Recently I have observed that many of the Red coders have a pretty scattered submission heat-map, yet still, their ratings have increased significantly in the past few months. Is there some other platform that is equally or more preferable for practicing than codeforces? especially for high ratings? Or maybe some other technique that I may be unaware of?
Also, the highest I have reached on CF is Candidate Master(not really a high rating), which was just by randomly solving as many of codeforces' problems as I could, but that technique seemed to stop working with time. Now, I have got time again and I want to start CP aggressively again! Any tips on how should I focus on practicing to become better at CP from now on would be welcomed.
Thanks ^.^
I know a few red users and the consensus is that learning this algorithm will basically guarantee reaching red. However I do not fully understand how this works, regardless I will post it here. Algorithm Tutorial
Marinush
I know it's weird that a newbie is replying in this regard. But still I want to say about the part "Red coders have pretty scattered submission heat map". Actually after a certain rating/skill earned it's not necessary to implement every problem they solve. Because at that point it is a waste of time for them (as they are very good at implementation) to implement a solution of a problem. They just read the problem and solve it theoretically. This is what I read in a website
I know high-rated people that mainly submit through mashup contests too. These submissions are considered 'private' and not shown on the heatmap unless the user wants it to. It also cannot appear on problem solved count etc unless the user submits to the original problem IIRC.
do not make a submission in rated contest again.
not doing contests because you're afraid to lose rating is stupid
Maturity is when one realises these internet points don't make much difference in life.
And the sense of humour — does ;)
if tho then why did u use to do contests? why did u even try?
contests are fun to do, and also a way to practice
Well there are a lot of factors I believe.. reds normally don't give in because they want to hoard some rating.
(It would be ironic if they did so but more because they are usually involved in some rl jobs (at least Indian reds) which prevent them from attending contests as frequently as they could previously as a result that comment above is kinda semi-joke. )
And maintaining red is way harder than trying to keep cyan -> expert or grey -> pupil.
I think you should try getting to red and see for yourself how hard (and unfun) it is before making a comment like this.
You answered your question by yourself. Because they "are fun to do, and also a way to practice". Not because of internet points you will gain.
aryanc403 Sorry for stepping in. Correct me if that's not your point.
Instead of participating in rated contests, start testing rounds. There's less time pressure so you can enjoy solving problems for a longer time, better interaction with problem authors and (usually very orz) testers (so you can understand what was going on in their mind) and usually a larger problemset than you see during the contest (since some problems are removed). And since you do a virtual contest before testing, you might as well practice solving problems under time pressure, or you can just do whatever you want since it doesn't affect your rating.
Solve problems from ICPC and olympiads in general oline judges. Since they are major contests, the quality and algorithmical depth of problems are much better than the problems in CF. (in average, I mean)
There are lots of online judges such as sphere oj, codechef, etc. Also practicing in Atcoder may help you to practice well.
Hold on, did you just say that codechef has better problem quality than codeforces?
(It was probably supposed to be a joke, but) codechef problem quality has increased quite a bit after Um_nik and Anton started coordinating contests there, and I have heard people say that codechef had better problem quality in some contests than codeforces.
I think sometimes yes, like the previous cook off.
..
In my opinion, there aren't any platforms more preferable for practicing than codeforces. Just keep solving problems on codeforces and you will perform better in the contests. Many of my friends have made great progress by solving a number of problems on cf. You can see when I started competed on cf, I ranked 4000+ just like you, but now I'm red.
Imagine ranking 4000+ twice before reaching GM.
I generally don't practice in CF and mainly use Baekjoon Online Judge. According to the ranklist, there is a correlation between reaching IGM in CF and solving 8000+ problems.