Welcome to Codeforces Zoo
Every competitive programmer is actually an animal in disguise. Which one are you?
The Tortoise
- Reads problem A for 1 hour.
- Writes clean, commented code.
- Solves 1 problem per contest, but never gives up.
- Rating goes up slowly but surely.
The Rabbit
- Solves A, B, C in 15 minutes.
- Thinks they’re a genius.
- Gets stuck on D, panics, drops rating by 200.
The Eagle
- Spots the key observation in 2 minutes.
- Writes 10 lines of code.
- Leaves the contest to take a nap.
The Penguin
- Uses Python for everything.
- Gets TLE on test 23.
- Posts on Codeforces: "Why C++ is faster than Python???"
The Octopus
- Typing with 8 hands.
- Has 20 templates, macros for everything.
- Code is unreadable but somehow correct.
The Lion
- Only wakes up for Div.1 contests.
- Prefers problems nobody else dares to touch.
- Rating graph: flat, sudden +300, flat again.
The Snail
- During contest: nothing.
- After contest: solves every problem calmly.
- Rating is low, but true skill is very high.
The Monkey
- Randomly changes code until it passes.
- 20 submissions per problem.
- Finally gets AC and screams: "EZ!"
The Dragon
- Masters DP, graphs, number theory.
- Writes editorials in comments before the official editorial.
- Everyone fears them in contests.
The Unicorn
- Solves only problems with funny statements.
- Doesn’t care about rating.
- Just vibes.
The Donkey
- Uses ChatGPT / Telegram to solve problems.
- Sucks at prompt-engineering too.
- Gives 20 prompts to ChatGPT to AC div2A and then feels proud about themselves.
The Meerkat
- Always on a lookout, keeps refreshing standings.
- Problems solved : bare minimum.
- Barks at rating predictor : "Why is my delta negative!?"
The Cheetah
- Speedruns D2ABC, D3ABCD, and D4ABCDE, but almost in every contest gets stuck on the next one.
- Topic knowledge: excellent.
- Rating Graph: Flat, +50, -150, Flat, ...
The Panda:
- Always eats during contest
- Wonders why he can't type
- Depressed because always gets negative delta
Closing
So… which animal are you?
Or invent a new one in the comments (bonus points if it’s cursed).
