Hardcore coding contest by Quora & InterviewStreet

https://quora.interviewstreet.com/challenges/

by kahseng • 14 years ago

58 15 14 years ago

quora.interviewstreet.com

kahseng7• 14 years ago

Announcing Codesprint Quora, the first-ever company sprint, in collaboration with InterviewStreet (YC S11).

Feel free to ask us questions anytime at codesprint@quora.com

Questions will also be posted at http://quora.com/CodesprintQuora so you don't have to sign up for an account to read them.

This sprint is designed to seriously test your programming prowess on a wide range of tasks ranging from algorithms and product design to machine learning and data analysis. This comes from our intention to hire only the very best engineers, product engineers and data analysts. Come and participate, and learn about any or all the challenges we face in developing these systems: - Quora Feed Optimizer - Quora Trend Analyzer - Quora Typeahead Search - Quora Browser Extensions - Quora Nearby Redux - Quora Answer Classifier Redux and more!

kahseng7• 14 years ago

Just started now!

kahseng7• 14 years ago

The three week-long problems are now up here: http://www.quora.com/CodesprintQuora

signalsignal• 14 years ago

In other words, work on Quora problems for the privilege of working for free. Of course, there is the promise of being recognized, but no promises on being hired.

kahseng7• 14 years ago

These aren't stuff we are looking to use ourselves. We're choosing these problems (which we have already solved in a more complex form ourselves) because we think it'll be interesting for others to try to apply their programming skills at "real world problems" that startups solve.

joering2• 14 years ago

So my question is what problem did Quora solve? other than mostly copying idea (pardon: being inspired) by websites like Yahoo Ask, Hunch, etc.

Tichy3• 14 years ago

Starts at midnight where I live. Signed up out of curiosity, but I don't think I'll stay up till 5am. Wish I had learned about it sooner.

kahseng7• 14 years ago

Don't worry. We actually have it in 2 parts. 4 questions in a sprint over 5 hours, 3 other questions lasting a week. You might find the weeklong ones more fun.

metaobject• 14 years ago

Is this information on the web site? I, too, wish I heard about this sprint earlier in the week (before I made weekend plans).

gmichnikov• 14 years ago

Slightly off-topic, but hopefully others can benefit as well:

I am learning to program on my own, and I have tried some of the CodeSprint Fall 2011 questions (http://csfall11.interviewstreet.com/recruit/challenges/dashb...). Often, I find solutions that "work", but that score poorly because they exceed the time limit (e.g. Card Shuffling, 3/10, 9 points).

What books should I read (or what videos should I watch, etc.) to get better at things like this? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

logicalmind• 14 years ago

Reading this should give you a push in the right direction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_of_algorithms

Tichy3• 14 years ago

Also look up google code jam, I think they might have some links for learning. In general the kind of solutions sought are called "dynamic programming". I think there is also a book about solving TopCoder problems, though I can't find it atm, and haven't read it.

Edit: this might be the book I meant, "The Programming Contest Training Manual" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0387001638?ie=UTF8&tag=...

Hardcore coding contest by Quora & InterviewStreet

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