Hi Codeforces,
After a recent comment about me not being able to reply to people — I thought I should answer all the questions I can in one place.
Feel free to ask me any questions you have! As a somewhat experienced Competitive Programmer, Problem Setter, Coordinator and DSA interviewer — I will try to answer all the questions I can.
I would also like to bring to your notice, a new YouTube channel (name subject to change) that I am starting with sirjan13 and antipr000, where we will be covering various CS aspects like Competitive Programming, Projects, System Design, etc.
My idea about my role in it so far is:
- Screencasts of contests I participate in, where I explain solutions as I solve
- Problem Solving: Discussing problems I find educational along with some interesting or commonly asked logical puzzles.
- Problem Setting Playlist — Some guidelines for Problem Setting, a tutorial on how to use Polygon and campus.codechef
Other possible things would be discussing interview questions, teaching some topics (I'm considering teaching Dynamic Programming — since almost all videos teach bottom-up, while I prefer and find top-down approach much more intuitive), lockout streams, etc.
Let me know any suggestions regarding what be most interesting for you to watch! I'm considering also making a video based on this blog — where I discuss all the relevant answers in detail.
What are your hobbies?
My hobbies are:
Your favourite anime?
It's really hard to choose one.
Top 5 Anime: One Piece, Clannad After Story, Cross Game, Steins;Gate and Touch
Favorite Anime Movies: "Your Name" and "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas"
You can see my detailed anime listing here (with how much I rate them).
Based on the pfp I guessed Hyouka might have been one of them, but ig thats not the case :0
Hahaha, it's actually not even in my Top 50 — I just found the thinking pose appropriate for this site
where is attack on titan???
I have less(((
Have you seen Sound Euphonium! by any chance? I highly recommend if it if you have not. Also, Steins;Gate is one of my favourite anime too.
Yep, I've seen it already :D
Have you seen tatami galaxy.
+1 for "Your Name" and "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas"! Love them watching!
didn't you play computer games?
That's all I did till 8th grade, but my eyesight got worse.
I briefly played Osu and a couple of MMORPGs after that — but during that time, it again rapidly got worse (probably because I have no control and spend whole day playing) — so I stopped computer gaming :(
:(
Don't you face the same issue with coding also? How do you balance your time to manage your eyesight now? Some tips would be really helpful.
What's your favourite TV show?
It's a tie between Friends and Suits! They're both amazing shows, and I've watched them 6 and 3-4 times respectively.
Haven't you tried The Big Bang Theory ? :O
Would love to see your Spotify Playlist!
never ask a person for their spotify playlist
How hard was it for you to achieve colour red?
I think it was 4000 problems hard lol.
I don't practice and haven't for a long time, but I make it a practice to give all contests I can — because that's what is fun for me and over time and some local mashups with friends — the problems accumulated and my knowledge/intuition got better :)
why did you chose to work at Codenation despite knowing their WLB is bad?
Having interned myself at Codenation, I didn't find the work life balance bad.
As you can see, I continue to take part in contests and hopefully will have enough time to record videos for YouTube too.
Oh, that's great. I heard/read a lot about bad WLB on internet about Codenation that's why asked. Best of luck to you for your Youtube channel.
What's the story behind your handle?
Lol, was already using the handle since the past on other websites and I lacked creativity, so here we are :P
Who do you think you are?
A 22 year old guy who's interested in problem solving and mainly trying to keep himself busy and finding things that make him happy :)
Savage and Humble.Liked it.
Why didn't you use "Ashishgupta" as you username, instead of using "Ashishgup"? :P
It started from Facebook/Instagram etc where obviously that wasn't available, since it's a common name — and having used the handle for years before starting CP, I just decided to use the same.
Sadly, on sites I don't get Ashishgup, I have to use Ashishgup1
Google or codenation which will you prefer?
I don't know honestly — both have their perks.
Google provides better job perks, has more job stability, and the projects impact users worldwide.
Codenation has a lot of growth in terms of technical skills due to varied projects, we get complete ownership of the projects and basically work according to our own timing — also pushing the products from scratch to finish in timespans of 2-4 months, which I think is hard at MNCs due to the permissions involved, documentation, etc.
Overall, I find both the companies equally exciting to work for.
Ashishgup :(
Do you eat or drink something while solving rounds or problems?
Drink => Yes, water/juice pretty frequently
Eat => During unofficial participation or if I am atleast halfway through the contest, yes — but very occasionally
subscribed!! looking forward to learn DP from you!. orz
Thanks! :D
What do you prefer ?
