Topcoder Open

Topcoder Open (TCO) is an annual design, software development, data science and competitive programming championship, organized by Topcoder, and hosted in different venues around US.^[1][2][3] Each year, the most successful participants of each competition track included into TCO are selected and invited for a free one-week trip to on-site finals, where they compete for prizes, and also socialize with each other, helping to build community sprit among the most active members. In the first two years, 2001 and 2002, the tournament was titled TopCoder Invitational.

Topcoder Open (TCO)
File:Tco18-logo.png Topcoder Open 2018 logo
Frequency	annually
Country	USA
Years active	2001 - nowadays
Inaugurated	Nov 2 - 3, 2001
Most recent	October 21–24, 2017
Activity	Competitive Programming, Data Science, Design, and Software Development Championship
Organized by	Topcoder
Website	http://tco18.topcoder.com

In addition to the main championship, from 2001 to 2007 Topcoder was organizing an annual TopCoder Collegiate Challenge tournament, for college students only. Also from 2007 to 2010 TopCoder High School competition was held.

From 2015, Topcoder Regional events are held through the year in different countries.

Competition Tracks

Competition tracks included in Topcoder Open tournament changed through its history. Many of them resemble the types of challenges offered to Topcoder Community through the year, but there is no 1:1 match. Here is the alphabetical list of all competition tracks ever present at TCO:

• Algorithm Competition (SRM) – 2001 - nowadays – The only track that was present at all main TCOs events, and at the most of other Topcoder events. Follows the format of regular 1.5 hours Single Round Matches:^[4]
  • The Coding Phase – 75 mins: All competitors are presented with the same three algorithmic problems of different complexity, each problem has its own maximal number of points. Problem descriptions are initially invisible. Competitors have 75 minutes to solve these problems. Competitor can open any problem description in any order; once he opened a problem, the number of points he can get for the correct solution of that problem starts decreasing over time. When competitor submits problem solution (a code that successfully compiles), he is awarded with the current amount of points he can get for that problem. He can re-submit a solution, getting the further descrease amount of points, minus extra penalty for the resubmission. During the phase competitors can see the current points awarded to each participant, but they don't know whether solutions of those participants are correct or wrong, thus whether these scores will hold after The System Testing Phase, or will be reset.
  • The Challenge Phase – 15 mins: Each competitor can see all submission done by other competitors. He can (optionally) challenge any of them, submitting test cases that will cause other competitor's submission produce a wrong result. Submission of correct challenge test case gives sumitter 50 points award, submission of an incorrect test case (i.e. the challenged solution can solve it successfully) will lead to 25 points penalty for the test case submitter.
  • The System Testing Phase – In the last phase system tests are automatically executed for all submissions from all competitors. If a submission fails testing, the scores awarded for that submission during The Coding Phase are reset to zero. The final scores after the system testing determine the winner.
• First to Finish (F2F) – 2009 - nowadays – Officially called as Mod Dash from 2009 to 2013, and First2Finish afterwards. Competitors are provided with set of small programming tasks (like bug fixes / enhancements in an existing codebase), and they get scores based on who correctly resolves each task first. The exact rules for on-site competition may vary from year to year.
• Information Architecture – 2015. Provided with client requirements for a software product, competitors are asked to create a wireframe mockup of the future app / website.
• Marathon Match (MM) – 2007 - nowadays – Officially called as just Marathon from 2007 to nowadays. Follows the format of regular MM competitions (a 1–2 weeks long online, and 1 day long during on-site competitions). Competitors are provided with the same algorithmic / data science problem, which is judged objectively with a live leaderboard, visible to everybody. Everybody can submit multiple times with no penalties, with the goal to come up with a code that scores the maximal possible amount of scores on that problem. During the competition the leaderboard is generated based on submissions testing against a limit number of test cases, and after the contest the final results are determined in a testing against a larger test dataset.
• Software Design – 2004 - 2014 – Officially called as Component Design from 2004 to 2009, and just Design from 2010 to 2014. Competitors were asked to take client requirements for a software component / product as input, and produce development documentation / technical specifications. Solutions were evaluated by a panel of judges according to objective scorecards.
• Software Development – 2004 - nowadays – Officially called as Component Development from 2004 to 2009, and just as Development from 2010 to nowadays. The actual rules differ from year to year, but, typically, competitors are present with technical specifications for development of a software component / application / tool, or with a more open, hackathon-style requirements, and they have about 4 hours to implement the component / product in the best possible way. Submitted solutions are evaluated by a panel of judges according to objective scorecards.
• UI Design – 2007 - nowadays – Officially called as Studio from 2007 to 2014, and UI Design from 2015 to nowadays. Competitors, provided with client requirements, are asked to create the best UI (visual) design for an software product / web portal, etc.
• UI Prototype – 2015 - nowadays. Competitors are provided with design specifications for a website / web-application, and they should create a working prototype of the frontend within a ~4 hours timeframe. The resulting submissions are judged against objective scorecards.

