Topcoder_Open

Topcoder Open

Topcoder Open

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Topcoder Open (TCO) was an annual design, software development, data science and competitive programming championship organized by Topcoder, and hosted in different venues around US.[1][2][3] In the first two years, 2001 and 2002, the tournament was titled TopCoder Invitational.

Quick Facts Frequency, Country ...

In addition to the main championship, from 2001 to 2007 Topcoder was organizing an annual TopCoder Collegiate Challenge tournament, for college students only.[4][5] Also from 2007 to 2010 TopCoder High School competition was held.

From 2015, Topcoder Regional events were held through the year in different countries.[6]

In 2020–2023 in-person Topcoder Open finals were cancelled, and replaced by virtual events due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent economic slowdown. The 2023 Topcoder Open was the final edition of the contest.[7]

Competition tracks

Competition tracks included in Topcoder Open tournament changed through its history. Many of them resemble the types of challenges offered to Topcoder Community through the year, but there is no 1:1 match. Here is the alphabetical list of all competition tracks ever present at TCO:

Algorithm Competition (SRM)

Timeline: 2001 – 2022

Champions: Belarus Gennady Korotkevich tourist (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2014); Russia Petr Mitrichev Petr (2018, 2015, 2013, 2006); China Yuhao Du xudyh (2017); Japan Makoto Soejima rng_58 (2016, 2011, 2010); Russia Egor Kulikov Egor (2012); China Bin Jin crazyb0y (2009); Poland Tomasz Czajka [pl] tomek (2008, 2004, 2003); Netherlands Jan Kuipers Jan_Kuipers (2007); Poland Eryk Kopczyński [pl] Eryx (2005); Australia John Dethridge John Dethridge (2002); United States jonmac (2001).

Details:

The only track that was present at all main TCOs events, and at most of the other Topcoder events. Follows the format of regular 1.5 hours Single Round Matches:[8]

  • The Coding Phase – 75 mins: All competitors are presented with the same three algorithmic problems of different complexity, each problem has its own maximal number of points. Problem descriptions are initially invisible. Competitors have 75 minutes to solve these problems. Competitor can open any problem description in any order; once he opened a problem, the number of points he can get for the correct solution of that problem starts decreasing over time. When competitor submits problem solution (a code that successfully compiles), he is awarded with the current number of points he can get for that problem. He can re-submit a solution, getting the further decrease number of points, minus extra penalty for the resubmission. During the phase competitors can see the current points awarded to each participant, but they don't know whether solutions of those participants are correct or wrong, thus whether these scores will hold after The System Testing Phase, or will be reset.
  • The Challenge Phase – 15 mins: Each competitor can see all submission done by other competitors. He can (optionally) challenge any of them, submitting test cases that will cause other competitor's submission produce a wrong result. Submission of correct challenge test case gives submitter 50 points award, submission of an incorrect test case (i.e. the challenged solution can solve it successfully) will lead to 25 points penalty for the test case submitter.
  • The System Testing Phase – In the last phase system tests are automatically executed for all submissions from all competitors. If a submission fails testing, the scores awarded for that submission during The Coding Phase are reset to zero. The final scores after the system testing determine the winner.

First to Finish (F2F)

Timeline: 2009 – 2014, 2016 – 2022

Champions: Turkey Fatih Tas neonray (2022); Greece Thomas Kranitsas thomaskranitsas (2021); Brazil Victor Roberto Gomes da Cunha cunhavictor (2020); Nepal Dilip Kumar Thapa veshu (2019); Russia Dmitry Kondakov kondakovdmitry (2018); Nigeria Akinwale Ariwodola akinwale (2017, 2014); China vvvpig (2016); India Pratap Koritala supercharger (2013); China Lan Luo hohosky (2012); China Yang Li Yeung (2011); Ukraine Margaryta Skrypachova Margarita (2010); China Ninghai Huang PE (2009).

Details:

Officially called as Mod Dash from 2009 to 2013, and First2Finish afterwards. Competitors are provided with set of small programming tasks (like bug fixes / enhancements in an existing codebase), and they get scores based on who correctly resolves each task first. The exact rules for on-site competition may vary from year to year.

Information Architecture

Timeline: 2015 only.

Champions: Spain Silvana Vacchina f0rc0d3r (2015).

Details:

Provided with client requirements for a software product, competitors are asked to create a wireframe mockup of the future app / website.

Marathon Match (MM)

Timeline: 2007 – 2022

Champions: Poland Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho (2022, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2008); Romania Catalin-Stefan Tiseanu CatalinT (2021);Japan Hironao Tsutsumida iehn (2020); Belarus Gennady Korotkevich tourist (2019, 2018); China Tiancheng Lou ACRush (2015); South Korea Won-Seok Yoo ainu7 (2012); Japan Yoichi Iwata wata (2010); Russia Andrey Lopatin KOTEHOK (2009); Poland Mateusz Zotkiewicz Mojito1 (2007).

Details:

Officially called as just Marathon from 2007 to nowadays. Follows the format of regular MM competitions (a 1–2 weeks long online, and 1 day long during on-site competitions). Competitors are provided with the same algorithmic / data science problem, which is judged objectively with a live leaderboard, visible to everybody. Everybody can submit multiple times with no penalties, with the goal to come up with a code that scores the maximal possible amount of scores on that problem. During the competition the leaderboard is generated based on submissions testing against a limit number of test cases, and after the contest the final results are determined in a testing against a larger test dataset.

