Copied problem in COOK89

What we went through during icpc was that less that codechef has stooped so low TO hell with codechef

Yes, @taran_1407 it is a problem from uva online judge and some users have copied the solution from different sources, the one you mentioned here and the other one is here.
Some of the copied solutions of the users are:

  1. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16654875
  2. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16651503
  3. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16656276
  4. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16656147
  5. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16656212
  6. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16656663
  7. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16646817
  8. https://www.codechef.com/viewsolution/16654455

I think this kind of behaviour and cheating should not be tolerated. @admin @vijju123 please look into the issue and make the contest unrated. I hope this would not happen in future.

2 Likes

This needs to CHANGE as soon as possible.
@admin the ratings are updated too plz see they are reversed are the codechef admins so busy in ICPC that these guys didnt even have time to se problems

TO be Honest, from the time i gave icpc i have completely lost my interest in codechef which instead of promoting competitive programming which apperantly is thei sole MOTTO during regional sites qualification, stealing problems available to everyone online.

If this doesnt stop I am sure many people will lose interest in the contests held here

LOOKING FOR RATINGS REVERSAL ASAP

1 Like

moreover, people are getting AC in O(n^2) such poor test cases is not fair for everyone…should be unrated…didn’t expect from codechef

OK, it seems I’m in minority regarding opinion on this one :slight_smile: And I’m probably going to be rather harsh here.

Come on, looking at this problem it is kinda obvious that it has been used before (and more than once).

I wouldn’t call it “copied” problem - with this kind of wording it sounds to me like setter is being accused with taking a problem from other source instead of preparing it by himself. I don’t think it is the case here :slight_smile:

It is definitely not a good idea to give such task, and it is a fault by setter/tester to not check it, or at least a very questionable decision to use the problem if they knew that “smallest subarray with sum greater than a given value” Google query will give you enormous number of results. People say N^2 was passing - OK, that’s probably another fault by tester.

Yet overall mood of comments is really weird to me. It is both funny and sad at the same time. OK, maybe I don’t get that “make it unrated” part because I don’t care about rating; but assuming one would care about rating, I’m trying to imagine a situation when somebody says “let’s make a CF round unrated because this problem is similar to following problem from past contest” after the round… This kind of decisions would be a great way to make CF unpopular :slight_smile:

Cheating? I even had to re-check code of conduct at CodeChef to be sure that it doesn’t contain yet another weird trashy rule. OK, my bad - indeed, they do have one for it. Fine, you can call these guys cheaters because they didn’t add a comment clarifying that the original code wasn’t authored by them. Because that’s exactly what’s required here for third party code. Yet another weird rule which is different from what you are used to at any other competitive programming platform, but I don’t even want to waste my time on criticizing it more :slight_smile:

Going back to these “copying problem” accusations - I’m not going to say that I know for sure that it didn’t happen here… But here is how it looks right now: I see a lot of comments saying the same, half of them are written by newbies, and they accuse strong contestants of ICPC WF level who are also experienced setters in stealing a problem. Not “not checking if a problem is well known”, but “copying a problem”. And just to make it more funny, this “copying” occurred on filler task. Yep, it wasn’t that typical “we got all the easy problems for a set, and now we need some nice idea for hard problem, let’s look for it”, but instead two yellow/red guys decided to steal a filler problem which has to be added to the set because it must contain 5 problems and because contestants of all levels participate there. Sure, that’s exactly how contests are being prepared.

On a side note, talking about the contest itself - I’d say that it wasn’t the best contest at Codechef ever (and this particular issue adds it another negative score), but it was generally OK, problems were nice and clear, and I wouldn’t like to get this setter lost for CodeChef simply because somebody wasn’t happy with the fact that filler task has been used before.

16 Likes

I’m sorry about this issue, when it was proposed to me it sounded like a standard problem, but the fact that it included negative numbers and the solution involved using a stack and not as simple as binary search/two pointers, that fact made me feel that the problem is original.

Unfortunately, I missed googling this problem before approving it.

There’s no evidence that the problem setter actually copied the problem, so we will not penalize him.

9 Likes

Hey, this is my solution, I am getting a WA, using a two pointer method, similar solutions have passed, and I really have no clue where I’m going wrong. A brute checker also has been written if anyone wants to verify a case.
Thanks in advance!

This platform is for learning something new and practicing, why you people are just seeing it with respect of rating. Rating goes up and down,it doesn’t matter much, I think we should focus on learning not to waste our precious time on discussing such issues.Instead Discuss some problem,you all are very wise,employ some wisdom.Merry Christmas:)

6 Likes

I also once reported a copied question of November Long Challenge, but no action was taken for that. Question copied of November Long Challenge - CHEFHPAL - general - CodeChef Discuss

@meooow has reported this to @admin , and they are following the case. Thank you.

(PS: ty for solution. Had trouble understanding editorial- will look over those :stuck_out_tongue: )

I just hope this is not the case this time. @vatsalsura

This copying could never ever be acceptable.

PS: The solution is easy, though a bit tricky. No problem @vijju123.

@taran_1407 why didn’t you take part in the contest?

@taran_1407 : Janta jawab chahti hai. Lol popular guy :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

I was away from my laptop :D.

I am gonna solve this problem set soon. (Won’t be posting editorials as @likecs editorials are usually very clear and always on time).

1 Like

So is it gonna be an unrated contest??@vijju123

Thanks for your mock appreciation @vijju123

PS: I’m not “Popular guy”. :stuck_out_tongue:

Cannot comment on contest being rated or unrated right now. If you’d have mailed this during contest, then immediate action was assured. Perhaps the contest would have been declared unrated depending on the time. As of now, I cannot say/predict anything before @admin gives her verdict.

Mock Appreciation?No! I meant it.

On one hand theres a poor,cute, innocent sick guy whose been at forums for eons and eons and no1 gives a fuck about him. On other hand there are an indefinite number of people keeping track on what contests you give, what problems you solve &etc. Whose the popular guy then? :stuck_out_tongue:

I mailed about the problem during the contest, but mentioned link of only geeksforgeeks article.

Hopefully this contest is unrated.

PS: Very cute and innocent guy forgot moderator word. And please!!, only a few people must be seeing my submissions (I’m grateful)

I too tried the java version of given solution and got WA, but thought that only java version gives WA. I guess i should remove that link from post.

Thanks for finding out submissions.

I hope admin takes an action regarding this.