Ah! Programming contests. Places where crazy geeks code like madmen to solve ridiculously pointless problems. Well I've always found them good fun, although I've never really done too well in them. Generally, I get the right algorithm, but get confused for some reason or the other, and then modify it so it doesn't satisfy all test cases.
Well, I finally had some success at a programming contest. I managed to qualify for Round 1 of Google Code Jam India 2006. Although, I must admit the problem I solved was easy, I did solve it very quickly. For once, none of the gremlins that normally turn up when I program stayed home.
Round 1 was yesterday, and well, the gremlins returned. I was misled by one test case and modified the algorithm I had. Even this algorithm I got on the second try( I didn't read the question thoroughly :D ). Plus the usual goof-ups, like typographical errors and improper conditional statements, returned to haunt me.
One good thing though, is that I quite liked the TopCoder interface used for the contest. So, I went and registered at TopCoder, so I can keep practising. In general, I find the problems a lot more solvable than those at ACM-ICPC.
The contest manager used by TopCoder is also pretty cool. I also like the contest manager CCPE made by Sreepathi and Keyur (who are good pals of mine). They, along with Ankur, are also the best programming team in our college. The manager used at CRCE, Bandra is also pretty good.
Let's hope I can keep improving my programming and at least win something.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Cricket today
Ah, I'm improving! It's now less than a month since I last blogged. Anyhow, I figured I'd write on the state of one of my favourite sports, cricket.
First of all, a brief history. Cricket was this game invented in England which very effectively provided 5 days of pretty enjoyable timepass, the games being pretty exciting in the old days. But, in the 50's and 60's, cricket captains figured a boring draw was better than an exciting defeat, and this led to reduced attendances at cricket grounds. So, they introduced one-day cricket. This proved relatively successful. Then came Kerry Packer's "circus". Essentially most of the innovations that we see today such as day-night games, coloured clothing etc. can be traced to World Series cricket. Now, cricket, especially the one-day variety, is very popular in South Asia, but less so elsewhere.
Test cricket is considerably less popular than one-day cricket. This is despite the fact that tests, in my opinion, are my opinion are more exciting than one-dayers, which have fallen into a more or less set pattern with few exceptions. The pattern is something like, biff-bang-pow in the first 15 overs, followed by 20 overs of consolidation, and then 15 overs of more biff-bang-pow.
Plus, the wickets have less for the bowlers than previously, mostly to encourage big shots, that many feel crowds come to watch. Unfortunately, this has led to matches where one team scores 300 plus, and the other team matches it with ease.
One-day cricket has also led to the demise of the technically-correct batsmen like Rahul Dravid. In fact, he's the only batsman who can anchor an innings in the Indian team. So India is almost always in trouble when he gets out.
Fortunately, the recent Ashes series has shown that people are interested in test cricket which is result-oriented, and if the pitches have something in them for the bowlers. Let's hope this prods the powers-that-be into improving the standard of cricket.
First of all, a brief history. Cricket was this game invented in England which very effectively provided 5 days of pretty enjoyable timepass, the games being pretty exciting in the old days. But, in the 50's and 60's, cricket captains figured a boring draw was better than an exciting defeat, and this led to reduced attendances at cricket grounds. So, they introduced one-day cricket. This proved relatively successful. Then came Kerry Packer's "circus". Essentially most of the innovations that we see today such as day-night games, coloured clothing etc. can be traced to World Series cricket. Now, cricket, especially the one-day variety, is very popular in South Asia, but less so elsewhere.
Test cricket is considerably less popular than one-day cricket. This is despite the fact that tests, in my opinion, are my opinion are more exciting than one-dayers, which have fallen into a more or less set pattern with few exceptions. The pattern is something like, biff-bang-pow in the first 15 overs, followed by 20 overs of consolidation, and then 15 overs of more biff-bang-pow.
Plus, the wickets have less for the bowlers than previously, mostly to encourage big shots, that many feel crowds come to watch. Unfortunately, this has led to matches where one team scores 300 plus, and the other team matches it with ease.
