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{{Short description|Mind sport}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
[[File:ЯндексАлгоритм.jpg|thumb|[[Petr Mitrichev]] (left) and [[Gennady Korotkevich]] (right), two prominent competitive programmers during the 2013 [[Yandex]] algorithm cup|alt=Two men sitting at desks with a computer and papers sprawled on them.]]
'''Competitive programming''' or '''sport programming''' is a [[mind sport]] involving participants trying to [[computer programming|program]] according to provided specifications. The contests are usually held over the [[Internet]] or a [[local network]]. Competitive programming is recognized and supported by several multinational software and [[Internet]] companies, such as [[Google]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://code.google.com/codejam|title=Google Code Jam|work=google.com|accessdate=2016-02-20|archive-date=2023-05-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531191912/http://code.google.com/codejam/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.topcoder.com/tco12/overview-sponsor/tco12-sponsor-google/ |title=TCO12 Sponsor: Google - TCO 12 |work=topcoder.com |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216103218/http://community.topcoder.com/tco12/overview-sponsor/tco12-sponsor-google/ |archivedate=February 16, 2012 }}</ref> and [[Meta Platforms|Meta]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.facebook.com/hackercup|title=Facebook Hacker Cup|work=Facebook|accessdate=2016-02-20}}</ref>
A programming competition generally involves the host presenting a set of [[logic]]al or [[mathematical problem]]s, also known as [[puzzle]]s or challenges, to the contestants (who can vary in number from tens or even hundreds to several thousand). Contestants are required to write [[computer program]]s capable of solving these problems. Judging is based mostly upon number of problems solved and time spent on writing successful solutions, but may also include other factors (quality of output produced, execution time, memory usage, program size, etc.).
== History ==
One of the oldest contests known is the [[International Collegiate Programming Contest]] (ICPC) which originated in the 1970s
From 1990 to 1994, [[Owen Astrachan]], Vivek Khera and David Kotz ran one of the first distributed, internet-based programming contests inspired by the ICPC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Khera |first1=Vivek |last2=Astrachan |first2=Owen |last3=Kotz |first3=David |title=The internet programming contest |url=https://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~dfk/papers/astrachan-contest.pdf |journal=ACM SIGCSE Bulletin |volume=25 |issue=1 |year=1993 |pages=48–52 |issn=0097-8418 |doi=10.1145/169073.169105 |access-date=2020-03-10 |archive-date=2017-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808235401/http://cs.dartmouth.edu/~dfk/papers/astrachan-contest.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Interest in competitive programming has grown extensively since 2000 to tens of thousands of participants (see [[
== Overview ==
The aim of competitive programming is to write
Irrespective of the problem category, the process of solving a problem can be divided into two broad steps: constructing an efficient [[algorithm]], and implementing the algorithm in a suitable [[programming language]] (the set of programming languages allowed varies from contest to contest). These are the two most commonly tested skills in programming competitions.
In most contests, the judging is done automatically by host machines, commonly known as judges. Every solution submitted by a contestant is run on the judge against a set of (usually secret) test cases. Normally, contest problems have an all-or-none marking system, meaning that a solution is "Accepted" only if it produces satisfactory results on all test cases run by the judge, and is rejected otherwise. However, some contest problems may allow for partial scoring, depending on the number of test cases passed, the quality of the results, or some other specified criteria. Some other contests only require that the contestant submit the output corresponding to given input data, in which case the judge only has to analyze the submitted output data.
Online judges are online environments in which testing takes place. Online judges have
== Notable competitions ==
<!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER -->
=== Algorithm competitions ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Name of the competition<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kostka |first=Bartosz |url=https://kostka.dev/sp/spbook.pdf |title=Sports Programming in Practice |publisher=University of Wrocław |year=2021}}</ref>
!Organizers
!Audience
!Description
!Number of participants
|-
|[[Google Code Jam]] (GCJ)
|[[Google]]
|open
|Annual competition organized and sponsored by [[Google]] from 2003 until its cancellation in 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Celebrate
|32,702 (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Code Jam -
|-
|[[International Collegiate Programming Contest]] (ICPC)<ref>{{Cite web |title=ICPC |url=https://icpc.global/static/media/mainLogoMobile.12b91576.png |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=icpc.global |language=en}}</ref>
|ICPC Foundation
|university
|Team competition for university students, the contest consists of many regional rounds that conclude in a world final organized yearly. Teams consist of three students from the same university and they are allowed to use only one computer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Programming Environment – ICPC Documents |url=https://docs.icpc.global/worldfinals-programming-environment/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |language=en-US}}</ref>
|50,000+ (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=ICPC |url=https://icpc.global/static/media/mainLogoMobile.12b91576.png |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=icpc.global |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|[[International Olympiad in Informatics]] (IOI)
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|International competition for secondary school students. Organized yearly since 1989. Each country can send at most 4 participants to compete.
