

Hardcore coding contest by Quora & InterviewStreet - kahseng
https://quora.interviewstreet.com/challenges/

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kahseng
Announcing Codesprint Quora, the first-ever company sprint, in collaboration
with InterviewStreet (YC S11).

Feel free to ask us questions anytime at codesprint@quora.com

Questions will also be posted at <http://quora.com/CodesprintQuora> so you
don't have to sign up for an account to read them.

This sprint is designed to seriously test your programming prowess on a wide
range of tasks ranging from algorithms and product design to machine learning
and data analysis. This comes from our intention to hire only the very best
engineers, product engineers and data analysts. Come and participate, and
learn about any or all the challenges we face in developing these systems: \-
Quora Feed Optimizer \- Quora Trend Analyzer \- Quora Typeahead Search \-
Quora Browser Extensions \- Quora Nearby Redux \- Quora Answer Classifier
Redux and more!

~~~
kahseng
The three week-long problems are now up here:
<http://www.quora.com/CodesprintQuora>

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signalsignal
In other words, work on Quora problems for the privilege of working for free.
Of course, there is the promise of being recognized, but no promises on being
hired.

~~~
kahseng
These aren't stuff we are looking to use ourselves. We're choosing these
problems (which we have already solved in a more complex form ourselves)
because we think it'll be interesting for others to try to apply their
programming skills at "real world problems" that startups solve.

~~~
joering2
So my question is what problem did Quora solve? other than mostly copying idea
(pardon: being inspired) by websites like Yahoo Ask, Hunch, etc.

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gmichnikov
Slightly off-topic, but hopefully others can benefit as well:

I am learning to program on my own, and I have tried some of the CodeSprint
Fall 2011 questions
([http://csfall11.interviewstreet.com/recruit/challenges/dashb...](http://csfall11.interviewstreet.com/recruit/challenges/dashboard)).
Often, I find solutions that "work", but that score poorly because they exceed
the time limit (e.g. Card Shuffling, 3/10, 9 points).

What books should I read (or what videos should I watch, etc.) to get better
at things like this? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

~~~
Tichy
Also look up google code jam, I think they might have some links for learning.
In general the kind of solutions sought are called "dynamic programming". I
think there is also a book about solving TopCoder problems, though I can't
find it atm, and haven't read it.

Edit: this might be the book I meant, "The Programming Contest Training
Manual"
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0387001638?ie=UTF8&tag=...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0387001638?ie=UTF8&tag=fractality-20&linkCode=shr&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=0387001638&redirect=true&ref_=sr_2_1&qid=1054943434&sr=2-1)

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Tichy
Starts at midnight where I live. Signed up out of curiosity, but I don't think
I'll stay up till 5am. Wish I had learned about it sooner.

~~~
kahseng
Don't worry. We actually have it in 2 parts. 4 questions in a sprint over 5
hours, 3 other questions lasting a week. You might find the weeklong ones more
fun.

~~~
metaobject
Is this information on the web site? I, too, wish I heard about this sprint
earlier in the week (before I made weekend plans).

~~~
kahseng
The three week-long problems are now up here:
<http://www.quora.com/CodesprintQuora>

~~~
Tichy
Interesting, though I have to say these seem more like "working for Quora for
free". Would be nice to at least get some interesting data sets in exchange.

Granted, I probably won't improve on Quora's code in a week, but still.

I guess I am simply not the target audience, as I had no plans of applying to
quora.