One-day cricket has also led to the demise of the technically-correct batsmen like Rahul Dravid. In fact, he's the only batsman who can anchor an innings in the Indian team. So India is almost always in trouble when he gets out.
Fortunately, the recent Ashes series has shown that people are interested in test cricket which is result-oriented, and if the pitches have something in them for the bowlers. Let's hope this prods the powers-that-be into improving the standard of cricket.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Doordarshan is going down
Yikes, haven't blogged for over a month. I really ought to be more regular. Any how, my search for a topic has come to an end. After messing up all the TV related questions in an entertainment quiz, I have decided to write on the declining state of Doordarshan.
For those who haven't lived in India, Doordarshan(DD) is the state-owned public broadcaster. In fact, before the arrival of cable television, DD was TV. In the early days, DD was a godsend to the Indian public who had never seen a TV. It had a nice, balanced selection of programs, like a weekly Hindi film, some decent serials, and on Sundays, "I love Lucy".
However, after the arrival of cable television, DD went into terminal decline. The quality of programming, which had already declined, dropped further because of lack of advertising revenue. Nobody bothered with watching DD National and DD Metro, now that there were channels like Star Plus and Zee.
However, DD still got all India's home tests and one-day matches. Now, even this is being taken away, and the only reason DD viewers still get cricket is because of the courts.
Now, they are so down in the dumps that they don't cut serials where they are sure of making at least some money, for sports events like the Olympics for which they get the rights and then proceed to transmit on DD Sports, which is a cable channel.
At least, previously they used to show a one-hour highlights package, but that was not there for the 2006 Winter Olympics. This was irritating, to say the least. This is probably due to the fact that they have a news channel, DD News, in place of DD Metro.
There was a failed attempt to rework DD Metro, with some new content that they got with help from Channel 9 of Australia. But, that flopped after a while. Then, they tried to resuscitate their old serials. But, that failed too, and they dropped DD Metro for Dd News.
However, let's hope that there is some hope for the beleaguered broadcaster. The choice of movies has improved. Previously, it used to be one reasonably good(or relatively recent) movie on Friday, and an average(or, if you're lucky, a classic) movie on Saturday. Now, it's 2 reasonably good, recent movies on Friday and Saturday, and a classic movie on Sunday afternoon.
For those who haven't lived in India, Doordarshan(DD) is the state-owned public broadcaster. In fact, before the arrival of cable television, DD was TV. In the early days, DD was a godsend to the Indian public who had never seen a TV. It had a nice, balanced selection of programs, like a weekly Hindi film, some decent serials, and on Sundays, "I love Lucy".
However, after the arrival of cable television, DD went into terminal decline. The quality of programming, which had already declined, dropped further because of lack of advertising revenue. Nobody bothered with watching DD National and DD Metro, now that there were channels like Star Plus and Zee.
However, DD still got all India's home tests and one-day matches. Now, even this is being taken away, and the only reason DD viewers still get cricket is because of the courts.
Now, they are so down in the dumps that they don't cut serials where they are sure of making at least some money, for sports events like the Olympics for which they get the rights and then proceed to transmit on DD Sports, which is a cable channel.
At least, previously they used to show a one-hour highlights package, but that was not there for the 2006 Winter Olympics. This was irritating, to say the least. This is probably due to the fact that they have a news channel, DD News, in place of DD Metro.
There was a failed attempt to rework DD Metro, with some new content that they got with help from Channel 9 of Australia. But, that flopped after a while. Then, they tried to resuscitate their old serials. But, that failed too, and they dropped DD Metro for Dd News.
However, let's hope that there is some hope for the beleaguered broadcaster. The choice of movies has improved. Previously, it used to be one reasonably good(or relatively recent) movie on Friday, and an average(or, if you're lucky, a classic) movie on Saturday. Now, it's 2 reasonably good, recent movies on Friday and Saturday, and a classic movie on Sunday afternoon.
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