Programming Contest

[RexLee]

I would like to attend a programming contest. Does anyone have recommendations on what good books there are on algorithms or problems (c++)?

[eoso]

uh... Do you already know the language?

[RexLee]

Yes I do.

[RexLee]

But I need a book to practice or ways to solve problems.

[linusforsell]

Study complex forms of maths and brush up on general logic, learning more about a language is not going to help you solve problems. 

[linusforsell]

Well, that double post was not intended...

Edited September 15, 2013 by linusforsell

[RexLee]

So what books would you recommend on those topics?

[Gob]

Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications by Kenneth H Rosen

[KingOFCruel]

Are you competing as a part of ACM? ( national club/organizations)?

[Flynn]

Have you tried google?  I'm not being facetious, there are massive amounts of reference material free to read on the web.  Pretty much ANYTHING I have EVER done in programming I learned from the internet, I have yet to get a book for any sort of programming knowledge.  (I've gotten books for various certifications and training of course, but never for programming)

[d4jsp]

If you need to a read book to learn a programming language, you're doing it wrong. (Especially a Web Language)

[SirPaul]

Well best thing is to go on http://projecteuler.net/problems

And there you have mathematical problems and so.. Basically you can go with them, i think when you login you have some option to be competitive like you just type the output in a box and it will be market as solved in you profile, and so on. Its good way to learn math.

[majorawsome]

I have to agree with linusforsell. I attended the PClassic, and although I can program, I wasn't very good at problem solving at the time and my team and I got crushed. 45 out of 50 was it?

If you would like practice problems you can go here and click on the links under past questions. http://dp.seas.upenn.edu/pclassic.html

[jetbuster]

past questions are pretty much the best thing. Try writing them down on paper before putting it in the IDE. If it's one of those team ones it's an essential skill to have

[Flojer0]

If you need to a read book to learn a programming language, you're doing it wrong. (Especially a Web Language)

Disagree, unless you decide to be and become a language lawyer than a good book is very likely to know more than you about a given language. And being proficient with programming is more than just the language, a language is just one tool that is used.

 

@RexLee, in the thread at https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/14904-ultimate-programming-resources-thread-revised/ there are many great resources mentioned. I think I may mention over there that it could be a good idea to sort the books by category. We'll see how that works out. My current algorithms text I use is Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson and Ronald L. Riverst. It covers a very wide range of algorithms in all (so far as I'm aware) the important areas. Though a basic understanding of discrete math would go along way to make the real meat of the book. If all you want to learn is implementation and you don't want to worry about things such as running time analasys then you may want to wait on it. Though an older edition of the book is available for around $4 on amazon right now used.

[RexLee]

Thanks I decided I am going to learn more about algorithms.