There have been moments when I just submit my solutions during the last minutes of the contest. But today was one of the best adrenaline rushes I have had while giving a contest. I didn't really like today's problem D because it was just "guessy", so I was struggling to find some pattern that worked. I thought of a solution in the last minutes and with my heart rushing went to coding it. My hands were trembling and I was struggling to implement the solution as my thoughts were all jumbled up. At around 1 minute, I took a look at the timer and the pressure was exhilarating. With just 15-20 seconds left, I finished the implementation and tested the samples. At around 11 secs, I opened the browser and clicked on the 'Submit Code' button. And at almost 1 sec, I submitted my solution. This was a great feeling, but I still hate the problem. :)
Similar happened with me too, but unfortunately due to trembling it became 02:00:01 T_T
The thrill of CP turned into depression of CP
Before success comes failure, so keep at it.
Yes! Hope I make it 01:59:59 next time :P
But whether or not you like problem D, you must agree you are the luckiest person ever
Sometimes after failure comes failure.
Am I really the unluckiest coder ever?
Solved C literally 1 minute after contest ended T_T
sorry, something similar happened with me on problem B (Edit: nvm, my algo was incorrect)
Plot twist: epsilon_573 deliberately made the submission at 01:59:59 so that he can brag now :)
nah man I would rather submit early, reach 2100 and brag about that.
same energy
Your time of submission is literally $$$02:00 - \epsilon $$$.
this was in a contest yesterday on one of the private groups.
Man, my face turned red, I don't take a breath, standing up to code faster. I think I reached 200 wpm while I was writing the code. I was sweating like I am under the sun directly although there is a fan next to me.
I compiled the code and there is still one minute! good? yup but if my code compiles and runs. My code gives a lot of compilation errors I was fixing each one and when it compiles and runs I submit it without trying the samples, and then all of sudden the contest ended without knowing the verdict.
I was refreshing the page 200 times in the second XD until I found it accepted. the feeling in that time was like. ooooooof i made it!
Note: the contest ends 21:30 obviously XD
I made the first submission 120122150 for this problem 1539D - PriceFixed less than a minute before the end of the round and it passed pretests, imagine my joy at that moment!
After an hour and a half, I saw that it had not passed the system tests just because i made a little mistake with indexes in two-pointers solution...
Good old CP days
For what it's worth, there's a fairly straightforward way to get around many problems like this one without simply guessing correctly: write a brute force solution and spot the pattern. I figured out the pattern for this problem in under five minutes by writing a program that, given $$$N$$$ and $$$K$$$, outputs the lexicographically minimal string of length $$$N$$$ that satisfies the given condition and uses only the first $$$K$$$ characters. (The constraint on $$$K$$$ was included to prevent the program from, for example, outputting
abcdefor $$$N = 5$$$, which obviously would have been impossible to extend to larger $$$N$$$.) If you're tired of scrambling around blindly on open-ended constructive problems, writing a brute force is generally a good way to start.Congrats on the 1:59:59 solve, though!
I usually write brute force solutions if I am stuck. I wrote one for C today, suspecting of some pattern. But it didn't just cross my mind to try it for D. And thanks for the nice advise + the extra $$$K$$$ parameter hack. Will surely come in handy during some future rounds.
Excellent job! Another example why you shouldn’t give up and keep trying literally until the last second of the round
Guessy...
Let first letter be $$$x$$$
Next must be different, let it $$$y$$$
Next must be not $$$x$$$ and not $$$y$$$, so... let it $$$z$$$