acm-icpc-problem-setting_skill

Overview

This skill helps craft and deliver high-quality algorithm competition problems for ACM-ICPC, CCPC, Codeforces and similar contests. It guides you from idea conception through statement writing, test data generation, validators, and contest organization. The focus is practical: clarity, correctness, and reproducible test infrastructure.

How this skill works

The skill inspects every phase of problem preparation: idea originality, formal statement completeness, constraint and sample coverage, and test data quality. It provides templates and examples for testlib-based generators and basic checkers, plus guidance on time/memory limits and subtask design. It also highlights platform-specific workflows and common anti-patterns to stop and fix.

When to use it

• Designing new contest problems or problem sets
• Writing formal problem statements and LaTeX templates
• Generating and validating test data with testlib
• Implementing checkers, special judges, and validators
• Setting time/memory limits and subtask constraints

Best practices

• Ensure original, non-trivial problem ideas and avoid duplicates
• Write unambiguous statements: define every term and specify all ranges
• Provide strong samples including edge cases and common wrong interpretations
• Combine random and handcrafted tests; include extremes and boundaries
• Use testlib for reproducible generators and build simple, robust checkers for correctness
• Set time limits based on reference solutions (test std × 2) and design clear subtask structure

Example use cases

• Create a rated Codeforces contest problem from concept to deployable files
• Write LaTeX statements and sample I/O for an ICPC regional problem set
• Implement testlib generators producing mixed random and handcrafted data sets
• Develop a basic special judge or checker for non-unique-output problems
• Design subtasks and choose time/memory limits for multi-tier contests