Название: Guide to Competitive Programming: Learning and Improving Algorithms Through Contests, 3rd Edition
Автор: Antti Laaksonen
Издательство: Springer
Серия: Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science
Год: 2024
Страниц: 356
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf
Размер: 10.1 MB
This textbook features new material on advanced topics, such as calculating Fourier transforms, finding minimum cost flows in graphs, and using automata in string problems. Critically, the text accessibly describes and shows how competitive programming is a proven method of implementing and testing algorithms, as well as developing computational thinking and improving both programming and debugging skills. Competitive programming is still a popular and effective way to learn programming and problem solving. This third edition of the book has new chapters that discuss the use of Python in programming contests, how to prepare for the IOI contest, and the future of competitive programming. Competitive programming has its roots in the scientific study of algorithms. However, while a computer scientist writes a proof to show that their algorithm works, a competitive programmer implements their algorithm and submits it to a contest system. Then, the algorithm is tested using a set of test cases, and if it passes all of them, it is accepted. This is an essential element in competitive programming, because it provides a way to automatically get strong evidence that an algorithm works. In fact, competitive programming has proved to be an excellent way to learn algorithms, because it encourages to design algorithms that really work, instead of sketching ideas that may work or not.