justplay

justplay

It was in the vast sea of humanity that I found you, a mere glance among the crowd that bound us together. But let me clarify, this isn’t a love story; it’s about the Huawei Cup Programming Competition. I, who had never delved into algorithms, initially overlooked the notification. It was only when Ning, a friend, called me to join that I decided to give it a shot.

Round One: The Programming Challenge

The competition began with a set of ten programming problems labeled from a to j. Initially, we followed the usual routine of tearing up the papers. When we saw problem c, I had a clear idea and started working on it. An hour passed, and we finally had a result. However, when we submitted it, we were told we had exceeded the time limit. Frustrated, I spent another half-hour trying to fix it but to no avail. We then shifted our focus to the first and last problems, which many teams had already solved. After an hour of hard work, we managed to complete them. When we checked the leaderboard, we saw that our team had solved problems g and f, so we focused on g. Another hour passed, but when we submitted our solution, it was incorrect. Despite the difficulty of the problem, we couldn’t figure out the issue. We spent hours trying to fix it, but eventually, we ran out of time and left the competition. We were ranked 20th that day.

The most amusing thing that day was that every time we solved a problem, staff members would come and give us balloons. Unfortunately, every time they gave us balloons, we accidentally triggered the power switch for the computers in our row, causing the entire row to go dark twice. It was quite funny, especially when Wei Peng’s program was almost finished, only to be lost in the blink of an eye.

Initial Round Results

After the first round, our team was ranked 12th. It was no surprise since we initially focused on problem c, which turned out to be the most difficult. We managed to solve it within the time limit, but our team’s performance on problems a and j was exceptional. Despite our efforts, we couldn’t secure a spot among the top 11, who were eligible for prizes. Determined to move forward, I decided to participate in the second round of the competition, which was based on the game of snake.

Preparation for the Second Round

After the qdctf competition, I started working on the snake game. There were only four days left before the competition deadline, and some participants had already achieved a score of 180,000. With my schedule packed with classes, I spent every available moment working on the game. On Monday, I had full classes, on Tuesday, I had an example session, and on Wednesday, I studied a breadth-first search algorithm. On Thursday, I spent the entire day analyzing code and writing my own solution, skipping a physics class. Every night, I didn’t go to bed before midnight. However, my approach was flawed, and I couldn’t achieve the desired results.

Despite my efforts, I couldn’t achieve the desired results. The competition was a challenging experience, but it taught me valuable lessons about perseverance and teamwork. It was an unforgettable journey that I will cherish forever.