|349 from 88 countries (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Olympiads |url=https://stats.ioinformatics.org/olympiads/ |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=stats.ioinformatics.org}}</ref>
|-
|[[Facebook Hacker Cup|Meta Hacker Cup]] (formerly ''Facebook Hacker Cup'')
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|Annual competition held since 2011. Organized and sponsored by [[Meta Platforms|Meta]] (formerly [[Facebook]]).
|27,604 (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meta Hacker Cup - 2022 - Qualification Round |url=https://www.facebook.com/codingcompetitions/hacker-cup/2022/qualification-round |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=www.facebook.com}}</ref>
|-
|[[Topcoder Open]] (TCO)
|[[Topcoder]]
|open
|Annual algorithm competition held from 2001 until its cancellation in 2023<ref>{{cite web |title=FAQ - Topcoder Community Town Hall with Doug Hanson, Topcoder CEO |url=https://discussions.topcoder.com/discussion/26097/faq-topcoder-community-town-hall-with-doug-hanson-topcoder-ceo |website=Topcoder |access-date=28 February 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
|
|}
In most of the above competitions, competitions are usually organized in several rounds. They usually start with online rounds, which conclude in the onsite final round. The top performers at IOI and ICPC receive gold, silver and bronze medals. In the other contests, cash prizes are awarded to the top finishers. The competitions also attract the interest of recruiters from multiple software and Internet companies, which often reach out to competitors with potential job offers.
=== Artificial intelligence and machine learning
* List may be incomplete
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Main Organizers
!Description
!Status
|-
|[[Kaggle]]
|Google
|Data science, machine learning and mathematical optimization competition platform and online community.
|Active
|-
|[[AI Challenge]]
|University of Waterloo
|International artificial intelligence programming contest that ran from 2009 to 2011.
|Inactive
|-
|[[Halite AI Programming Competition]]
|Two Sigma, Cornell Tech
|Computer programming contest where participants build bots in desired programming language to compete on a two-dimensional battlefield.
|Unknown
|-
|[[Russian AI Cup]]
|Mail.Ru Group, My.com
|Annual artificial intelligence programming contest.
|Unknown
|}
===Contests focusing on open-source technologies===
*List may be incomplete
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
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| [[Google Summer of Code]]
| [[Google Inc.]]
| An annual program in which Google awards
| 2005
| Mar-Aug
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| [[Google Highly Open Participation Contest]]
| Google Inc.
| A contest run by Google in 2007-8 aimed at high school students. The contest is designed to encourage high school students to participate in open
| 2007
| Nov-Feb
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== Online platforms ==
The programming community around the world has created and maintained several internet-resources dedicated to competitive programming. They offer standalone contests with or without minor prizes.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="min-width:25%" | Name
! Description
|-
|[[Advent of Code]]
|An annual programming competition taking place during [[Advent]], with a new pair of puzzles released each day, up to and including Christmas Day. The second problem of each day is locked until the completion of the first part, and usually follows on from it logically. There are both global and private leaderboards for each year, where rankings are based on who solves the problem first.
|-
|[[CodeChef]]<ref name="Luigi16"/><ref name="oi_vol8"/>
| Maintained by Unacademy, it hosts a 3-day-long contest and a couple of short contests every month (one IOI styled called Lunchtime and
|-
|[[Codeforces]]<ref name="sigcse16"/><ref name="Luigi16"/>
| Russian
|-
| [[CodinGame]]
| [[Puzzle]]s (increasing difficulty), [[code golf]]. Hosts regular online competitions (
|-
|[[Codewars]]
|A community-driven platform with in [[Online integrated development environment]] where users solve [[kata]]—small coding challenges—in a wide variety of languages. Users earn ranks and honor as they complete challenges and create new ones. Emphasizes learning through practice and peer review, with solutions and discussions available after each challenge is completed.
|-
|[[HackerEarth]]<ref name="Luigi16"/> || [[Bangalore]], [[India]] based company providing an online contest like environment aiming at providing recruitment assessment solutions.
