I started giving competitive programming contests on Codeforces, Codechef, and AtCoder as soon as I was done with my JEE Advance 2021. But I didn't study anything required to solve more than 1 question. So I kept giving contests, solving 1 and occasionally 2 questions each contest. Repeating this I managed to become a 2-star coder at CodeChef with a rating of 1497 and a codeforces rating of 1166. And my typing speed boosted to 110 wpm.
I started enjoying finding algorithms to solve a problem in a limited amount of time. I was solving questions based on maths and greedy algorithms, till now and already enjoying this much. So I decided to start the study of Data Structures and Algorithms so that I can solve more difficult problems. My current aim is to be at least an expert at Codeforces and a 5-star coder at CodeChef.
Alright enough of why I decided to study and my aims, now let's jump to the progress I made this week.
I didn't give any contest this week and completely focused on learning DSA. I started with this book called Competitive Programmer's Handbook and started learning about binary search. Binary search is an algorithm that helps in finding an element in a sorted array in O(log(n)) time. I did not go in-depth as it is a pretty simple algorithm. After reading from the book about binary search, I jumped to Codeforces and solved all binary search-related questions of difficulty 800 and some of difficulty 900. Now I think I have a new weapon in my inventory to solve questions.
After learning about binary search and solving some of its questions. I got bored with the book as most of it was technical and filled with C++ code, which I was too dumb to understand. So I went to YouTube and started following the Algorithms open course by MIT. It was an amazing experience. The instructors were giving away cushions to whoever answered their question, isn't it cool. It gives students motivation to focus on what's being taught and which of course produces better results. I wish my professor did the same. Even If he did I wouldn't know as I did not attend his lectures anyways. Following those lectures, I completed learning about Linked Lists and pointers.
Now, the next step is to learn about trees. My knowledge is still very elementary about linked lists though.