4) Dogs and Cats. Dogs probably a little more because of their unconditional love <3
Do you have pets? If yes introduce them(with pic maybe)! ▼・ᴥ・▼ (❍ᴥ❍) ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
No, I don't have any pets yet :(
Hope to have a cat and a dog in the future tho :D
don't want to spam but your username doesn't let me stay in peace either :D
So I would like to ask you the same question. also, how do you prefer it.!
maybe gaand_faad_dunga and Naithani can help :D
Why do you do Competitive Programming ?
Mainly because I love solving logical problems. It is fun for me.
I am anything. Ask me eva
It's rotavirus now.
You repeated this joke with ecnerwala if I recall properly, but have my upvote.
it was in Not-Afraid's blog
Explain your dp?
dp[rotavirus][feet_fetish] += dp[eva][feet_fetish] + 1e9 * feet;
when you upload your first video in youtube
Hopefully sometime in the coming week (maybe even as early as tomorrow with the Div3 — but it depends honestly)
"The question that I want to ask, that we all want to ask, is: who are you? I've never heard of you! Nobody in Europe has ever heard of you!"
nah, just kidding, welcome to the club <3
Working in India vs abroad:
1) did you try to apply for internships/placements in the US?
2) are you planning to relocate to the US?
1) No
2) Not as of now — mainly because of my very limited food palate and my friends/family, I am not very keen on relocating to anywhere outside India right now.
Did u ever think at the start of your journey of CP that you would be RED One day? Just want to know with what all things you start your journey .
At the beginning, yes — I was optimistic, but the confidence began to fade with time
I was confident in eventually reaching there — but the goal just seemed to get harder
Can You share Your Journey from once a beginner to reaching red. What different things you did that others didn't. How did you keep yourself motivated, How did you manage your time being a College Student?
And What Advice you would like to give your Juniors who want to improve their rating and learn new things.
b/w Wishing You a Very Happy New Year !!
Journey:
As for managing time while being a college student — my college does not have any minimum attendance policy, and for the 4 years of my college, I have attended almost 0 classes in total — so I had a lot of time, but I also spent a lot of it on watching anime/TV shows.
My main advice would be — try to give all contests and upsolve the problems you could not solve, and don't obsess so much over rating that you actually stop enjoying competitive programming.
"my college does not have any minimum attendance policy, and for the 4 years of my college, I have attended almost 0 classes in total — so I had a lot of time, but I also spent a lot of it on watching anime/TV shows" How much time did you actually spend watching anime cuz that story sounds dangerously familiar to me lol
Lol, you can see my profile here. I've seen ~9500 episodes of anime so far :P
do you mind if you can tell me which year of college you are in?
I graduated this year. I wish college life lasted longer, and certainly not ended in a home quarantine though :(
What was your practice strategy in the period 'Expert to CM'?
Learn and practice basic algorithms required for Div2C-D level problems:
Besides these, I gave contests, upsolved problems and generally discussed problems with my friends
How much is you cp experience helping you in your professional job?
Not very much — it helps with mostly implementation related details and some optimisations here and there!
It did help me get 2nd spot for an internal gaming bot contest in the company though (My bot won 50% times against the winner's bot, depending on who played first) :P
What's the story behind choosing that profile picture?
I just wanted a picture that showed some sort of contemplation (because that's what we do mostly on CF), and hence I chose this picture
how can i memorige bitset of lenth 1010(bitset<1010>) or greater..
I don't know, I've never required it — although I don't see the relevance of the size of bitset (why 1010 specifically?)
actually i need bitset greater than 1000(as given array size of my problem is 1000).i want to solve a problem with bitmask dp..as the size of array is 1000 so i thought can i use bitset to handle it..but i can't memorize this bitset..
What do you mean u can't memorize it
No.I can't memorize bitset..please help..i can't understand how to memorize bitset.
How to approach a Dp problem!? and how to get that idea :(
For me, thinking recursively (top-down) makes it much more approachable than thinking iteratively. Just try to come up with a working recursion and then try to kick out the unrequired parameters.
Other than that, solving problems is the only way to improve.
I don't want to ask anything, just want to say me and my friends are fan of you.
Thank you! That's always motivating to hear :D
Who do you look up to?
I look up to my parents, tourist and Bill Gates — all of them due to different reasons :)
How would you describe your ICPC journey?
Not having practised seriously for my last 2 attempts at ICPC is a bit sad — ironically, our team peaked in the 2nd year, achieving a regional rank 5 in ICPC Kolkata-Kanpur out of ~200 teams.
Other than that, it was always fun to go to different cities, meet other coders that I had met online — and overall it was a very memorable experience.
