Topcoder: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:54, 14 July 2006

Revision as of 04:36, 28 August 2006

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'''TopCoder''' is a company which administers contests in [[computer programming]]. TopCoder hosts weekly online algorithm competitions - known as SRMs or "single round matches" - as well as weekly competitions in design and development. The work in design and development produces useful software which is licensed for profit by TopCoder. Competitors involved in the creation of these components are paid royalties based on these sales. The software resulting from algorithm competions - and the less-frequent marathon matches - is not usually directly useful, but sponsor companies sometimes provide money to pay the victors. Statistics (including an overall "rating" for each developer) are tracked over time for competitors in each category.

{{cleanup-remainder|January 2006}}

==Types of Competitions==

'''TopCoder''' is a company which administers contests in [[computer programming]]. Contests are typically in these formats:

*'''Algorithms''' - (competition length:2 hours) Competitors are given a set of usually three algorithmic problems and have 75 minutes to correctly solve as many as they can.

*'''Algorithms''' - Contestants are presented with a set of algorithm problems and have 75 minutes to solve as many of the problems as they can. For each problem, submissions are tested against a range of inputs and only those solutions that answer all inputs correctly receive a score. Points are assigned based on the total time taken for a given problem to be completed. Points can also be earned or lost by "challenging" other competitor's submissions - ie. submitting input cases that cause a rival's submission to fail.

*'''Design''' - Over(competition the course of alength:1 week,) designersCompetitors competeare to convertgiven a set of user requirements and attempt to convert them into a usable software design specification. Their efforts are judged on a variety of "real-world" criteria on how correct and practical their design is.

*'''Development''' - Developers(competition length:1 week) Competitors are given weeka set of design specification and attempt to write software components that match a given designthose specification. These components are judged on their functionality and coding style.

*'''Marathon Matches''' - Contestants(competition are given alength:1 week) to produceContestants theirare bestgiven softwarea solution to aparticularly difficult algorithmalgorithmic problem. The scoring is done by computer based on criteria specifically suited to the problem.

TopCoder hosts weekly online algorithm competitions - known as SRMs or "single round matches" - as well as weekly competitions in design and development. The work in design and development produces useful software which is licensed for profit by TopCoder. Competitors involved in the creation of these components are paid royalties based on these sales. The software resulting from algorithm competions - and the less-frequent marathon matches - is not usually directly useful, but sponsor companies sometimes provide money to pay the victors. Statistics (including an overall "rating" for each developer) are tracked over time for competitors in each category.

In addition to the regular competitions above, TopCoder hosts a number of large events throughout the year:

*'''Google Code Jam''' - Each summer Google sponsors a set of TopCoder competitions with qualifying rounds and a tournament structure. There are also regional Google Code Jams which are restricted to - for example - participants from China; these occur throughout the year

*'''TopCoder Open''' - An annual event which features algorithm, design, and development competitions in a tournament structure - culminating in a live finale for the top competitors.

*'''TopCoder Collegiate Challenge''' - An annual event in which college students compete for money and school glory.

The [[business plan]] behind [http://www.topcoder.com topcoder.com] comprises several objectives. One goal is to be a recruitment center where companies can come to find programmers who are proven to be highly skilled, and where talented programmers can display their skills to a worldwide audience. Large companies sponsor TopCoder events to gain credibility with and exposure to talented developers. TopCoder also software sells licenses to use the growing body of components that have been developed in competition. Finally, TopCoder acts as an [[outsourcing]] center, allowing companies to farm out custom design and development tasks to TopCoder competitors.

==Algorithm Competitions==

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* '''System-Testing phase''' - Each problem that survives through the challenge phase is run on many diverse test cases. Coders are awarded points for problems that pass all test cases, based on the speed and difficulty of problems solved. At the end of the contest, ratings are updated to incorporate each participating coder's performance.

==Component Design and Development Competitions==

TopCoder initially awarded money every week to [[coders]] who did well in the weekly competitions, or Single Round Matches (SRMs). SRMs are now sponsored by outside companies such as [[Google]] and [[Yahoo!]], and for a while, prize money was only awarded twice a year to winners and finalists of the TopCoder Collegiate Challenge (TCCC, which is in the spring) and the TopCoder Open (formerly the Invitational, which is in the fall). As of [[June 2005]], some weekly SRMs began to once again award prize money.

==Component Design and Development==

TopCoder hosts design and development competitions in which coders can compete to create [[software componentry|component]]s and [[application software|applications]] that are either generally useful, or that third parties have contracted for.

TopCoder design and development competitions are week-long competitions. New components are posted every Wednesday, and coders can choose a component from a list of [[Java programming language |Java]] and [[Microsoft .NET|.NET]] components, and they have a week to design or develop their chosen component. Each week new components are posted. Development components are generally components that have been designed in a previous component design contest.

==Marathon Matches==

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==Annual Events==

*'''Google Code Jam''' - Each summer Google sponsors a set of TopCoder competitions with qualifying rounds and a tournament structure. There are also regional Google Code Jams which are restricted to - for example - participants from China; these occur throughout the year

*'''TopCoder Open''' - An annual event which features algorithm, design, and development competitions in a tournament structure - culminating in a live finale for the top competitors.

*'''TopCoder Collegiate Challenge''' - An annual event in which college students compete for money and school glory.

==Prizes==

TopCoder initially awarded money every week to [[coders]] who did well in the weekly competitions, or Single Round Matches (SRMs). SRMs are now sponsored by outside companies such as [[Google]] and [[Yahoo!]], and for a while, prize money was only awarded twice a year to winners and finalists of the TopCoder Collegiate Challenge (TCCC, which is in the spring) and the TopCoder Open (formerly the Invitational, which is in the fall). As of [[June 2005]], some weekly SRMs began to once again award prize money.

==Competitions, Ratings, and Divisions==

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Coders have since been divided into two divisions, Division I and Division II. Division I consists of all coders with a rating of at least 1200, and Division II consists of all coders with a rating of 1199 or less. Coders are grouped in rooms with other members of their division, in groups of up to 20 coders in such a way that within each division, the average coder ratings in each of the rooms are roughly equal.

==TopCoder as a Business==

The [[business plan]] behind [http://www.topcoder.com topcoder.com] comprises several objectives. One goal is to be a recruitment center where companies can come to find programmers who are proven to be highly skilled, and where talented programmers can display their skills to a worldwide audience. Large companies sponsor TopCoder events to gain credibility with and exposure to talented developers. TopCoder also software sells licenses to use the growing body of components that have been developed in competition. Finally, TopCoder acts as an [[outsourcing]] center, allowing companies to farm out custom design and development tasks to TopCoder competitors.

== See also ==