Quality Assurance Competition (QA)

Timeline: 2019 – 2022

Champions: Sri Lanka Nuwan Gunarathne codejam (2022, 2021, 2020); Latvia Vladimir Timofejev v.t. (2019)

Details:

The QA competition includes: structured and unstructured testing, structured test case writing, and automated testing.

Software Design

Timeline: 2004–2014

Champions: China Meng Wang albertwang (2014, 2013); Canada Michael Paweska argolite (2012, 2010); China WuJian Ye BLE (2011); Ukraine Olexiy Sadovnikov saarixx (2009); United States Tim Roberts Pops (2008, 2006); United States Sergey Kalinchenko kyky (2007); Russia Nikolay Archak nicka81 (2005); Romania Adrian Carcu adic (2004).

Details:

Officially called as Component Design from 2004 to 2009, and just Design from 2010 to 2014. Competitors were asked to take client requirements for a software component / product as input, and produce development documentation / technical specifications. Solutions were evaluated by a panel of judges according to objective scorecards.

Software Development

Timeline: 2004 – 2022

Champions: China xxcxy (2022); China Jiang Liwu jiangliwu (2021, 2019); Spain Dr. Sergey Pogodin birdofpreyru (2020, 2017); Vietnam Ngoc Pham ngoctay (2018); Poland Łukasz Sentkiewicz Sky_ (2016, 2015, 2014); China Zhijie Liu morehappiness (2013); China Yang Li Yeung (2012, 2010); Philippines Franklin Guevarra j3_guile (2011); China GuanZhuo Jin Standlove (2009 – Architecture, 2004); Argentina Pablo Wolfus pulky (2009 – Assembly); China Yanbo Wu assistant (2009 – Component Development); Canada Piotr Paweska AleaActaEst (2009 – Specification); Brazil Romano Silva romanoTC (2008); China Feng He hefeng (2007); Indonesia Sindunata Sudarmagi sindu (2006); China Qi Liu visualage (2005).

Details:

Officially called as Component Development from 2004 to 2009, and just as Development from 2010 to nowadays. The actual rules differ from year to year, but, typically, competitors are presented with technical specifications for development of a software component / application / tool, or with a more open, hackathon-style requirements, which they must implement in the best possible way in 4 hours. Submitted solutions are evaluated by a panel of judges according to objective scorecards.

UI Design

Timeline: 2007 – 2022

Champions: Thailand Teeraporn Sriponpak iamtong (2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2012); India L. O. I. (2019); Indonesia Panji Kharisma kharm (2017); Indonesia Junius Albertho abedavera (2016, 2015, 2013, 2011); Indonesia Faridah Amalia Mandaga fairy_ley (2014); Indonesia Tri Joko Rubiyanto djackmania (2010); Australia Dale Napier djnapier (2009); Philippines Nino Rey Ronda oninkxronda (2008); China Yiming Liao yiming (2007).

Details:

The event was officially called Studio from 2007 to 2014, and UI Design from 2015 onwards. Competitors, provided with client requirements, are asked to create the best UI (visual) design for an software product.

UI Prototype

Timeline: 2015–2018

Champions: Sri Lanka Mouly Gunarathne moulyg (2018, 2017, 2016); Sri Lanka Dileepa Balasuriya dileepa (2015).

Details:

Competitors are provided with design specifications for a website / web-application, and they should create a working prototype of the frontend within a ~4 hours timeframe. The resulting submissions are judged against objective scorecards.

List of Topcoder Open events

These are the main Topcoder Open events, where champions are determined.

More information The list of Topcoder Open events, and their winners, Date ...

Topcoder Open victories by countries represented by champions

More information Country, Total ...

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    The following abbreviations are used in the table "The list of Topcoder Open and Regional events": Dev = Software Development (Code); Dg = UI Design (also called as Studio Design); DS = Data Science; F2F = First to Finish (also called Mod Dash); IA = Information Architecture (Wireframes); MM = Marathon Match; Pr = UI Prototype; QA = Quality Assurance Competition; SDg = Software Design (also called Component Design, and just Design); SRM = Algorithm.
  2. [N 2]
    Topcoder member nicknames are given in italic
  3. [N 3]
    Originally planned to be held in Seattle, WA, USA; held online due to COVID-19 pandemic.
  4. [N 4]
    In 2015, on-site finals for UI Design and UI Prototype competitions were held at TCO15 Yogyakarta event; and other on-site finals: Competitive Programming (SMR), Information Architecture, Marathon Match, Software Development were held at TCO15 Indianapolis event.
  5. [N 5]
    Software development competition that year was online-only, and it was divided into Architecture, Assembly, Component Design, Component Development, and Specification sub-tracks.
  6. [N 6]
    Officially titled 2007 TopCoder Open Sponsored by AOL
  7. [N 7]
    Officially titled 2005 TopCoder Open Sponsored by AMD
  8. [N 8]
    Officially titled 2005 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Sun Microsystems
  9. [N 9]
    Officially titled 2004 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Microsoft
  10. [N 10]
    Officially titled 2003 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Intel
  11. [N 11]
    Officially titled 2002 TopCoder Invitational
  12. [N 12]
    Officially titled 2001 TopCoder Invitational
  13. [N 13]
    Updated up to TCO22, inclusive

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