I hope to be a part of ICPC as a setter/coordinator/etc even in the future :)
How you focus on practicing or participating in contest, when you have a bad day or really tied day. And in your early days have you ever faced a situation in which the contest is of 2 hours or more and you coded for 1 or 1:30 hours but after that your brain doesn't want to think anymore or its tired, even when you have the intuition for the next problem and if you have faced it then how did you handled this situation.
I can't focus on practicing alone — I always did it with some friend.
Regarding contests — If I am having a bad day, contest usually helps me put my mind off it, but if I am too tired to give the contest, I just leave it.
Regarding implementation of a problem — yes, it happens. For me, the logical part of the problem is what makes CP fun for me, almost most of the implementation is just something I do to get AC — but if the implementation is too much, I leave the problem.
tech skill that Ashishgup have except cp
Well, I know some Python/Java/Django and a lot of AWS services since I work with them!
From where did you practice problems when you were a beginner? I mean you solved A2OJ ladders or filtered problems in the problemset?
Also, how many hours did you practice on an average in a week?
Thanks for the AMA
Practice: When I was <= CM, I guess I practiced 20ish hours a week, besides giving contests. After that, I must have practiced around 5 hours a week on average (I did give all contests though).
As for how I filtered problems, it was a mix of random CF problems/going through my friends' submission pages/a2oj and codedrills.
If you get stuck at a problem during a contest then for how long you give it a try before moving to the next problem?
Depends on whether I think a different problem is more approachable. If I don't get any ideas in the first 2-5 minutes, I generally at least read the next problem statement, because it may be easier for me or more interesting to me — but I guess I try the problem for 15-20 minutes before jumping to solve the next one (and then come back if I am not getting anywhere with that problem too)
Do you have a gf?
Ignore the fake accounts. No, I don't have a gf at the moment
Can you please share how you prepared for codenations and what all resources did you used?
For resume round — I just went through my project to ensure I knew everything about it.
For DSA round — I saw the 1-2 answers on Quora where people discussed their CN Interview Round problems
For System Design — I watched Gaurav Sen's videos
How did u got into bits pilani ? Can u give me some tips , I am confused abt college and what to do in 11th and 12th besides cp (i am in 10th if that matters).
I don't have any advice as such — just practice PCM problems as much as possible and give various mock tests to practice for the real one.
Do you have a girlfriend?
If yes, what did she found interesting in you(other than problem-solving skills xD) ?
Ignore the fake account — I don't have a girlfriend at the moment, but when I do, I'll ask her to answer this question :P
What is this fake account your talking about here?
He is talking about Ashishguq and Ashishqup which are troll accounts and were commenting abusive answers to the questions asked. Due to the codeforces magic, they were causing lot of confusion in the comments section. Their comments got deleted though
Ashishgup any review after looking at my rating graph ? Thank you.
nice graph :__:
You seemed to have gone from Pupil to Expert quickly — and I like that you consistently give most of the contests.
Hard to give a review as such, but I feel that if you continue this way, you should easily improve over time :)
Can you share your GOOGLE interview experience? (on YT, if possible). Thanks in advance!!
Sure! I'll cover my interview experiences in some YouTube video in the near future
I am sorry, but I am just fed up of seeing Youtube channels, starting with CP and later getting converted to some interview preparation channels.
We are honestly aiming at all sorts of audiences — CP, interview, problemsetters etc — which is also why we have 3 people on the channel, who will be focussing on different things.
We will have playlists for every section, so you can see the videos that are more relevant to you :)
Your biggest achievement ?
I have never really thought about it.
I think that becoming famous in the CP community, reaching Red and setting/coordinating well received rounds are the biggest achievements I have
Can you look at my profile and tell something about it(suggestions,feedback etc) Ashishgup
If possible, mine too :)
Is this your main account or a fake account? Also, is your name by any chance related to my ICPC team name? xD
Based on the rating graph — I would just advice you to keep giving contests — only based on 6 months — it's hard to track progress, but I feel you should become consistent expert now :)
This is my main account. I never noticed you had a team with the same name. Actually, when I started, my aim is to become candidate master, but at that time(and still) was a noob. So, that's how I came up with the name :)
Sorry for the late reply — I love how you have continued to take part in almost every contest and not given up. I can see that there's a slow and steady rise, I can't advice very much based on the standing alone, but try to solve problems around 1800-1900 difficulty — I think that will help!
.
I resubmit the same problem only to improve the code quality — it's sort of an OCD, I just try to make the codes clean when I come across a question I want to show someone or if it is brought up and I think is an educational problem.
Your weirdest place where you gave a coding contest would be ? XD
Ignore the fake accounts.
I guess it would be one of:
How do you manage to solve so many problems in such a short amount of time? What was your schedule during your practice days?
