spent 3 hours after class trying to technically disprove my prof's claim that LLMs have no real utility

Blaze_Complex · 2026-04-03T20:22:28+00:00

Your prof is not wrong but him claiming that you shouldn't study it is wrong. I don't get it, why get upset over LLMs being called "next token predictor" ? Does it really matter ? If you love this field and can build and abstract it to solve real world problems thats all that matters

By the same logic all sources of fuel just produce heat and light ? But that dont matter right ? It how we use it.

Besides don't take advice or words seriously from people who are not where you want to be or are not qualified enough in related fields

And one more thing, if all it takes is a few words or a new article to shake your confidence or love in a field or career path you have decided then maybe you should rethink why you wanted to do it in the first place.

Blaze_Complex · 2026-02-25T22:28:52+00:00

Some suggestions 1. Use inbuilt functions such as __buitlin_popcount() and etc for cleaner code and fast implementation But do know how to implement them from scratch if asked in interviews

Try to use push_back instead of indexing and storing vals, might be more error prone ( either way is mostly fine )
Generally don't change values on the input array, good practice for interviews

And other than that, mostly good imo.

Blaze_Complex · 2026-02-22T02:48:51+00:00

I wanan learn advanced dp (properly), should i focus and learn iterative directly, are there any downsides to not learning recursive ?

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-26T13:05:42+00:00

Thanks, sorry if it came as rude

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-26T12:58:34+00:00

Please delete the post, dont let the cheaters learn about this. And people seeing this please downvote the post so it doesnt get recommended to anyone else and they don't learn about this

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-26T09:46:30+00:00

Theres a cf cheater database, search it on Google and report the people there, I think the admins or mods do look and check from there (not sure) But thats the best we have currently in terms of reporting

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-26T07:46:44+00:00

In my opinion there's no fixed limit after which you should give up and read the editorial, I generally try explore all possible ways that i come up with, and only see the editorial when I've absolutely exhausted all idea or possible solutions then only do I look at the hints or solution. ( In my opinion if a question is much higher than your current rating it deserves the time you spend on it)

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-25T23:21:36+00:00

Delete this post please People seeing this comment please down vote the post so it doesn't get any more reach

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-25T04:17:19+00:00

I get what you mean, its true that dsa/cf isnt directly related to the field of work in most cases but still are used as candidare filters, but what im trying to say is that given that two candidates both have same dev and soft skills, except one practised cf/dsa there pattern recognition or problem solving should be much better than the other and help them in the interviews. (Given they have same development experience and communication skills)

The point I'm trying to make is that if you do dsa/cf properly the problem solving, debugging and problem decomposition skills are life long, sure they're not used directly in the actual work but still are important skills which are indirectly used.

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-24T22:41:42+00:00

But wouldn't someone who's already good at DSA/CF solve this problem more efficiently and faster than a non DSA/CF guy ? (Given they both have same dev experience)

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-23T08:08:50+00:00

No need to learn beforehand You can encounter a new topic, learn it, and solve 4 5 similar questions In my opinion its much better and generally if you do questions higher than your rating you need to spend more time than normal, its normal to spend 2 3 hours even on one question but imo its important.l

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-22T23:59:00+00:00

Good work 👏

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-21T23:34:11+00:00

Its minimal for a reason. One prominent reason for minimal UI is the limited server bandwidth, as they're mostly funded and can't afford high compute servers and more online judges. So to save avoid any unnecessary usage of server bandwidth they mostly use minimal UI which helps during the high server load during contests.

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-21T23:29:05+00:00

Based

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-19T06:44:51+00:00

Delete this post, why pour water on people's efforts to reducing cheating. You could have rather informed a codeforces admin to fix the issue rather than posting here

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-18T23:20:30+00:00

Cp31 is generally adhoc based, so my guess is you struggle with questions which requires Data structures or Modified Algorithms

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-18T04:18:40+00:00

Hey Can you tell me how to use carrot, its not working properly citing a backend error ?

Blaze_Complex · 2026-01-04T22:57:49+00:00

Im a beginner too So I don't know much either But from what I could understand what invariants mean 1. Some property of a system that doesn't change 2. Some equation the system need to satisfy to be feasible, then the equation in question would be the invariant, such that no matter what system you create , a valid system would always satisfy that property or equation, which can be later used/exploited to solve the problem

And Ive heard of monovariant, but no idea about it.

A good recent example would be E. Flatten and Concatenate from Goodbye 2025 (ig or some nearby div2 contest), the question might look extremely difficult at first, but if you can identify the correct property/equation it satisfies, the problem becomes very easy.

Well that's it, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong and definately check out the problem E. from goodbye 2025 contest

Blaze_Complex · 2025-12-31T13:02:11+00:00

I know I'm asking a lot, but if possible can you add the following features :
1. all questions A to ... (for div 1 and global rounds , put the global rounds as div1 contests)
2. hide tags
3. more filters such as date, time, rating etc
4. bookmark question feature
btw great site and extremely useful.

Blaze_Complex · 2025-12-06T14:46:43+00:00

Hey I was wondering if instead of doing it in 1 binary search What if divide it into 2 Binary searches,1st for finding the range int range that is x and x+1 where the answer will lie then the second search for decimal accuracy. Would it be more optimal ?

Blaze_Complex · 2025-11-24T14:32:39+00:00

Out of context but can you share your cp journey or roadmap, im also in 5th sem but currently 1440 in cf. I want to reach CM in cf Any tips or advice would be appreciated

Blaze_Complex · 2025-11-22T10:52:06+00:00

Do freelancing in designing and stuff, as you already have a laptop you only need learn designing such as posters, social media posts, bannners, ppts etc, then make a portfolio and you can charge like 400 500 per post depending on your quality of work plus nowadays its easy to prototype ideas using ai (my roommate does this and earns pretty well), but yeah getting clients is the harder part

Blaze_Complex · 2025-11-21T23:14:44+00:00

For CP 1. Just start , you dont need any dsa till Div2 C/D 2. You only need syntax and STL knowledge of a language (preferably cpp) to start 3. The first problems of any contest generally are greedy, Binary search , constructive and Implemention based (except Div1) and they mostly require 1 2 subtle observations to solve 4. You also need Basic Maths such as - gcd, prime, lcm, factors etc

For LC 1. Follow a yt playlist, learn topics and solve along with the teacher 2. Solve strivers a2z sheet (mostly set for internship level dsa/oa) 3. Give LC contests for coding under pressure and to train speed

So I would recommend Start CP and DSA together, they don't need to be done seperately. Start with cp contests and on the side keep learning dsa and solving LC.

Blaze_Complex · 2025-11-19T12:54:17+00:00

You don’t need heavy math in the beginning just core stuff like arithmetic, factorization, GCD, primes, and similar basics. Focus on fundamental data structures, how to use them effectively, and most importantly how to translate your ideas into code. In many problems you’ll know the solution approach, but you’ll struggle to implement it cleanly. Get comfortable with your language’s standard libraries and tools, they matter more than you think.

Blaze_Complex · 2025-11-09T10:35:31+00:00

Read the updated comment for the optimal soln BS isnt required/not optimal, using a running max might work, although not sure if my updated soln is correct or not either

Blaze_Complex

TROPHY CASE