
ICFP Programming Contest 2013 – pre-registration required - lelf
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/events/icfpcontest2013/
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andrewcooke
i entered last year, for the first time, as a solo entry, and it was _way_
less fun than i expected. i think i didn't pace myself well, and i took it too
seriously, stressed out over things, and was exhausted before the end.

this was the first "competitive" programming i had done (i've been a software
engineer for years, but never entered competitions). i was wondering if the
above is normal for a first time, and whether it gets easier (and more fun) as
you get more experience. anyone got any advice? thanks.

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gohrt
It's a very difficult contest. Often times a fun sounding problem is hiding a
state-of-the-art unsolved problem (or NP-complete problem) in computer
science. It's easy to spend a day working on a feature that could be done in
an hour if you have the library on hand or recognize the appropriate
algorithm. At the very least, like a startp, haveing a partner can save you
from wasting time on dead-ends and little bugs.

Teams that do solve much of the task problem, or fare well against the bots
(for competitive tasks), tend to be either researchers or graduate students
studying the same field as the task's core problem, or teams of 5-15 people,
or both!

Sometimes (on the more puzzle-oriented tasks like CBV or Save Endo) have
hidden tricks which you might just not notice. (To their credit, those tasks
had a lot of breadth, so there was plenty to do even if you missed the tricks,
and if you didn't care that the trick was worth an outsize amount of points
(like the Windmill in Save Endo).

I have a bad habit of using ICFP as an opportunity to learn a new language,
and then waste a lot of time just learning the basics and system
configuration. To make progress on the task, you need to work in a language
that you already know like a part of your body.

You can easily spend several weekends playing with a task post-contest.

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herge
Booh! It's at the same time as PyCon Canada.

~~~
kalmar
Yeah, unfortunate. But we'll have sprints...

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gohrt
Incredibly user-unfriendly signup flow. Considering this is an activity that
is purely for fun, this is not an auspicious start.

