I agree that it would be nice if there were more spots in the final. It would be really great if there were local onsite rounds for the top 500 like in GCJ 2008. This was discussed before the current contest. What we have to consider is that this would cost a LOT more to Google (money and time).
I knew that my chances to go to the finals were slim, based on my previous results. I'm just not fast enough. My target was the top 500 (the T-shirt was a nice perk) and I'm happy that I achieved that. My main objective was to have fun, which I had. I also do this to motivate my students (I'm a CS teacher) for competitions like the ACM ICPC and to learn some new tricks. I think that several competitors know they have little chances in the competition and decide to participate anyway. We get sad when we fail, but this last only a few hours, dependind on our expectations. My expectations for round 3 were low, so my frustration lasted for a couple of hours. What really made me sad and made me write my previous message was that I got close to solve one problem (I took too long to have the right idea and implement it), and the time ended before I could do the submission. In the end, my implementation was incorrect. I was also annoyed by the fact that my name was the only one appearing in the ranks with score 0 (later I remembered that my name appeared ony because I was logged in) and because it was Valentine's Day in Brazil and I sent my wife and kid away to code... But I have absolutely no regrets. It was fun trying to solve that problem! My greatest frustration in GCJs occurred last year. I missed the date of the Qualification Round and noticed it only a week later. This frustration lasted until the current GCJ. For all the finalists, I wish you have tons of deserved fun! Carlos -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "google-codejam" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-code?hl=en.
