I often receive direct messages, many of which I ignore, though I do respond to some. Here, I’ve decided to write down answers to some frequently asked questions.

Going forward, I will likely continue to ignore most messages. If you really want a response, I think I can at least give some kind of reply if you support me with a positive amount via https://github.com/sponsors/maspypy.

I will probably not respond to most of the comments that this article will receive. However, if there’s something interesting, I may add it to the article.

Are there any tips for improvement?

Such overly common questions are best asked to tools like ChatGPT.

Are there any introductory articles I should read? Are there any books on competitive programming?

Please search the internet using keywords like "codeforces, tutorial", "competitive programming book".

What should I do to aim for IOI or ICPC?

Since I have absolutely no experience with these, I recommend asking someone else.

What problems should beginners try?

I recommend ABC (AtCoder Beginner Contest). I think the difficulty and required techniques tend to be more consistent compared to Codeforces. However, be careful as the later problems in a contest can sometimes be quite difficult.

On Codeforces, studying from div4, div3, or Educational Rounds would be a good approach.

How can you reach color X in Y months?

When I started Codeforces, I was already a red coder on AtCoder, so I probably had around Y-level skill from the beginning. However, at this point, I actually switched my main language from Python to C++, so it took some time to get used to it.

How do you solve so many problems?

When I started Codeforces, I was already a red coder on AtCoder, so many problems were simply easy for me. For example, you can see from the standings that top players can solve div3-level contests in about 20 to 60 minutes. In the very beginning, I started with such problems, so solving dozens of problems a day was easy.

Do you solve problems by yourself?

Basically, yes. I think I've referred to editorials for about 50 to 200 problems so far (just an estimate). As the number of easy problems decreases, I expect to rely more on editorials for the remaining ones (300+ problems are remaining).

I generally don't copy code from others, but there have been a few exceptions. Such as several problems in April Fool contests (which I don’t enjoy), or problems where the judge or problem statement seems to be broken.

Also, for special language contests including Kotlin Heroes, I often convert my code into another language using AI. Note that doing this during a contest is considered cheating.

Should I solve problems by contest or by difficulty?

I've rarely done "virtual contests" as a practice. My recommendation is just solve problems that match your difficulty level. But that's just my personal approach. There are also top players who primarily train through virtual contests.

How do you manage your libraries and create submission files?

The libraries I manage can be found at: https://maspypy.github.io/library/ I use online-judge-tools/verification-helper to expand the includes for submission. See https://github.com/online-judge-tools/verification-helper/blob/master/README.md

Can you be a writer or tester of our contest?

While I want to contribute to the competitive programming community, I'm already doing such work on AtCoder and have limited capacity. So at the very least, I don't intend to accept requests sent via Codeforces messages for free. (I did accept a request once, but the problem statements and test cases were of poor quality at the time of request, and it was a lot of work.)

Please solve this problem, Here's a problem statement

I generally won't respond to such requests, as they might contribute to cheating in an ongoing contest.

Please write an editorial for this contest/problem

Please contact the contest organizer.