Vision Coding

Canadian Computing Competition

Overview:

This course is a 6-month program focusing on achieving a perfect score in the CCC (Junior).

Week 1: Introduction to Programming Concepts, Input/Output, Conditional Statements (if/else), Loops (for, while)

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  • Topics:
    • Variables, data types (integers, floats, booleans), basic operators (+, -, *, /, %), reading data from the user (using input() function), printing output (using print() function), if statements, else statements, logical operators (and, or, not), for loops (definite iteration), while loops (indefinite iteration)
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write programs to perform basic calculations with different data types
    • Identify data types based on given values
    • Write programs to prompt the user for input and display messages
    • Format output using string manipulation techniques (e.g., format() function).

Week 2: Arrays (One-Dimensional)

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  • Topics:
    • Declaring and initializing arrays, accessing elements, iterating through arrays
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write programs to store and manipulate data using arrays (e.g., finding the sum or average of elements).

Week 3: Functions (defining and calling functions), Recursion

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  • Topics:
    • Defining functions with parameters and return values, calling functions, introduction to recursion, base cases, recursive functions (e.g., factorial, Fibonacci sequence)
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write programs that use functions to modularize code (e.g., separate functions for calculation and output).
    • Pass arguments to functions and handle return values
    • Write programs that use recursive functions to solve problems (e.g., calculate factorial, implement binary search).
    • Identify the base case and recursive case in a recursive function

Week 4: Strings (String Manipulation)

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  • Topics:
    • String data type, accessing characters, string manipulation functions (e.g., len(), upper(), lower())
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write programs to manipulate strings (e.g., counting vowels, reversing a string).
    • Use string slicing to extract substrings

Week 5: Two pointers

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  • Topics:
    • Understanding and apply two pointers technique
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write programs that utilize the two pointers technique to solve problems efficiently

Week 6-7: Stack & Queue

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  • Topics:
    • Introduction to stack and queue data structures, implementing stack and queue operations
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write programs to implement stack and queue data structures.
    • Solve problems using stack and queue operations

Week 8: List

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  • Topics:
    • Understanding list data structure, list operations
  • Practice Problems:
    • Implement list data structure from scratch
    • Perform various list operations such as insertion, deletion, searching, and traversal

Week 9-11: Depth-First Search (DFS) & Breadth-First Search (BFS)

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  • Topics:
    • Understanding DFS and BFS algorithms, traversing graphs using DFS and BFS
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write programs to implement DFS and BFS algorithms

Week 12: Problem-Solving Techniques

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  • Topics:
    • Decomposition (breaking down complex problems into smaller subproblems)
  • Practice Problems:
    • Decompose complex CCC-style problems into smaller, solvable steps.

Week 13-14: Efficiency Analysis (Basic Understanding)

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  • Topics:
    • Big O notation (introduction - concepts of constant, linear, quadratic time complexity)
  • Practice Problems:
    • Analyze the time complexity of simple code snippets (e.g., iterating through an array).
    • Identify the dominant factor affecting time complexity in basic loops.

Week 11: Templates

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  • Topics:
    • Function templates, class templates, template specialization
  • Practice Problems:
    • Create generic functions and classes using templates to support multiple data types

Week 12: STL Libraries

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  • Topics:
    • Templated containers (vector, list, map, set), STL algorithms
  • Practice Problems:
    • Utilize STL containers and algorithms to solve common programming tasks with templated data structures.

Weeks 15-18: Past CCC Problems and Practice

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  • Topics:
    • Solve past CCC problems (Junior level) categorized by difficulty.
  • Practice Problems:
    • Start with easier problems and gradually progress to harder ones.
    • Pay close attention to problem constraints and edge cases.
    • Analyze different solution approaches and choose the most efficient one.

Weeks 19-20: Test Cases and Debugging

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  • Focus:
    • Develop test cases for code and improve debugging skills
  • Practice Problems:
    • Write comprehensive test cases to ensure code works for various inputs
    • Use debugging techniques (print statements, debuggers) to identify and fix errors efficiently.

Weeks 21-22: Mock Contests and Time Management

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  • Focus:
    • Participate in simulated contests under timed conditions
  • Practice Activities:
    • Participate in mock contests with time pressure to simulate the real CCC experience

Weeks 23-24: Review and CCC Patterns

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  • Focus:
    • Review common CCC problem patterns and solution strategies.
  • Practice Activities:
    • Identify common problem patterns (e.g., searching, sorting, string manipulation) in past CCC problems.
    • Review and adapt existing solutions to solve similar problems with different contexts