SecondThread's blog

Meta Hacker Cup 2024 Schedule — Introducing the Meta Hacker Cup AI Track
By SecondThread, 3 months ago, In English

Meta Hacker Cup 2024

Meta Hacker Cup is back! We’re excited to announce our schedule for our 2024 season, kicking off on September 20th!

*While optional, we recommend you participate in the Practice Round to familiarize yourself with our submission system before Round 1, when time will be at a premium.

The contest will be held on the Meta Hacker Cup site. Registration will open July 24th.

You can expect familiar prizes in the human track, including T-Shirts, Elite T-Shirts, and cash prizes for finalists. We’ll announce more prize details closer to Round 2.

Introducing the Meta Hacker Cup AI Track

For the first time this year, we'll also be running an AI track. In it, instead of solving problems manually, contestants will create an autonomous code generation system before the start of the contest. Each contestant can compete either in the human track or the AI track, but not both.

We hope this will create an interesting benchmark for how well state-of-the-art machines are able to perform against the best programmers in the world on complex programming tasks. If you're interested in competing in the AI track, you can join our discord server to learn more.

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3 months ago, # |
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Yayyy... Finally it's happening! Another chance for a T-Shirt!!

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3 months ago, # |
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2023 season?

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3 months ago, # |
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It's happening!! Super excited!

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3 months ago, # |
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yay , super excited !!!!

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3 months ago, # |
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how hard to be ranked in 2000 in Meta Hacker Cup compare to Div1+2 round in cf?

I'm genuinely curious

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3 months ago, # |
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Yayy.... it's happening!!! very excited to participate for the first time.

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3 months ago, # |
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why doesnt hacker cup use simple testing like codeforces does. i had a really hard time last season

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3 months ago, # |
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Counting down the days to Meta Hacker Cup 2024. Long live Hacker Cup!

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3 months ago, # |
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Too bad Codeforces doesn't have "haha" react

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
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    Because the ai submissions will fall on their face?

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    3 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    Good luck to you @Swistakk . Last time you missed final round by just 44 seconds. This time, I am rooting for you to reach Final <3 .

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      3 weeks ago, # ^ |
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      Thank you! Recalling that I was so close last year actually gives me some hope xD

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3 months ago, # |
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nice, i am excited! i hope ill get t-shirt :)

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3 months ago, # |
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Same thing every year. Make promises to change submission format at the end of the year, and keep it same the next year :clown:

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
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    Real sad Google stopped organizing. They were the only ones who did annual programming contests right.

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
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    https://codeforces.me/blog/entry/119880?#comment-1063469

    Where did they promise?

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      3 months ago, # ^ |
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      Maybe 'promise' wasn't the right word, but I've been here long enough to recall SecondThread talking about updating the format. Even the comment you linked says they are looking into it. It used to be a fine format when there were so many annual contests, and it diversified the submission formats a bit. Now, I think it may be time to consider updating it for real. The only reason I can think of for not doing so is that they actually haven't put in any effort. Anyway, good luck everyone, may the stack limit be with you.

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        3 months ago, # ^ |
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        Perhaps they looked into it, decided it wasn't right for whatever reason, and moved on. Why do people want to make contests as same and boring as possible?

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          3 months ago, # ^ |
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          By boring you're talking about a submission format that reduces stress for participants? I'm sure it even reduces stress for them cos they won't have to answer hundreds of clarifications.

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            2 months ago, # ^ |
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            Or maybe get an actual IDE? Cause I bet that all of the top coders have their own IDEs which can compile the large testcase in literally ≤ 1 min.

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              2 months ago, # ^ |
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              I fail to see how an IDE helps here

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                2 months ago, # ^ |
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                well the only reason it's stressful would be if you test and your compiler can't process the testcase. And that can be solved using an IDE with the proper configurations. Otherwise the time limit is definitely sufficient.

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                  2 months ago, # ^ |
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                  How does a compiler process a testcase? You should read about IDEs, text editors, and compilers to understand their functions. You're mixing stuff up. Even if you're using the fastest IDE (whatever that is) how fast the program executes is still dependent on your computer specs.

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3 months ago, # |
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nvm

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3 months ago, # |
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I wanted to point out that the date of the finals coincides with the date of the Putnam collegiate math competition. It is not uncommon for people who are interested in competitive programming to also take part in such math competitions. Perhaps this could be looked at.

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3 months ago, # |
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Sir, is the submission system same like last time? If yes, please change it to like some online judges or like codeforces.