It is mainly because a large majority of my solved problems are easy problems. This is because:
Case in point:
That's almost 2000 problems <= Div2C level on CF alone.
Would you go for LGM title or be a bit inactive now, focusing on new things..
You have submitted some problems twice or thrice and that also months and year apart..
Do you really used to solve good problems even after getting AC.. If yess that hats off!!
I think LGM title is out of my reach — I am hoping to be IGM one day at least, but I am certainly not going to practice for it.
I just solve problems I find interesting, and I don't feel like learning advanced algorithms or data structures anymore.
My resubmission on old problems is due to my OCD of removing some badly written code and replacing it with good neatly written code lol.
Initially when you didn't knew various techniques like DP, Bitmasking, etc. How did you learn that stuff. Reading books/YT or just solving problems? Would love to know, thanks in advance :)
I read about it from HackerEarth tutorials/cp-algorithms! I mostly learnt them when I came across them in some problem and failed to solve it
Are you gay?
Yes
Any special reason to use "cache" instead of "dp" ?
I write recursive DPs — and hence, I like to name my function dp because that's what it is doing, while I name the storing container cache because it is acting like cache, nothing else.
I guess I just got used to this naming convention
Do u have any girlfriend? :XD
No
Can I ask two ?
1. What projects you developed when you were in the University ?
2. How did you manage to do them besides doing cp ? (I am so addicted to cp that development work feels boring to me)
1) I did not actively work on any project — I just did the course assignments and the internship projects — 2nd year was Blockchain related, 3rd year was API Integration tool related where we explored Ballerina programming language, and now I'm working mostly in Python/Java/Django.
2) I only did the projects when I was required to — so I wasn't making time for them as such.
(requires courage to answer) Do you masturbate ?
waiting for him to answer ! ROFL
He said ask me anything thus i asked .
:((
Is it possible to reach Candidate Master in a year provided, I don't have any CP club at college, nor much people who are into CP?
Yes. I believe that CP is mostly self-taught, and if you have the motivation to reach CM and practice for it, you can reach it within a year.
you have solved nearly 3000 problems on codeforces, how did you solve problem, i mean topicwise, rating wise or is there any problem archive.
I mainly listen to Pop, EDM and Bollywood!
I have too many favorite music bands/artists and no particular one to list lol
Your favorite problem(preferably below 1800 on Codeforces or of similar difficulty).
It is impossible to list all of my favorite problems — there were a lot of good ones in 2020, but I'll try to shortlist some examples and possibly discuss them on YouTube later
When you will make your next contest on cf?
I don't know — I don't think it will be in the near future :(
How to find cp friends??i Don't have any single friend with whom i can discuss problems??Fake accounts plz don't spam this
I honestly don't know — you could probably try messaging some people who had made blogs about similar issues, or create a new blog looking for someone around your level you can practice with!
1) Which companies you interviewed for during your final year?
2) How many offers you got?
Any advice on how to prepare for those companies?
1) Google, Media, AlphaGrep, Plutus
2) I cleared all of the rounds I gave, although I didn't choose to continue with further rounds in some cases because I wasn't interested
@Preparation, just prepare DSA well, and have a good idea about your projects, DBMS, OOPS, OS and the tech stack mentioned on your resume.
hi ashishgup, I am a big fan, my level is currently 1630 and max rating of 1735. what would you suggest to reach 1900 rating.The catch is that i have given more than 80 contests but still unrated. I also rarely upsolve ( maybe that is one thing i can work upon too. )
I suggest upsolving more frequently and learning some topics if you aren't aware of them and they are used till problems of Div2E level. For eg: Eulerian Circuit in a graph.
I hate a certain type of problem like constructive problems, that's why I am bad at it. What to do in that case?
Any advice(except practice questions) for preparing for ICPC.
Personally, since I do CP for fun and not as seriously for a contest etc, I never learnt things I did not like. Eg: Suffix Structures, or Geometry, etc. But honestly, the only thing you can do is try to solve the problem anyway.
For ICPC, divide the topics among the team members and master the topics you have chosen, I think that goes a long way.
What was your CGPA? If it was low or average did it effect your internship interview? I asked this because you told that you attended 0 classes.
My final graduation CGPA is 8.50 and no it did not affect any of my interviews or shortlisting.
was it hard for you to become red? , I am really stuck in Pupil although I am solving many problems and training hard, do you have any advice for me?
Yes, it took me 4 years to become Red — I wasn't practicing actively, but I was giving all the contests etc, and it is a long time, and as you can see from my graph — I was stuck as orange for a very long time!
