HI! I AM RAMESH CHANDRA.THIS SUMMER I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED BETWEEN LEARNING ALGORITHM AND SOLVING PROBLEM
**WHILE I COULD NOT SOLVE PROBLEM I CANNOT FIGURE OUT WHICH ALGORITHM I SHOULD LEARN.**THEN I DECIDED I WILL LEARN ALL STANDARD ALGORITHM. I HAVE A PROBLEM IF I DON’T USE OF ALGORITHM THEN I CAN NOT FIGURE OUT WHAT IS IMPORTANCE OF THIS ALGORITHM.I FEEL LITTLE BAD. ***I ENJOY MORE SOLVING PROBLEM.***I DON’T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TO DO?? PLEASE EXPERT AND OTHERS GIVE YOUR VALUABLE OPINION . MAY BE SO MANY BEGINNER HAVE SAME PROBLEM IF YES THEN PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR FRIEND AND GREAT CODER GET THEIR EXPERIENCE AND SHARE WITH US AND CODECHEF
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okie let me help you with this :-
here is the list of algorithms which a competitive coder should learn .
Before starting with competing in codechef or any other online judge , solve some basic problem , say solve some 40 problems on spoj in this order
and after that follow these steps :-
-
compete in competition
-
If able to solve the problem , then its cool .
3)If not , see the editorials and code your solution after the contest .
- Gto step 1 .
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Participate in as many contests as possible if you enjoy solving problems more than learning algorithms. And after every contest try to upsolve every single problem (it should be easier with all editorials etc. provided nowadays). If you need some algorithm to solve a task - learn it 
Some time later you’ll know all common algorithms (because you’ll face them during contests if they are really often used) and also build up a good coding level.
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I can tell you the best option.
Learn an Algorithm.
Then solve atleast 10 or more problems of varying difficulty based on that learnt algorithm.
Spoj is the best option for practicing.
Then learn another alogrithm.
and repeat the process.
Contest participation is your choice, it might demoralize you in case if you find yourself unable to solve problems. If you are mentally strong you can surely participate in contests because it helps you learning new concepts as lebron said.
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In real competition you are usually not told which algorithm is needed for given problem
Also I believe that SPOJ sounds like an overkill for novices. At the moment when I already went to regionals for first time I still wasn’t able to solve wast majority of spoj problems.
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