I like the premiss behind Topcoder.

In SRM's, you get 3 problems and about an hour to solve them. You get points proportional to (solved : bool)*(time to solve : int).

After the round is over, you get to view the other member's code and try to find test cases on which they will fail (and get more points when you do). Right now, it is only possible to use one of C++, VB or Java.

The SRM's are actually fun in a video game sorta way, but it really seems that other language families (perl, lisp, prolog) would complete the picture better. For many problems, it would be an advantage to be able to choose.

I'd like to ask them to add Perl, but I was wondering if anyone has a better idea on how to do so than just by sending them an email. Thanks

Franck Binard

In reply to Perl on Topcoder by fbinard

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