For advice, try to upsolve the problems you could not solve, and besides just understanding the proof of why the editorial logic is correct, also try to think of how you could have approached the problem the way they did — try to build an intuition.
did u train for math parts anywhere specifically for greedy based problems, or is it just your intuition skills to made you red. Do you prove your logic's?
Dang, you really are training hard. I admire that. I should train harder too.
What were your academic projects? Can you share your resume?
You can find his resume here
How did you become so pro at Among Us?
Hahaha, it's been 4+ months since I last played — really miss the game. Should probably start playing occasionally again :P
Don't wanna ask anything but thanks for writing clean codes that I like referring to instead of the editorials most of the time. They are really elegant.
Thanks! :D
Ashishgup Where is hello 2021 ?
I don't think Codeforces is having one due to lack to Div1+2 type problems. It's sad :(
Hopefully they hold some variant of it later on :)
I'm glad that I am not the only persone who noticed an absence of "Hello 2021". Otherwise that could've a plot of some anime :)
But I am still curious why Mike haven't mentioned this anywhere yet + I thought such an important contest should be prepared in advance.
What will You advice a Tier 3 peep new to Competitive Programming ? Also after solving some good number of problems you felt your progress got stuck at some moment of your wonderful journey ?
My advice would be just to take part in contests actively, upsolve problems and not get so rating obsessed that CP stops being fun for you.
As for progress getting stuck, I think my 2+ years as Orange speaks for itself xD
I would like to take part
Did you study CP during school?
No, sadly I only found out about it after entering college :(
add into your code to get luck // warm heart, wagging tail,and a smile just for you! // ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ //▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▒▒▒▒▒▒╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▒▒▒▒▒▒╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬▒▒▒▒▒▒╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬▒▒▒▒▒▒╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ ▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ ▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓ //╬╬╬╬▓▓ ▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ //▓▓▓▓ ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓ // ▓▓╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ //
Hi! First of all, huge fan! Congrats on your achievements and GL for more!! Main query: any strategy to get to Expert from Pupil. I read through the comment section so far and realised that you have mentioned one from Expert. So, wanna know how to get there. (as you can see in my graph, I had to take a brief gap of 6 months in between. I then started to solve Div. 3 in Virtual contest mode, but realised that I got stuck at C/D. So, I have been practicing approx 50 probs each from 1200 to 1600 difficulty by sorting acc to #submissions + do contests now and then. I have started 1500 level right now).
Also, how long to spend on a problem? So far, if I don't get an idea, I see in 15 mins. Is that counter-intuitive? I feel confused about this part since below Expert level, I am guessing that we aren't aware of classic types of problems? Please answer my queries and or provide more insights in these aspects. Thank you!
Thank you! I think solving 1400-1600 difficulty problems is a good way — it will show results if you keep up with it
As for how long to spend on a problem, I personally never spend more than an hour on a problem, and it generally averages around 30 minutes before I give up.
@Counter-intuitive, it works differently for different people. There are Reds who don't see the solution and come back to it later, while there are others like me who view the editorial pretty quickly. I think as long as you understand the logic and also the intuition behind how to reach it (even if it's by reading the editorial), it is enough.
What does "a good math background" mean?
It is similar to what Errichto has:
LGMs revealing their secret tricks
thats physics
How to write such neat and clean codes like you???How do you maintain this habit even in the last moment of any contest?
Just make conscious efforts to keep the code neat and clean — eventually, it will become a habi and it is not something you have to maintain.
I mean, if I only write code neatly, I don't have to think about it or waste more time just because that's what I am most comfortable with anyway.
What's your typing speed?
My average typing speed is between 90-100 WPM. Profile
I haven't given a typing test for a while now, though.
plz make a video on roadmap to cp ..like what to learn after what.. cz it is very usual to get lost at cp. Hope u'll get it & make asap..thanks
Sure, I'll try to make some videos on that
Can you suggest me some good resources to practice problems from , for low CMs or high experts? Maybe some good problem set or olympiad(easy enough for me but still challenging) ?
I think Codeforces problemset is good enough and sufficient — I mainly only used that
You became an expert on Codeforces in just a month. Were you active on other platforms before joining Codeforces?
I was active on HackerRank for a month or two before giving a contest on Codeforces
Why are you doing this?
I mean writing this blog.
After a recent comment about me not being able to reply to people — I thought I should answer all the questions I can in one place.``Any advice on how can a tier-3 college student get good placement offers?
I think having either a good CP profile, or some outstanding projects on your resumes/taking part in competitions & hackathons helps a lot.
Credit card number and OTP
What all offers you had in hand apart from Codenation? Were you accepted or rejected by Google?
