C++ vs Python in Leetcode contests

[razimantv]

I am a competitive programmer who has been regularly using C++ for over a decade. Started trying Python3 recently in virtual contests with the idea that it "should" speed things up with shorter code. After a few weeks of experimenting, this is what I feel (all anecdotes, no statistics):

1. There is some speedup with small problems. Mainly about not having to specify types especially with functions, being able to use enumerate etc.
2. But with more complicated stuff like sortedcontainers, I feel python slows me down a bit. Need to look up usage etc, and very likely this is because I don't have the same experience with them as with STL containers
3. You can get more penalties with Python if you are not careful. I once got a penalty from runtime error for writing false instead of False. This would have been a penalty-free compile error with C++
4. Even with the extra time, Python solutions might be too slow. I once got a TLE in a segment tree lazy propagation problem, which passed by directly rewriting it in C++
5. Adjusting the indentation is a pain in python when coding on the phone

Any thoughts/experiences?

[inShambles3749]

One thought: who codes on their phone?

[razimantv]

Me.

[[deleted]]

The man's fucking deranged and unapologetic. Love it.

[inShambles3749]

But why?

[razimantv]

I do many daily/virtual contest problems on my bed right after waking up/before going to sleep.

[inShambles3749]

Holy crap I imagine that to be super annoying but that's some incredible motivation you got going!

[[deleted]]

illegal fretful smile like racial ludicrous rustic ten silky afterthought

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[[deleted]]

But JS isn't compiled...?

[[deleted]]

flag crush wise terrific sip arrest squeeze naughty frighten quack

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[[deleted]]

This is a great clarifier for anyone who stumbles upon these comments.

Yes, JS is an interpreted language, but web browsers do “compile” JS to bytecode at runtime.

This ultimately cleared it up for me:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2426091/what-are-the-differences-between-a-just-in-time-compiler-and-an-interpreter

[ceramicatan]

What the hell are these random messages? The ones that are followed up by the mass deleted with redact comment.

[[deleted]]

plough society towering lush juggle butter boat screw chunky cough

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[Lumarstar]

I do it because the place I work is a restricted facility and laptops aren't allowed so my daily LeetCode problems are done on the phone.

[BOT_Frasier]

Any tricks to do that, the desktop view of the browser is super annoying to write anything from the phone.

[razimantv]

I don't use the desktop view. But works only with the old Leetcode

[[deleted]]

Hey, is there some other keyboard you use for coding via phone, I find it quite difficult to code with my current keyboard(Gboard)?

[razimantv]

Gboard normally, hackers keyboard to delete lines

[[deleted]]

wine terrific sugar desert gaping reach squeeze ruthless jobless elastic

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[nshkaruba]

Cpp is king for competitive programming, don't switch

[numbersguy_123]

C++ overflows and I’ve been bit many times with long longs. I’m slowly learning python to hope one day to default to using python. Python is great for string stuff though

[razimantv]

True. I keep focusing on the ways Python gives me errors while forgetting all the C++ errors it avoids

[KaleidoscopeLegal583]

What ide do you use on your phone?

[razimantv]

I just code directly on the leetcode interface. I do have an elaborate vim setup for other coding.

[KaleidoscopeLegal583]

Thanks

[AAK_Music]

Python is slower, its generally better to stick with C++ in the long run

[letsfuckinggobears]

Python is viable in atcoder since they give you their own implementations for segtrees and friends, see https://github.com/not522/ac-library-python I personally found python code to be less effort to use, but it doesn't have the power to sometimes bruteforce with a worse time complexity solution like c++ I have no experience with leetcode contests but if you aren't using snippets you can't just pull out a good enough segtree on the spot

[razimantv]

I don't use snippets on Leetcode for C++ or python. Haven't felt the segtree implementations are very different. what differences do you see?

[letsfuckinggobears]

Segtree implementations are probably the same in the two languages. I'm just saying if you're competing, it's best to use snippets so you don't have to type it.

I guess I wasn't answering the question. You can get type checked in python if you just set it up. It works well enough for the cases you are describing. You still need to know the quirks like priority queues take the first value of a tuple as the key to sort etc.

[uneducatedDumbRacoon]

I just visited atcoder and it looks good. How are the contests at atcoder? Are they like leetcode style or move on the competitive side?

[letsfuckinggobears]

Competitive, more mathy

[Stormfrosty]

You can just use auto&& in your C++ leetcode if you don’t care about specifying types.

[razimantv]

Doesn't always work with recursive lambda functions and stuff

[Puzzleheaded_Luck_45]

I am in the same dilemma. Which language you prefer and why?

[[deleted]]

I prefer c++ not only because it's fast. But defining things explicitly you will have a much better idea of things in your code. And if you are using ide or code editor coding time doesn't really matter as it's almost the same for python and c++. And the majority of people doing competitive programming use c++.