Hello people of Codeforces,
I really hate problems with too many edge cases or difficult implementation, so I've been avoiding such problems for far too long. Because of that I am really bad with casework and implementation. Most of the time I can come up with solutions but fail to implement them before the timer runs out on me. So I have decided to suffer through such problems to improve my implementation skills.
So give me the worst problems you have ever seen, problems with cruel edge cases or a cruel number of cases or problems with implementation much more difficult than their logic. Do your worst and I'll try my best to suffer through them.
Also share any cool implementation tricks you have for the problems with
or any general tricks to make the code smaller.
P.S. Is there anyone who actually enjoys casework !!!
this is a recent one that comes to mind, and this is the one I hate the most
Man I liked colored portals. I think it was a good problem..
the logic is fine, but the implemenration is so cringe. And also if i got AC on it i wouldve reached expert in that round, so i was even more mad
I do not hate problems (cause I can't hate if can't solve), but I don't like big paras of problem statement.
This div2C is absolutely hideous. Far too much casework. It's not even a good problem.... This is a problem I'm just really salty about because it made me lose almost 100 rating.
This
Today's problem https://codeforces.me/contest/2026/problem/B
problem B of today's contest 2026B - Black Cells
it was nice had an nice O(n^2) solution and a Binary search easy solution too
Pretty useful and easy to do when you have a separate solve function. Do this for every edge case:
if (edge_case) {do_something_with_it(); return;}This will ensure your code isn't plagued with numerous if-else and you stucking with wherever you're at, instead you just isolate every case and keep the main/remaining case last.
One example at an obnoxiously complex Div2A (1395A - Boboniu Likes to Color Balls): 288225817
For caseworking as a whole, my only advice is to solve more in problemset. Try to do it with the most convenient way you'd like (maybe reducing your code size could be one metric for that). Even if you AC, if you feel that your code looks too messy, try resolving that, too. Use this habit to slowly develop your own ways to do caseworking that's beautiful enough for your own eyes.
Sorry but this is the one 1771C - Hossam and Trainees for me