- Grind through Codeforces to get good quickly
- Finish C++ textbook.
- Read the CS4128 tips page.
- Extract notes from Notion.
- Read the problem statement.
- Strip the ‘flavour text’.
- Write the constraints.
- Write the inputs and outputs.
- Sample I/O test cases.
- Design.
- Estimate time complexity.
- Implement.
Sub max n into time complexity expression and if it evaluates to less than 10 million, then it can probably clear the time limit of 1 second.
Tips
- Use a brute force algorithm to generated expected outputs to compare against your solution.
Questions
- Do you generally start implementing the solution when you’re very confident your solution is correct? Or do you jump into implementation earlier and then figure it out as you go?