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Quora: Math Classes for Competitive Programming

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Oct 14 0

Although solving practice problems is the most direct way to get better at competitive programming, learning discrete math provides a foundation for understanding algorithm topics: What math courses should I self-study to do very well in programming competitions like HashCode, Codeforces, and TopCoder? (answer) I’m doing most of my writing on Quora this year. For […]

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Quora: Is a Take-Home Project a Good Interview Format?

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Oct 7 0

Since everyone hates algorithmic coding interviews, there are always ideas about alternative formats. What about giving candidates a take-home project? Are take-home projects where software engineers are asked to solve a real world problem he/she is likely to encounter at work, a better way to judge their skills instead of asking hard data structures and […]

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Quora: Practicing for Five Hours Per Day

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Oct 1 0

You can find this type of question all over the place on Quora, but it can still be interesting to apply some numbers to it: Can I beat Gennady Korotkevich by practicing every day for 5 hours and performing better than him in a competition? (answer) I’m doing most of my writing on Quora this […]

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Quora: TopCoder for Coding Interview Preparation?

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Sep 23 0

Competitive programming sites and interview preparation sites have a lot in common, but they aren’t interchangeable: Is TopCoder the best place to practice coding interview questions? (answer) I’m doing most of my writing on Quora this year. For more information, see A Project for 2020.

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Book Review – Algorithmic Thinking: A Problem-Based Introduction

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Sep 14 0

As any student pursuing a technical degree knows, problem sets are a big part of math, physics, and engineering classes. Computer science works a bit differently. While CS theory classes use problem sets similar to those in math and science, other classes often require CS students to turn in code that compiles and runs. Some […]

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Quora: Math for Coding Interviews

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Sep 9 0

Sometimes the barrier to coding interview success is math rather than algorithms and data structures, or programming fluency: I can’t solve some of math fundamental problems in HackerRank. What should I do? (answer) I’m doing most of my writing on Quora this year. For more information, see A Project for 2020.

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Quora: How to Practice LeetCode

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Sep 2 0

Practice is important, but not all practice is equally useful: What is a better method to learn LeetCode than just practicing it? (answer) I’m doing most of my writing on Quora this year. For more information, see A Project for 2020.

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Quora: CodeChef DSA Learning Series

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Aug 26 0

CodeChef is running a series of learning-oriented contests that may be useful for people working on algorithm fundamentals: What basic data structures and algorithms knowledge do I need to be able to solve easy problems on CodeChef? The transition from “beginner” to “easy” category felt overwhelming. (answer) I’m doing most of my writing on Quora […]

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Quora: Should You Prove Your Competitive Programming Solutions?

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Aug 19 0

Writing proofs is slow. Solving programming contest problems is supposed to be fast. Is there any relationship between the two? Are top competitive programmers good at writing proofs? (answer) I’m doing most of my writing on Quora this year. For more information, see A Project for 2020.

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Quora: How to Use the LeetCode Problem Discussion Boards

By Duncan Smith Leave a Comment Aug 12 0

A benefit of LeetCode’s current popularity is the wide range of solutions in the discussion board for each problem. What’s the best way to use these? What do you see as the main benefit of stopping to look at the Discuss board when trying to solve LeetCode problems? (answer) I’m doing most of my writing […]

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Getting Started

Are you new here? Check out my review posts for a tour of the archives:

  • 2023 in Review: 50 LeetCode Tips
  • 2022 in Review: Content Bots
  • 2021 in Review: Thoughts on Solving Programming Puzzles
  • Lessons from the 2020 LeetCode Monthly Challenges
  • 2019 in Review
  • Competitive Programming Frequently Asked Questions: 2018 In Review
  • What I Learned Working On Time Tortoise in 2017
  • 2016 in Review
  • 2015 in Review
  • 2015 Summer Review

Archives

Recent Posts

  • Will AI Coding Assistants “Deskill” Us? January 30, 2026
  • Stateless by Design: How to Work With AI Coding Assistants December 31, 2025
  • Do Coding Bots Mean the End of Coding Interviews? December 31, 2024
  • Another Project for 2024 May 8, 2024
  • Dynamic Programming Wrap-Up May 1, 2024
  • LeetCode 91: Decode Ways April 24, 2024
  • LeetCode 70: Climbing Stairs April 17, 2024
  • LeetCode 221: Maximal Square April 10, 2024
  • Using Dynamic Programming for Maximum Product Subarray April 3, 2024
  • LeetCode 62: Unique Paths March 27, 2024
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