|-
|[[HackerRank]]
| HackerRank offers programming problems in different domains of Computer Science. It also hosts annual Codesprints which help connect the coders and [[Silicon Valley]] startups.
|- id="leetcode"
|[[Leetcode|LeetCode]]
|LeetCode has over 2,300 questions covering many different programming concepts and offers weekly and bi-weekly contests. The programming tasks are offered in English and Chinese.
|-
|[[Project Euler]]<ref name="oi_vol8">{{cite journal |url=https://ioinformatics.org/journal/v8_2014_21_34.pdf |first1=Sébastien |last1=Combéfis |first2=Jérémy |last2=Wautelet |title=Programming Trainings and Informatics Teaching Through Online Contests |journal=Olympiads in Informatics |year=2014 |volume=8 |pages=21–34 }}</ref>
|-
|[[SPOJ]]<ref name="Luigi16">{{cite journal |last1=Luigi |first1=William Di |first2=Gabriele |last2=Farina |first3=Luigi |last3=Laura |first4=Umberto |last4=Nanni |first5=Marco |last5=Temperini |first6=Luca |last6=Versari |title=oii-web: an Interactive Online Programming oii-web: an Interactive Online Programming Contest Training System |url=https://ioinformatics.org/journal/v10_2016_207_222.pdf |journal=Olympiads in Informatics |year=2016 |volume=10 |pages=207–222 |doi=10.15388/ioi.2016.13 |s2cid=6877554 }}</ref>
|Polish [[online judge]] system which provides a lot of problems for training, and provides a platform for other organizers to host their programming contests.
|-
|[[Topcoder]]<ref name="sigcse16"/><ref name="Luigi16"/>
| US resource and company, which organizes contests and also provides industrial problems as a kind of free-lance job; it offers dozens of short contests and several long ("marathons") every year. Specific feature - participants have a chance to check the correctness of other contestants' solutions after the coding phase and before final automatic testing (so
|-
|[[UVa Online Judge]]<ref name="sigcse16"/><ref name="Luigi16"/>
| Contains over 4,500 problems for practising. Hosts regular online competitions. Opened in 1995, it is one of the oldest such websites.
|}
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Participation in programming contests may increase student enthusiasm for [[computer science]] studies. The skills acquired in ICPC-like programming contests also improve career prospects, as they help to pass the "technical interviews", which often require candidates to solve complex programming and algorithmic problems on the spot.<ref name="sigcse16">{{cite journal |url=https://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~borja/pubs/sigcse2016-programming-contests.pdf |title=A Programming Contest Strategy Guide |first1=Aaron |last1=Bloomfield |first2=Borja |last2=Sotomayor |journal=SIGCSE '16: Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Dean|date=December 1, 2013|title=The Google Technical Interview. How to Get Your Dream Job.|url=http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/41881.pdf|journal=XRDS: Crossroads, the ACM Magazine for Students|volume=20|issue=2|pages=12–14|doi=10.1145/2539270|s2cid=27549057}}</ref>
There has also been criticism of competitive programming, particularly from professional [[Software development|software developers]].<ref name="rg15"/> One critical point is that many fast-paced programming contests teach competitors bad programming habits and code style (like unnecessary use of [[Macro (computer science)|macros]], lack of [[Object-oriented programming|OOP]] abstraction and comments, use of short variable names, etc.).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~stevenha/cs3233.html |title=CS3233 - Competitive Programming |last=Halim |first=Steven |website=NUS School of Computing }}</ref><ref name="rg15"/> Also, by offering only small algorithmic puzzles with relatively short solutions, programming contests like ICPC and IOI
Yet another sentiment is that rather than "wasting" their time on excessive competing by solving problems with known solutions, high-profile programmers should rather invest their time in solving real-world problems.<ref name="rg15"/>
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* Halim, S., Halim, F. (2013). ''Competitive Programming 3: The New Lower Bound of Programming Contests''. Lulu.
* Laaksonen, A. (2017). ''Guide to Competitive Programming'' (Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
* Xu, X. (2020) ''The development, prosperity and decline of Olympic in Informatics''. Published [https://archive.org/details/oi.pdf online].
* Kostka, B. (2021). ''Sports programming in practice.'' University of Wrocław.
== See also ==
* [[Algorithmic Puzzles]]
* [[:Category:Computer science competitions]]
* [[Code golf]]
* [[Game jam]]
* [[Hackathon]]
* [[Hackathon#Datathon|Datathon]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icaicte-13/8933}}
[[Category:Programming contests|*]]
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