The List of Topcoder Open and Regional Events

The list of Topcoder Open and Regional events, and their winners[5][note 1]
Date	Event	Venue	Competition Tracks,[note 2] and their winners[note 3]
Jun 5 - 7, 2001	TCCC01 (San Francisco, CA, USA)[6][note 4]	Hilton San Francisco and Towers	SRM (  qubits)
Nov 2 - 3, 2001	TCI01 (Mashantucket, CT, USA)[7][note 5]	Foxwoods Resort Casino	SRM (  jonmac)
Apr 19 - 20, 2002	TCCC02 (Cambridge, MA, USA)[8][note 6]	University Park Hotel @ MIT	SRM (  Daniel Wright dmwright)
Nov 22 - 23, 2002	TCI02 (Uncasville, CT, USA)[9][3][note 7]	Mohegan Sun Casino	SRM (  John Dethridge John Dethridge)
Apr 4 - 5, 2003	TCCC03 (Cambridge, MA, USA)[10][note 6]	University Park Hotel @ MIT	SRM (  David Arthur dgarthur)
Dec 4 - 5, 2003	TCO03 (Uncasville, CT, USA)[11][note 8]	Mohegan Sun Casino	SRM (  Tomasz Czajka tomek)
Apr 15 - 16, 2004	TCCC04 (Boston, MA, USA)[12][note 9]	Boston Park Plaza Hotel	Dev (  roma), SDg (  Pavlo Aksonov aksonov), SRM (  Tomasz Czajka tomek)
Nov 11 - 12, 2004	TCO04 (Santa Clara, CA, USA)[13][note 10]	Santa Clara Marriot	Dev (  Standlove), SDg (  Adrian Carcu adic), SRM (  Tomasz Czajka tomek)
Mar 10 - 11, 2005	TCCC05 (Santa Clara, CA, USA)[14][note 11]	Santa Clara Marriot	Dev (  Gary Linscott gladius), SDg (  Adrian Carcu adic), SRM (  Mathys Vogelzang mathijs)
Oct 12 - 14, 2005	TCO05 (Santa Clara, CA, USA)[15][note 12]	Santa Clara Marriot	Dev (  Qi Liu visualage), SDg (  Nikolay Archak nicka81), SRM (  Eryk Kopczyñski Eryx)
May 3–5, 2006	TCO06 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[16][17][note 13]	Aladdin Resort and Casino	Dev (  Sindunata Sudarmagi sindu), SDg (  Tim Roberts Pops), SRM (  Petr Mitrichev Petr)
Nov 14 - 18, 2006	TCCC06 (San Diego, CA, USA)[18][note 14]	San Diego Marriot Mission Valley	Dev, SDg, SRM
May 18–20, 2007	TCHS07 (West Lafayette, IN, USA)[19][note 15]	Purdue University	SRM[note 16]
Jun 26 - 29, 2007	TCO07 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[20][note 17]	The Mirage	Dev, Dg, MM, SDg, SRM
Oct 30 - Nov 2, 2007	TCCC07 (Orlando, FL, USA)[21]	Disney World Contemporary Resort	Dev, Dg, MM, SDg, SRM
Mar 14 - 16, 2008	TCHS08 (West Lafayette, IN, USA)[22]	Purdue University	SRM
May 11–15, 2008	TCO08 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[23]	The Mirage	Dev, Dg, MM, SDg, SRM
Jan 3 - 24, 2009	TCHS09 (online-only)[24]	online-only	SRM
Jun 1 - 4, 2009	TCO09 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[25]	The Mirage	Dg, F2F, MM, SRM[note 18]
Feb 27 - Mar 20, 2010	TCHS10 (online-only)[26]	online-only	SRM
Oct 11 - 14, 2010	TCO10 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[27]	The Mirage	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, SDg, SRM
Sep 25 - 28, 2011	TCO11 (Hollywood, FL, USA)[28]	Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, SDg, SRM
Sep 30 - Oct 4, 2012	TCO12 (Orlando, FL, USA)[29][30]	Caribe Royale Hotel	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, SDg, SRM
Nov 10 - 14, 2013	TCO13 (Washington DC, USA)[31][32]	Capital Hilton Hotel	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, SDg, SRM
Nov 16 - 19, 2014	TCO14 - San Francisco (CA, USA)[33][34]	Pier 48	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, SDg, SRM
May 31, 2015	TCO15 - St. Petersburg (Russia)[35][36]	ITMO University	Dev, SRM
Jun 20, 2015	TCO15 - San Francisco (CA, USA)[37]	MemSQL HQ	Dev, SRM
Jul 18, 2015	TCO15 - Tokyo (Japan)[38]	Dwango offices	Dev, SRM
Aug 22, 2015	TCO15 - Jaipur (India)[39][40]	Manipal University	Dev, SRM
Sep 21 - 22, 2015	TCO15 - Yogyakarta (Indonesia)[37][note 19]	Eastparc Hotel	Dg, Pr
Nov 8 - 10, 2015	TCO15 (Indianapolis, IN, USA)[37][note 19]	Omni Severin Hotel	Dev, IA, MM, SRM
Jun 5, 2016	TCO16 - Beijing (China)[41]	ThoughtWorks HQ	SRM
Jun 17, 2016	TCO16 - New York City (USA)[42]	Google offices	SRM
Jul 30, 2016	TCO16 - Jaipur (India)[43]	Hotel Clarks Amer	Dg, SRM
Aug 6 - 7, 2016	TCO16 - Yogyakarta (Indonesia)[44]	Hotel Royal Ambarrukmo	Dg
Sep 3, 2016	TCO16 - St. Petersburg (Russia)[45]	ITMO University	SRM
Nov 18 - 21, 2016	TCO16 (Washington DC, USA)[46]	Booz Allen Hamilton Innovation Center	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, Pr, SRM
Apr 29, 2017	TCO17 - Austin (TX, USA)[47]	Capital Factory	SRM
May 7, 2017	TCO17 - St. Petersburg (Russia)[48]	ITMO University	SRM
Jun 24, 2017	TCO17 - Beijing (China)[49]	Meituan-Dianping HQ	SRM
Aug 12 - 13, 2017	TCO17 - Yogyakarta (Indonesia)[50]	Hotel Royal Ambarrukmo	Dg
Aug 20, 2017	TCO17 - Bangalore (India)[51]	Cowrks	SRM
Sep 2, 2017	TCO17 - Warsaw (Poland)[52]	University of Warsaw, Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics	SRM
Sep 8, 2017	TCO17 - Pittsburgh (PA, USA)[53]	Google offices	SRM
Oct 21 - 24, 2017	TCO17 (Buffalo, NY, USA)[54][55][56][57]	Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, Pr, SRM
Upcoming
May 12, 2018	TCO18 - Warsaw (Poland)[58]	University of Warsaw, Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics	MM, SRM
May 26, 2018	TCO18 - Beijing (China)[59]	Jingdong HQ	SRM
TBA	TCO18 - India (TBA)	TBA	TBA
TBA	TCO18 - Indonesia (TBA)	TBA	TBA
TBA	TCO18 - South America (TBA)	TBA	TBA
TBA	TCO18 (USA, TBA)[60]	TBA	Dev, Dg, F2F, MM, Pr, SRM

