In the Spring of 2023 we are hosting a competitive programming session every Friday from 5pm to 7:30pm (more information about this below). This is open to everyone interested in competitive programming, regardless of how experienced you are. There is also no commitment, so feel free to show up at any of the sessions. We will have free food and snacks during each session.
If you want to know more information about competitive programming check our about page. We also have a resources page with lots of links to materials of all levels for you to practice and learn more. Finally, if you are thinking about competing in the International Collegiate Programming Contests, check our contests page.
We have a Discord channel, to join please contact Pedro Paredes (pparedes_at_cs.princeton.edu).
We have regular sessions every Friday from 5pm to 7:30pm in Friend Center 008 New room!. You will need a laptop and optionally pen and paper to work on problems. Also, you don’t have to be there for the full two and a half hours, if you can only show up for an hour, please feel free to do so!
Each session is divided into two groups: the division I group; and the division II group. You are free to choose whatever group you want and you can switch at any point.
The division II group is intended for those with little or no competitive programming experience. On most weeks we will start with a short lecture on some introductory topic in competitive programming. Afterwards, we will have a practice problem solving session where you will work on a couple of problems, some of which will be related to the contents of the lecture.
The division I is intended for those with experience in competitive programming. Each session consists in a 2.5 hour problem solving session with problems of varying difficulties.
Note that most problems have appeared before in other competitions from around the world.
Our sessions are going to be hosted on a platform called codeforces. You will need an account in order to solve problems here. We also have a group you can join by going to the following link: https://codeforces.com/group/hNnRWqFua0/ (you should click on join on the right in order to access the problems).
End of Semester Special Constest - Prizes for the top students!
Short Lecture: Linear Recurrences
Division I contest: Link (topic: Linear Recurrences)
Division II contest: Link (topic: Puzzles)
Short Lecture: Maximum Flow Algorithms and Applications
Division I contest: Link (topic: Maxflow)
Division II contest: Link
Division I contest: Link (topic: Strings)
Division I reading materials: cp-algorithms article on prefix function | cp-algorithms article on string hashing
Division II contest: Link (topic: Math)
Division II reading materials: codeforces modular arithmetic article | cp-algorithms article on mod inverse | cp-algorithms article on sieves
Short Lecture: Binary Search
Division I contest: Link (topic: Segment Trees)
Division I reading materials: Chapter 9.3 of CPH | cp-algorithms article
Division II contest: Link (topic: Binary Search)
Division II reading materials: cp-algorithms article | cs-academy article
ACM Student Chapter of Princeton, Inc