Programming Challenges

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 368 pages
• Published by: Springer
• Edition: 1st Edition May 12, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0387001638
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0387001630
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 1.3 pounds

Product Review
"Skiena and Revilla's new book 'Programming Challenges: The Programming Contest Training Manual' is just the ticket for those interested in a jumpstart to the world of contest programming. With special emphasis on the international ACM collegiate contests, the book's best feature is each chapter's pithy introduction that demystifies a particular scheme or algorithmic approach. The ensemble of these explications coupled with the contest strategy guidelines in the appendix can enable a novice to enhance contest results dramatically in a short time simply by solving the suggested exercises in each chapter. Even contest veterans are likely to be able to find a nugget or two in the explanations and strategies. "Presented in a logical order (contest programming has over a dozen different primary attacks), the book guides readers not only through the techniques and algorithms required but also through a huge set of problems that can be used for training. Solutions can be submitted to Valladolid University's online trainer for quick feedback and reinforcement. "If you're the sort who likes to have a single volume that covers the vast majority of a field, you'll love Skiena and Revilla's new tome." --Rob Kolstad, Ph.D., Head Coach, USA Computing Olympiad

Product Description
.¿An Ideal Resource for Improving Programming Knowledge¿. The challenges of problems from international programming competitions are an effective way to improve algorithmic and coding skills and understanding. This book uses international programming competition-type problems to motivate the study of algorithms, programming, and other topics in computer science. It includes more than 100 programming challenges, as well as the theory and key concepts necessary for approaching them. Problems are organized by topic, and supplemented by complete tutorial material. Readers gain a concrete understanding of both algorithmic techniques and advanced coding topics. Unique Features: * Offers a wealth of rich programming problems suitable for self-study -- all with on-line judging at www.programming-challenges.com * Presents practice training for all major programming contests --ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM ICPC), International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), and Topcoder Challenge * Serves as a convenient, web-based means of adding a programming component to any algorithms or software engineering course * Contains complete working code for fundamental data structures and graph, string, numerical and geometric algorithms * Provides a brief-yet-thorough treatment of key elements in number theory, geometry, dynamic programming, and graph algorithms * Supports all popular programming languages (C, C++, Pascal, Java) Steven S. Skiena is a member of the faculty of computer science at SUNY Stony Brook and is author of many widely used books, including The Algorithm Design Manual. He received the 2001 IEEE Computer Society Undergraduate Teaching Award. Miguel Revilla is a member of the faculty of computer science at the University of Valladolid, Spain. He is official website archivist of the ACM ICPC and creator/maintainer of the primary robot-judge, contest-hosting website.

Reader Reviews
First, let me get the caveats out of the way: 1) 'Contest' code like this does not teach nor encourage many of the concepts desirable for large system development. The point is not to have code that is extensible, maintainable, well designed, etc... although there are some good points (see below). 2) This book does not try to 'teach' concepts. That is not the point either (see below). While the book is not 'teaching', it does set a bunch of interesting playing fields in which people can explore, discover, and learn on their own. In this regard, this book is excellent. I am considering using it to lead a study group at work for this reason. While it is not promoting the development of many of the desirable skills I think develops generally need more of, it is promoting the use of requirements, detailed design, and acceptance tests... this is how the projects are specified and graded. Yes, I said graded. This is a really cool feature of the book - there is a website where your solutions can be submitted, and a 'robot' will run and test them, letting you know the results. The way they pull that off is pretty cool. You create an account, and it ranks how well you are doing. If you are interesting in contest coding, if you are looking for some platform on which to lead a study group on algorithms/problem solving, or if you are the kind of person who picks up Games Magazine looking for little problems to solve, this book is for you.