I answered the first part above. For Google, I cleared all the interviews and as of now, the answer is neither :P
Don't you feel bad when you see your fellow mates getting selected in google(or FAANG) irrespective of their Coding level when compared to you? Does this demotivate you somehow?
did you do CP prior to codeforces?
Just a bit on HackerRank, but I was also doing Codeforces at the time
Sorry , ignore!! I realised its too dumb to ask -_- -_-
Far too often I find myself panicking if I cannot find the solution to a problem, which ultimately leads to a poor performance, even though the solution might be something trivial which I probably could have found out if I remained calm.
My question is how to remain confident and perform at my maximum potential in contests?
I think that happens with everyone — at least, it happens with me too, so I don't think I am a good person to answer that
Personally, I just try to leave the problem and come back to it after some time to hopefully get a new perspective than being stuck on the same one
How are people changing their account rank colors?
Considering you have done that, you obviously know. For others: There's a magic tab on your profile which will allow you to change the color.
Thanks!!! It took some exploring but I finally found it :3
Ashishgup any review after looking at my rating graph, I have solved nearly 800 problems, but the problem is most of them are easy ones, so can u please give me some kinda tips for future improvement or a strategy to follow. Thank you.
As you mention yourself — you solved mainly easy problems. My suggestion would be, try to step outside your comfort zone, and possibly solve problems with a friend than alone, because I believe that helps practice better.
If someone does a huge number of problems( of varying difficulties ) like you did, will he definitely become a successful competitive programmer like Master on codeforces? Thank You.
I don't think that's true — I believe everyone has a somewhat limit on their capabilities (for example, I don't think I can reach LGM even if I do CP for next 10 years) — but obviously, solving more problems etc will definitely help you improve, even if only a bit.
I am not an HR but "Where do you see yourself 5 years from now" :P
Hahaha, I honestly don't know. I have no clue what job I will be at, or which city I would be living in and where I would be overall in my life at all. Just trying to live in the present for now.
What is your favourite color sir .
I honestly don't think I have one — but when it comes to clothing, I prefer to wear Black Tshirts :P
How are you sir ?
Thanks for the question! I'm actually in a somewhat bad point of my life right now, but I'm trying to get through :)
Can you become my tutor to help me reach Red ?(Suggesting problems,discussing implementations,post-contest discussion)
I am fine in English and Spanish.
Hi, I'm sorry — I don't have the time to tutor anyone personally :(
I'm actually skeptical about the time I will be able to devote for YouTube as well — but in that case, it would be helping a lot more people.
If you have any topic or video that you would want to learn from me and you think would benefit others, I will definitely try to take that into account.
Sir why there is so much nepotism from your side on codechef,when any body submit good question in codechef for setting it as a problem in contest you just reject them all by saying that they are just standard questions and if a person whom you know personally submits a question you just accept it without even seeing the logic which is of easy implementation type,not even this much I will not say much but in some of your contests on codeforces you have just taken the question from codechef changed it a little and made it ready for solving, you yourself see the level of question in contests of codechef especially in the rounds conducted by you and of the students whom you have selected personally, I am not saying to every question because I know you can't take everything in your hand there are other people also who do not believe in nepotism and some questions were really good.
I don't have any nepotism. I only accept problems I think are good — the reason it usually comes from people I personally know is that they keep proposing a lot of problems and I reject most of them and now they kind of know the kind of problems I accept.
For rejected questions, I have nothing against any author lol — if I have seen the same or a very similar idea before, it is my job to reject that.
PS: My first CF contest of the year with antontrygubO_o, he rejected more problems than he accepted as well — and I get why. So obviously I improved the level of my problems or stopped proposing ones that I thought were standard in some way.
when you go to sleep and when you wake up?
I have a very random sleep cycle — for the last 6 months, I have slept on average at 6-7am in the morning, and woken up around 3-4pm.
What advice would you give to a non CS/Math/EE major looking to get a good internship in 3rd year?
There are a lot of ways of getting one — but for India, I think having a good CP background is sort of a must, considering the screening CP tests followed by primarily (and in most cases, only) DSA rounds that follow, for internships.
Do we need to submit test cases also if we want to make problems for CodeChef?
No, you propose a problem with just the problem statement and the intended solution — for every site. The testcases are prepared if the problem is approved, otherwise it is just wasted effort.
That's what I was worried about. Thanks :)
what do u think about IIT-JEE and its effects on indian highschool lstudents?
I think that most of the students and teachers stress over it too much — if the preparation is done in moderation, I think it can be fun! For me, I practised it like I do CP- mostly just solved problems from topics I liked, so for me, it was an enjoyable experience
But I believe that parents and teachers specially need to stop treating it as an end-of-the-world most important test of your life, because it's simply not.
