Now that topcoder is a part and parcel of my life, I was wondering what are the topcoder matches which I can never forget. I can remember almost all the screw ups I did in the topcoder matches.

Like instead of calling memset function as “int a[10]; memset (a, 0, sizeof(a));”, calling it as “int a[10]; memset (a, 0, 10);”, because the example I tried it first was with chars and there is no need to add sizeof(int) or sizeof(float) factor doesn’t need to be added.
Like deleting a line of code while removing the debug statements.
Like trying a greedy when it was begging for a simple dp solution.

Anyway, when I look back, there are only 3 topcoder matches I can never ever forget. And strangely, I haven’t solved a single problem in all these three matches. All three matches were unique and strange in their own. :-)

First one happened an year back. I registered for this contest. Even got up early and went to play this match. Was in front of the contest applet the whole time and saw the contest timer tick second by second, but never opened a single problem. Strange. I never ever imagined I would do such a thing. Topcoder was something I really cared about (even though my rating is low at that time and even now), but doing something like that was unimaginable. It was fun to just sit in front of the computer when the contest goes on. People might call it madness, but I really really wish something like that happens again. :-). Anyway, this one was better compared to the other two, one of the reasons being my rating didn’t go down.

The second one happened in Hyderabad when I went to meet Manas before coming to Bangalore. We were at Hyderabad central around 30 minutes before the contest and the travel is surely more than 45 minutes. Now I’m clueless about how to mention the travel from Hyderabad central to Manas’s place, but to give you a rough picture, you can imagine the Roadrash game. Just that we didn’t fall or dash or crash. :D. Thought my 250 failed, I was happy even to play the match after shaken up so much. :D. Man, that was one the scariest rides I can ever remember.

The third one happened just a few days back in Bangalore. Again, I can never imagine doing something like this. Anyway, this is what exactly happened. :). There was a “party” in the next room I was coding. I did the 250. I wasn’t even sure about the 250. In fact, the way I coded it, I was too surprised to see it pass the test cases. Finally, I submitted my 250 and entered the party room. Danced a bit. Yes, this one wasn’t a stupid dance like my previous one. A real proper dance. :-). Then after 5 minutes, came back to the match and saw a probability problem. I called one of my friends from the party room who wasn’t “involved” in the party. He tried to solve it and then suggested me some solution. But I got this devil-may-care attitude from the rest of the people. My 500 didn’t even pass the test cases, but still I submitted it 1 minute before the contest got over. There was no need for me to check the solution. I knew it. Next day morning, I saw my 250 failed. Wasn’t least bothered about it. Played cards and went out to roam around. :D.

I never know which one is I’ll remember longest. Probably all three are too important to remember. :-) One crazy, next one scary and last one all about fun and madness. All three new for me :-)

Anyway, I hope I don’t have any more matches like these. I want my rating to increase and it will. Because now I don’t care about it. ;-)

If you play topcoder, then keeping track of when the next match is a big headache. There are many many people who login to the arena one day before the contest and ask why there is not many playing today. Come on, it is not funny to get up at 5.30 in the morning to know that the match is not today and it is tomorrow. The rest think the match is one day later, who curse themselves, bang their head for missing a match. If you want to forget forgetting :P about topcoder matches, follow the simple steps given below.

All you need is a Google Account.

• Login to google calendars at http://calendar.google.com/
• Search for “Topcoder” in public calendars. ( By clicking “Search Public Calendars” button). I got some 50 results when I wrote this. This may increase or decrease later. Choose anything from the list (anything from the first 5 will be good enough).
• Click on the “Add to Calendar” button.
• Go back to your calendar page. You can see the Topcoder calendar in the “Other calendars”.
• You need to activate mobile setup by activating your phone number. This takes less than a minute. Give your country and phone number. Google will send you a verification code in 1 or 2 minutes. Type that validation code there and voila, you are done with the mobile setup. :-)
• Now click on the “Calendars” tab in the settings page.
• Click the “Notification” of your new Topcoder calendar.
• Click the “Add a reminder” to add new remainders.
• You can have upto 5 remainders for this calendar.

See my notifications page here.