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Based on their engineering puzzles[1], I'd maybe expect problems geared more towards approximation/heuristics. The GCJ problems always require exact answers.
by eleusive 16y ago
Based on their engineering puzzles[1], I'd maybe expect problems geared more towards approximation/heuristics. The GCJ problems always require exact answers.
[1] http://www.facebook.com/careers/puzzles.php http://www.facebook.com/careers/puzzles.php
- tdmackey 16y agoI'd be surprised. The heuristics type facebook engineering puzzles are more long term type puzzles. These multi-problem fixed time competitions like codejam, icpc, and even top coder, are typically algorithmic masturbation combined with a handful of interesting tricks and an in-depth knowledge of your language's standard libraries. The contest setup and configuration help to make the context fair and scoring easy while still allowing for a decent variety of problems in a very small time window. The more challenging heuristic problems you see on their site don't lend themselves well to the format or nature of similar contests. It will be more so unusual insightful variations on textbook algorithms than something like their Dinosaur Island puzzle. While it would be interesting to see otherwise, I don't see facebook doing anything other than exact answer solutions for this initial contest.