The most important question: Your best anime girl?
Hard to choose — but it's probably Makise Kurisu.
CF Spoiler tag is broken for images — so bear with it xD
Hey! I've been struggling with CP off late. I am unable to concentrate much on a question and I (many times) give up on an approach very quickly, only to find later that I was actually on the right path! What should I do, according to you, to get over this?
Also, good to see a fellow Punekar in the highest ranks :)
Thank you! For the concentration — all you can do is try to think about the approach longer (but not get stuck on it, because it might also be the wrong approach), and explore various other approaches if you are not getting anywhere with the first one.
Personally, I try exploring various approaches and then spend time on them in decreasing order of what I think their correctness is.
How to make a good test in a problems?
That is a very problem specific question lol. One thing that helps is trying to intentionally come up with wrong solutions or randomised solutions — and then breaking them.
PS: I thought amnesiac_dusk changed his name to balbit
I don't know — all of the current IGMs are good candidates for reaching LGM obviously. I don't know who will stick with CP and see it through to reach LGM though. No offense taken btw, I don't think I can reach LGM either ways — I am not practicing at all, and I don't even know some very famous algos/DS like Suffix Structures, DP Optimisations, Treaps, etc.
I believe it is mainly because we are introduced to CP after entering college — which I believe is late in almost all cases.
Do you like your job ? Is it more interesting than cp?
Yes, I like my job and find it interesting! But if I had to compare, I would say that CP is more fun for me right now :)
How did you overcome from any failure if you could not perform well in past contests.??
I just kept pushing through and not giving up, because not taking part or quitting altogether would definitely not help me improve — so I always thought and think that even if my rating drops for now, it will eventually rise because I am gaining knowledge with time/learning from my mistakes.
How did you stay motivated when your rating was stuck or when you consistently did not perform well even after lots of efforts?
I stopped obsessing over ratings and focussed more on enjoying the problems — you can see that I was stuck as Orange for over 2 years! Ofcourse it gets demotivating sometimes, specially when you perform terribly, but just thinking that "If I quit, I will definitely be even far behind my peers who do not give up, so I should try to stick with it and enjoy the process" helps push me through.
Who is your favorite actress in Hollywood?
I don't have any favorites — never really thought about it! I have a couple of favorite Bollywood actresses lol.
when did you start cp?
Around 2 months into my first year of college — although I got more serious about it since winter vacations started
How much rank did you get at JEE? And if ever given am oppurtunity, would you go through those two years of your life in which you prepared for JEE again? What is the single best day of your life?
My JEE Rank was 4500 — and I don't mind going through that time period at all — because I did not stress or burden myself with any preparation. I only solved problems on topics I liked (pretty much like I do in CP), so overall, I found it pretty fun!
Single best day of my life — I never really thought about it, but the few moments that do come to my mind, are a bit personal
How much do you bench?
I don't xD
How did you start and how did you reach this level ? :D
I will make an elaborate video on this in the near future — but if I had to put it into one sentence, it would be practice and consistency.
Ingenious way to promote(launch) YouTube channel. 0 Videos, 600+ Subscribers.
By your name, I can probably say that you're an indian like me... can you tell me if how did you started your journey ? and how to went to legendary Grandmaster on codeforces ?
you probably are an IITian
can you recommend me something from where should i start ?
i am just a class 9 student who does basic c++ programming...
Love to talk with you on discord
Hi Sir, it's great to see that you are so consistent with CP even while doing a job. My request to you is ...kindly make a video or write a blog about your codenation experience.
Also, upto what rank in CodeAgon are people selected for an interview at Codenation?
Thank you
What are the various practising strategies which you have adopted and have worked for you?
Currently, I am in the 4th semester of my B. Tech and I would like to ask what are the relevant topics in DP and graphs for cracking tech interviews in India and also if you could tell some of the advanced topics which are frequently being asked in the coding interviews.(BIG FAN)
What is your favourite topic in cp ?
Btw i have learned so many things just by reading your codes, especially in dynamic programming.
My favorite topics are: Randomised Algorithms, Dynamic Programming, Flows and AdHoc problems :D
Ashishgup Deleted because Ashish ignored my comment:(
I mostly Googled them — or discussed the problems with my friends! There is not much else you can realistically do — besides maybe creating a blog and asking for help. I didn't practice much on Spoj myself.
What plans do you have to reduce Cheating in Codechef Long Challenges?
In an ideal world, I would want the Long ratings to be separate from the overall ratings — I don't know how feasible it is, and also, there seems to be no way to deal with cheating (since it is happening in short contests like Goodbye as well), so I honestly don't know if there is any solution for this
I will talk to the administration and see what can be done.
