programming

Question

how to start competitive programming ? will it help during GATE preparation

Comments

There are lots of websites to start competitive programming like codechef, hackerrank, hackerearth( This is good to start your competitive programming ). For GATE, we need to study OS, CN, TOC, Compilers etc. In competitive programming, we only focus on Data Structures and Algos. Here most of the things we have to learn to for competitive programming which is not included in GATE syllabus. They will help us to think like a programmer, but cannot assure you to get good rank in GATE. I did competitive programming for 3.0 yrs, it helped me to crack the toughest codes of world's best companies. So, do it for fun and learning but don't use it for GATE Prep. In competitive programming sometimes we don't need any algos or data structure but just a hit and trial method. In Gate, we need to be aware of what the question is asking and which concept it is using.

P.S: start with hackerearth, best for you

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already asked by you

https://gateoverflow.in/209217/programming

Answer 1

You should definitely start competitive programming ASAP. If you read blogs of all toppers this year you will notice that all of them did competitive programming. I was one of those who didn't do any competitive programming and I got ~2700 rank, after a year drop. And now after realising my mistake I have started it.

I suggest you to solve 1-2 Easy practice problems daily on HackerRank. Initially it will take time to solve such problems but within a week you will get in pace. Remember to not see solution even if you get pissed off. Just try whatever approach you know and Google out something you don't remember. After solving the problem you MUST look for top submissions to know if there was a better approach than yours. Also, do not forget to solve all previous years GATE questions on programming. Once you feel fluent in programming you can try out giving competitions. Definitely, you will have fun!

This doesn't only help you in GATE but will also help you in interviews at IITs and future endeavours. Just 1-2 hour per day(1-2 problems) is enough.

CAUTION: main() is already written by them. There will be sometimes error in the main() of the problems in C because not a lot of people compete in C nowadays. You might have to find them out yourself and fix it. And do not get fixated just on programming, there are other subjects in GATE too!

Comments

Update: I just noticed that you can replace the whole given program with your own program. So if you also get error because of their main(), just replace the whole code with your own. It will work.

Answer 2

Well, Competitive Programming is all about building up your problem solving skills since that will take you a long way in your programming career. Start with learning the basics of any programming language as well as their inbuilt functions. There are plenty of resources available on Codechef, InterviewBit, Topcoder, SPOJ you can utilise.  I suggest you watch this video if your looking to get started with competitive programming, hope it proves helpful to you.