend several hours per day every day for 25 days straight, more people could have done it, given the time. These are not some elite self-selected geniuses. 1/4 of those who solved 1st problem, hasn't solved the 2nd one despite its simplicity https://adventofcode.com/2023/stats https://adventofcode.com/2023/stats
- danbruc 3y agoThis would also have been my opinion, computer science graduates should definitely be able to solve those problems in a few hours. The longest time to first solution this is year was something like 15 minutes, an hour or two for 100 correct solutions, so they are certainly not really hard problems. But personal opinion aside nobody provided any real evidence that this indeed the case and only that is what I wanted to point out in my comment.