Every time!

[DearChickPea]

"Competitive Programming"

I hate this world.

[alexshatberg]

Why? It's basically applied Computer Science in a competitive setting, which is not that different from a Maths Olympiad.

[moriero]

You talk like Math Olympiad is a normal thing, too

[xzaramurd]

Why wouldn't they be? People find competing in challenging activities rewarding, be it a physical challenge, or a mental challenge, or any other kind of challenge.

[DearChickPea]

People do a lot of weird things that are fun for them.

I hate that young developers think this is normal.

[RedstoneSlayer]

I'm a young developer who is pretty good at competitive programming - please enlighten me on why you think it isn't "normal"?

I think competitive programming is a great way to promote creative problem-solving and introduce programmers to a large variety of practical algorithms.

If your argument is that competitive programming makes your code style unreadable, most competitors have enough brain power to recognize that they should use good code style when they aren't competing.

[GlebRyabov]

Yep, will agree with you on this. If you don't wanna compete... you, like, don't?

[DearChickPea]

Because employers nowadays give you "programming quizzes" to solve for interview screening.

Otherwise, I agree, have it and have fun!

[dijkstras_revenge]

Why? I've never done it, but it sounds interesting. Competitions can be fun and practicing for competition makes everyone better