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3 months ago, # |
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In it, instead of solving problems manually, contestants will create an autonomous code generation system before the start of the contest.

and

Each contestant can compete either in the human track or the AI track, but not both.

Why are we not allowing a contestant participate in both the human track and the AI track?

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    2 months ago, # ^ |
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    Does it even matter? Nobody is going to choose the AI path anyways (I have only 3 candidates in mind and they are all companies)

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    2 months ago, # ^ |
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    Maybe because the problem statements are same?

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3 months ago, # |
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How will the T-Shirt be looking this year

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3 months ago, # |
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why dont u post youtube streams nowadays

love your channel

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3 months ago, # |
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Instead of having a timer for test data download, will AI participants have a timer for problem statement download? :pepesmug:

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
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    Yep. And your timer will start when the contest starts. So it’ll be like a 6 minute contest basically.

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3 months ago, # |
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Finally!!

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2 months ago, # |
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Is the judge system same as before like locally running and submit results?

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2 months ago, # |
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Hi everyone. I have a question: Will they deliver T-shirts to Ukraine?

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    2 months ago, # ^ |
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    Hi! The T-shirts are delivered by FedEx

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    2 months ago, # ^ |
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    If our delivery partners ship to your region, then we will. I recall last year Ukraine was one of the regions that FedEx didn't ship to. I'm not sure if this has changed since then.

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2 months ago, # |
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Yes yes yes yes let's goooooooo

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2 months ago, # |
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letss gooo

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2 months ago, # |
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LETS GO HACKER CUP IS BACK!!!

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2 months ago, # |
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is it happening?

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2 months ago, # |
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Is the only on-site round is the last? I also wanna know what is the difference between the AI and human versions?

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    2 months ago, # ^ |
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    The difference is written in the blog

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2 months ago, # |
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Excited

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2 months ago, # |
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What is the last date of registration?

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2 months ago, # |
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as its written, today is the day when registration starts, but its showing page is unavailable.

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    2 months ago, # ^ |
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    If you weren't signed into facebook before, we were accidentally preventing you from seeing the page before because your age verification was failing. It's fixed now.

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2 months ago, # |
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Why does the page show unavailable? The registration starts today right?

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2 months ago, # |
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Was there always an age limit?

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2 months ago, # |
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How comprehensive will the test cases be (if there will be any)? From what I have seen, test cases tend to make or break the solution search strategy in attempts at autonomous code generation like AlphaCode, for example.

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    2 months ago, # ^ |
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    Do you mean in the full data? We'll endeavor to make them comprehensive as we usually do, but there's always the general possibility that there's some weird edge case that a solution we didn't consider fails. You can see examples of the kinds of test cases you can expect in the previous years' data.

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Is anyone facing problem in signing up for Facebook?

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2 months ago, # |
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Will the finals be online?

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2 months ago, # |
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In the human track rules, unless I missed something, it is not prohibited to use directly AI, or something like in the AtCoder wording ("It is prohibited to directly input all or part of the information issued as problems into software"). Not sure it would be useful (yet...), but anyway does that mean it might be allowed?

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2 months ago, # |
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I have signed up. Can I change the size of my T-shirt ? If yes how ?

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    7 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    You’ll enter your shirt size when it’s about to be shipped to you later in the contest season

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7 weeks ago, # |
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Why is it so hard to create a new Facebook account?

After uploading a verification photograph, an appeal is automatically sent, and my account is disabled for no reason whatsoever within the next 24 hours.

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7 weeks ago, # |
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can someone tell where can I practice past problems and submit them?

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    7 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    Here, you can select any of the past seasons, and any of the rounds and participate. You do have to be logged in to submit though.

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7 weeks ago, # |
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Hi, what is the minimum age requirement?

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    7 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    18 years old

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      7 weeks ago, # ^ |
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      any rationale for this, or any chance this could be changed?

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        6 weeks ago, # ^ |
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        There's lots of scrutiny about showing the names of minors who competed on a publicly available scoreboard, and Meta didn't want to open themselves up to needing to defend doing so either in court or in public opinion. For what it's worth, this has always been in our Terms of Service.

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          6 weeks ago, # ^ |
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          Thanks for the clarification! I guess I've never read the ToS carefully enough in the past.

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          4 weeks ago, # ^ |
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          So it's ok for minors to have a Facebook account and be shown to the world but it's not ok to appear on a competition scoreboard?

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            4 weeks ago, # ^ |
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            You can tweak privacy settings when you create an account. You can’t with a leaderboard.

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              4 weeks ago, # ^ |
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              But you can't hide your name

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6 weeks ago, # |
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What's the difference between human and ai track?