What would be your practice advice for a specialist-level coder who want to perform well in CodeAgon.
Mainly just practice problems and master DP/Graph Theory — the cutoff score is usually such that you don't need to know much more than that, only how to apply it.
Are you Gay?
I have heard many software engineers say they are not enjoying their job and it is just for money they do it? Is this the same with you ? Or it varies over time and projects involved with you ?
It varies over time and projects for sure!
Ofcourse I don't enjoy every aspect of it (specially debugging/testing can get tiresome), but there are other aspects I do enjoy, like writing the backend code or improving the efficiency of code.
I am Koumudi. Would you be my friend?
great !! how do I solve this one ? https://codeforces.me/group/ZEXri9keRR/contest/309946/problem/M
... : )
When we'll get another Ashishgup round?
How could you maintain 8.5cgpa without attending a single class? What are your preparation strategies for Semester exams?
did you get any offer from google ever?
Not yet, but I didn't get any rejections either :P
This was long awaited. Please start with the atcoder educational dp contest Ashishgup.
I used to dry-run many of your solutions to understand them.
Sure, I'll take that into consideration! Thanks :D
What is the average hours in a day you devoted toward competitive programming.
I answered it above — over the last 4 years, the average must be around 1-2 hours, mostly because of contests :)
https://atcoder.jp/contests/abc186/tasks/abc186_e can you please explain this question
Your codes for recent Div 3 say you were trying to screencast.. Where is it? Or something did not work?
Link
To stop cheating through YouTube videos , codechef's YouTube channel can give copyright strikes to these cheater's videos. After 2 copyright strikes, channel is banned. After getting few copyrights, these cheaters will stop making YouTube videos for cheating. Maybe you can recommend this method to Codechef admins.
Who is stopping them from making a new channel and how many will be reported by codechef?
It doesn't take much time to give a copyright strike. Making a video and uploading takes alot more time and resources. After getting ban 2-3 channels they will give up because if these cheaters would have been so determined then they would have given their time to CP.
Yes sure! I will try to see what can be done with regards to all this :)
Are you an avid book reader ? If yes what genres of book do you like
No, I have barely ready any books :(
Being a red on CF, how do you react/reply to your neighbor/relative who come to you to repair their computer/mobile device knowing that you are a "computer engineer". I admire you btw.
It hasn't happened so far lol — not very many people know CP. I don't think anyone outside a contest location or a college (say a mall, or restaurant or building) has ever recognized me so far (or even if they did, they certainly did not approach me).
Ashishgup Tag your CP friends during your college days.
Haha, there were quite a few — I don't want to spam them! In college, I mostly solved problems with Mahir83, ViciousCoder and jimmy18.
Cards + CC was ultimate fun!!! Also sad Harshit noises in the background xD
Wow! Ashish sir video's now will be available.
As a fact, I learned dp in general and that too top down approach mostly by solving dp questions and going to standing and seeing your code.
Thank you!
Thank you!
recursive or iterative??
Recursive — it is more intuitive to me.
Apart from teaching Dynamic Programming, can you also teach important topics which help in reaching the Div1 tier (International Master, and above) such as 2 sat, Chinese Remainder Theorem, etc?
Yes sure! I will try to eventually cover topics that are not well covered at present.
How is this possible?Link Legendry Grandmaster with less than 1500 rating? Is it a new bug? And there are many profiles like this.
Look at my rating graph. What suggestions do you have for people like me who get frustrated and demotivated?
Sir please look at my solution for this https://codeforces.me/contest/1471/problem/C, which give tle during the contest, but if I just add a single line of fast IO it get accepted. I just want to say that solution giving wrong verdict just because of the absence of fast io is totally meaningless. What is your opinion on this?
can you make a video regarding solving technique of this problem.
https://discuss.codechef.com/t/how-would-you-solve-bitwise-and-sum-from-interviewbit-bit-manipulation-contest/82912
How many problems are proposed in codechef on an average everyday?
Sex or Solution "Accepted"? Pick one. :D
how many girlfriends you have right now ?>
Is competitive programming enough for getting placed in good product based companies??
Deleted.
Competitive programming is a sport and it is never meant to be considered as a parameter for getting any job. Read this article for more clarification
sir, you are awesome, big fan of yours !!
Do you have a Girlfriend? If yes, How you manage your time?
DIN ME CODING
RAAT ME CHODING
Anything?
sorry couldn't help myself :P
Can you give me some advice to become purple?
Reach blue first
Nice advice :)
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How to get a girlfriend
Rent her,if possible her
Help me out https://codeforces.me/blog/entry/120370