Matjaz's blog

Is Topcoder dying?
By Matjaz, history, 7 years ago, In English

https://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=MatchList&sc=&sd=&nr=200&sr=1

Current numbers of match participants seem to basically be at around 20% relative to what they used to be just a couple of years ago. Any thoughts on why that has happened and whether it will ever change?

  • Vote: I like it
  • +130
  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (8)
| Write comment?
»
7 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +323 Vote: I do not like it

Problems are very nice. I think they are still one of the best contests in terms of the quality of problems.

However, the website is a nightmare. It was not bad at all several years ago, but somehow they decided to make it worse and worse. Now registration is harder than D1 hard...

I was brought up in TopCoder. I love it. I compete now because they took me to the world of competitive programming. I really hope that they will revive in the future.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    7 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

    Couldn't agree more. Were you with the company at some point? Do you know what the company's attitude is about this?

    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      7 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      (Since he hasn't answered yet) I think he was, judging by this blog post, where he mentions he was an admin for 4 years.

      → Reply
»
7 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

I'm pretty sure that marathon and especially algorithm competitions prevent TopCoder from further development as crowdsourcing platform. There is so much in my profile, in their newsletters, in their site that isn't suitable for algorithm competitions. But it looks like (I don't really know anything about it) it works well for all other stuff. I think that they should abandon algorithm competitions.

→ Reply
»
7 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +91 Vote: I do not like it

Well, the new design is a pain in the neck, the functionality is very buggy, but the problems are still very good, the frequency of the contest also sucks.

Maybe the company should make the algorithm part as a open source project and we as a coders could help to make topcoder great again.

→ Reply
»
7 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +150 Vote: I do not like it

TopCoder 2010:

  • Go to the main page. Click O(n).

  • Open arena applet. Login. Setup your favorite editor (e.g. kawigiEdit).

  • Enjoy good tasks from honorable authors!

TopCoder 2017:

  • Open the main page. Make some random clicks. Close the browser tab.

  • Go to your notes. Find some good old links.

  • Download arena applet file. Get proud (yay, you still remember how to compete here).

  • Click on the arena file. Get mad. Get sad.

  • "Okay Google, how to run untrusted Java application"

  • Open Java Control Panel. Find out that only High and Very High security levels are available.

  • Play with Java Security exceptions. Give up.

  • Open https://arena.topcoder.com/. Hide your pain.

  • Try not to cry no matter what.

  • Respect problem setters anyway, they deserve it for sure.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    7 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +70 Vote: I do not like it

    I'm running arena using icedtea. Not everything works perfectly but it's still better than the web arena.

    You also forgot about the part:

    • Open the main page. You are logged in.
    • Make some random clicks. It seems you weren't logged in.
    • Enter handle and password and click the login button.
    • Nothing happens. Try again.
    • Still nothing happens.
    • Maybe try another time?
    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      7 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -24 Vote: I do not like it

      Well, this is sometimes true for Codeforces too.

      → Reply