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    4 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    In the human track, you write code to solve the problems yourself.

    In the AI track, you write a code generation system before the contest to solve the problems itself.

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4 weeks ago, # |
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I'm so excited about this year's contest!! Thanks for the post!!

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4 weeks ago, # |
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Was registration opened for only one day?

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    4 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    It's still open. You just need to sign into your facebook account to be able to register, as it says on the site.

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      3 weeks ago, # ^ |
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      For human track, will there be only competitive programming type questions or other?

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        3 weeks ago, # ^ |
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        All tracks will have questions similar to the kinds of things you'd see in competitive programming contests. You can see our questions from previous years as an example of what you can expect.

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      3 weeks ago, # ^ |
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      Is it still open now or has it closed? I can't see any registration button for round 1, for practice round it is still open though...

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      3 weeks ago, # ^ |
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      I tried creating an account, but it got disabled citing it doesn't follow community standards, and that I can't request a review of the decision. So, is there anyway you can help with it?

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3 weeks ago, # |
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Finally, a chance to get t-shirt :))

Excited !

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3 weeks ago, # |
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Can anyone please tell me if the registration for meta hacker cup round 1 has started or is it already finished, I am able to register for practice round but there is no button to register for round 1

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    2 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    It has started and hasn't finished yet. You must log into Facebook to be able to register.

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3 weeks ago, # |
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What Kind of questions can i expect in Round 1 ?

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    2 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    You can look at our questions from previous years to get an idea of what types of questions will appear in each round

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2 weeks ago, # |
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img I am unable to register for round 1

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    2 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    registration has not started yet i think for main rounds!

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    2 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    If you register for the practice round, we'll automatically register you for Round 1 afterwards.

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2 weeks ago, # |
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I cant update Email Address. I already updated my email at facebook account, but hacker cup site dosent get my email and I cant even write my email.

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    2 weeks ago, # ^ |
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    I just looked into the code that shows emails on the profile page and the Hacker Cup code doesn't even store your email. We're just reading from your Facebook user's primary email. So technically it seems like is/should be impossible for these to get out of sync with your Facebook email.

    Can you please send me a direct message explaining why you think these are out of sync and what you did to update your facebook account's primary email?

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2 weeks ago, # |
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i bet that problemset will have over 100k words

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I just opened hacker cup website and got to know that I finished in top 2000 in round 2 last season. I missed the t-shirt claim process. Can I claim now?? Hopefully not!! :)

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2 weeks ago, # |
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I have my email linked to my Facebook account, but it still doesn't appear on my profile.Could you please advise on what to do now ?

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    13 days ago, # ^ |
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    mine has not updated also ! Did your email updated ?

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      13 days ago, # ^ |
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      It seems like the issue hasn't been resolved yet. As SecondThread mentioned earlier, they get the email from Facebook’s primary email. However, I'm still unsure what the exact problem is. My email is public on Facebook, so there shouldn't be any issues with visibility.

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        13 days ago, # ^ |
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        i updated my email just 1 hour ago! Is it necessary to have an email to get a t-shirt ?

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          13 days ago, # ^ |
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          I guess the only way for communication regarding prizes is email.

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        13 days ago, # ^ |
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        Bro,if your problem get fixed then plz inform me also!

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    4 days ago, # ^ |
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    The contact info we use here is your primary facebook email. The easiest way to update this is in the facebook app if you go to Menu > Settings & Privacy > Settings > Search for "email" > Email, and then updating your primary email.

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2 weeks ago, # |
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I have successfully registered for the practice round, but when I attempt to access Round 1, it shows on the left side that I have not registered for this round. Could you please tell me with the registration process for Round 1?

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    13 days ago, # ^ |
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    You will be registered automatically if you registered for the practice round.

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9 days ago, # |
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Can I register for it now ? Or am I late

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What are the rules about AI for the human track? Can I ask for hints, solution, boilerplate code, debugging, refactoring, etc even though I’m participating in the human track? If not, how would that be enforced? Thank you.

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2 days ago, # |
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MHC Round 1 conflicts with the 2024 ICPC North America Qualifier (NAQ) which happens at 11:00 — 16:00 PT on October 5th. Considering many universities in NA use NAQ for team selection for ICPC Regionals, will there be another bye system setup like there was last year? Not sure how this would work since the only round before round 1 is the qualification round.

And alternatively, can future MHC rounds happen on Sundays since it seems like there will always be ICPC conflicts on Saturdays in October/November every year.

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