Notes

1. Golden background highlights main Topcoder Open events of each year, where that year's champions were determined for related competition tracks.
2. The following abbreviations are used in the table "The list of Topcoder Open and Regional events": Dev = Software Development (Code); Dg = UI Design (also called as Studio Design); F2F = First to Finish (also called Mod Dash); IA = Information Architecture (Wireframes); MM = Marathon Match; Pr = UI Prototype; SDg = Software Design (also called Component Design, and just Design); SRM = Algorithm.
3. Topcoder member nicknames are given in italic
4. Officially titled 2001 TopCoder Collegiate Challenge
5. Officially titled 2001 TopCoder Invitational
6. Officially titled Sun Microsystems TopCoder Collegiate Challenge
7. Officially titled 2002 TopCoder Invitational
8. Officially titled 2003 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Intel
9. Officially titled 2004 Topcoder Collegiate Challenge Sponsored by Yahoo!
10. Officially titled 2004 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Microsoft
11. Officially titled 2005 TopCoder Collegiate Challenge Sponsored by Yahoo!
12. Officially titled 2005 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Sun Microsystems
13. Officially titled 2005 TopCoder Open Sponsored by AMD
14. Officially titled 2006 TopCoder Collegiate Challenge Sponsored by AOL
15. Officially titled 2007 TopCoder High School
16. Individual and team competition
17. Officially titled 2007 TopCoder Open Sponsored by AOL
18. Software development competition that year was online-only, and it was divided into Architecture, Assembly, Component Design, Component Development, and Specification sub-tracks.
19. In 2015, on-site finals for UI Design and UI Prototype competitions where held at TCO15 Yogyakarta event; and other on-site finals: Competitive Progamming (SMR), Information Architecture, Marathon Match, Software Development were held at TCO15 Indianapolis event.

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