Topcoder Open (TCO) was an annual design, software development, data science and competitive programming championship organized by Topcoder, and hosted in different venues around US.[1][2][3] In the first two years, 2001 and 2002, the tournament was titled TopCoder Invitational.

Topcoder Open (TCO)
2023 Topcoder Open logo
FrequencyAnnually
CountryUnited States
Years active2001–2023
InauguratedNovember 2–3, 2001
Most recentNovember 17–19, 2022
ActivityCompetitive programming, data science, design, software development
Organized byTopcoder
Websitetco23.topcoder.com

In addition to the main championship, from 2001 to 2007 Topcoder was organizing an annual TopCoder Collegiate Challenge tournament, for college students only.[4][5] Also from 2007 to 2010 TopCoder High School competition was held.

From 2015, Topcoder Regional events were held through the year in different countries.[6]

In 2020–2023 in-person Topcoder Open finals were cancelled, and replaced by virtual events due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent economic slowdown. The 2023 Topcoder Open was the final edition of the contest.[7]

Competition tracks edit

Competition tracks included in Topcoder Open tournament changed through its history. Many of them resemble the types of challenges offered to Topcoder Community through the year, but there is no 1:1 match. Here is the alphabetical list of all competition tracks ever present at TCO:

Algorithm Competition (SRM) edit

Timeline: 2001 – 2022

Champions:   Gennady Korotkevich tourist (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2014);   Petr Mitrichev Petr (2018, 2015, 2013, 2006);   Yuhao Du xudyh (2017);   Makoto Soejima rng_58 (2016, 2011, 2010);   Egor Kulikov Egor (2012);   Bin Jin crazyb0y (2009);   Tomasz Czajka [pl] tomek (2008, 2004, 2003);   Jan Kuipers Jan_Kuipers (2007);   Eryk Kopczyński [pl] Eryx (2005);   John Dethridge John Dethridge (2002);   jonmac (2001).

Details:

The only track that was present at all main TCOs events, and at most of the other Topcoder events. Follows the format of regular 1.5 hours Single Round Matches:[8]

  • The Coding Phase – 75 mins: All competitors are presented with the same three algorithmic problems of different complexity, each problem has its own maximal number of points. Problem descriptions are initially invisible. Competitors have 75 minutes to solve these problems. Competitor can open any problem description in any order; once he opened a problem, the number of points he can get for the correct solution of that problem starts decreasing over time. When competitor submits problem solution (a code that successfully compiles), he is awarded with the current number of points he can get for that problem. He can re-submit a solution, getting the further decrease number of points, minus extra penalty for the resubmission. During the phase competitors can see the current points awarded to each participant, but they don't know whether solutions of those participants are correct or wrong, thus whether these scores will hold after The System Testing Phase, or will be reset.
  • The Challenge Phase – 15 mins: Each competitor can see all submission done by other competitors. He can (optionally) challenge any of them, submitting test cases that will cause other competitor's submission produce a wrong result. Submission of correct challenge test case gives submitter 50 points award, submission of an incorrect test case (i.e. the challenged solution can solve it successfully) will lead to 25 points penalty for the test case submitter.
  • The System Testing Phase – In the last phase system tests are automatically executed for all submissions from all competitors. If a submission fails testing, the scores awarded for that submission during The Coding Phase are reset to zero. The final scores after the system testing determine the winner.

First to Finish (F2F) edit

Timeline: 2009 – 2014, 2016 – 2022

Champions:   Fatih Tas neonray (2022);   Thomas Kranitsas thomaskranitsas (2021);   Victor Roberto Gomes da Cunha cunhavictor (2020);   Dilip Kumar Thapa veshu (2019);   Dmitry Kondakov kondakovdmitry (2018);   Akinwale Ariwodola akinwale (2017, 2014);   vvvpig (2016);   Pratap Koritala supercharger (2013);   Lan Luo hohosky (2012);   Yang Li Yeung (2011);   Margaryta Skrypachova Margarita (2010);   Ninghai Huang PE (2009).

Details:

Officially called as Mod Dash from 2009 to 2013, and First2Finish afterwards. Competitors are provided with set of small programming tasks (like bug fixes / enhancements in an existing codebase), and they get scores based on who correctly resolves each task first. The exact rules for on-site competition may vary from year to year.

Information Architecture edit

Timeline: 2015 only.

Champions:   Silvana Vacchina f0rc0d3r (2015).

Details:

Provided with client requirements for a software product, competitors are asked to create a wireframe mockup of the future app / website.

Marathon Match (MM) edit

Timeline: 2007 – 2022

Champions:   Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho (2022, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2008);   Catalin-Stefan Tiseanu CatalinT (2021);  Hironao Tsutsumida iehn (2020);   Gennady Korotkevich tourist (2019, 2018);   Tiancheng Lou ACRush (2015);   Won-Seok Yoo ainu7 (2012);   Yoichi Iwata wata (2010);   Andrey Lopatin KOTEHOK (2009);   Mateusz Zotkiewicz Mojito1 (2007).

Details:

Officially called as just Marathon from 2007 to nowadays. Follows the format of regular MM competitions (a 1–2 weeks long online, and 1 day long during on-site competitions). Competitors are provided with the same algorithmic / data science problem, which is judged objectively with a live leaderboard, visible to everybody. Everybody can submit multiple times with no penalties, with the goal to come up with a code that scores the maximal possible amount of scores on that problem. During the competition the leaderboard is generated based on submissions testing against a limit number of test cases, and after the contest the final results are determined in a testing against a larger test dataset.

Quality Assurance Competition (QA) edit

Timeline: 2019 – 2022

Champions:   Nuwan Gunarathne codejam (2022, 2021, 2020);   Vladimir Timofejev v.t. (2019)

Details:

The QA competition includes: structured and unstructured testing, structured test case writing, and automated testing.

Software Design edit

Timeline: 2004–2014

Champions:   Meng Wang albertwang (2014, 2013);   Michael Paweska argolite (2012, 2010);   WuJian Ye BLE (2011);   Olexiy Sadovnikov saarixx (2009);   Tim Roberts Pops (2008, 2006);   Sergey Kalinchenko kyky (2007);   Nikolay Archak nicka81 (2005);   Adrian Carcu adic (2004).

Details:

Officially called as Component Design from 2004 to 2009, and just Design from 2010 to 2014. Competitors were asked to take client requirements for a software component / product as input, and produce development documentation / technical specifications. Solutions were evaluated by a panel of judges according to objective scorecards.

Software Development edit

Timeline: 2004 – 2022

Champions:   xxcxy (2022);   Jiang Liwu jiangliwu (2021, 2019);   Dr. Sergey Pogodin birdofpreyru (2020, 2017);   Ngoc Pham ngoctay (2018);   Łukasz Sentkiewicz Sky_ (2016, 2015, 2014);   Zhijie Liu morehappiness (2013);   Yang Li Yeung (2012, 2010);   Franklin Guevarra j3_guile (2011);   GuanZhuo Jin Standlove (2009Architecture, 2004);   Pablo Wolfus pulky (2009Assembly);   Yanbo Wu assistant (2009Component Development);   Piotr Paweska AleaActaEst (2009Specification);   Romano Silva romanoTC (2008);   Feng He hefeng (2007);   Sindunata Sudarmagi sindu (2006);   Qi Liu visualage (2005).

Details:

Officially called as Component Development from 2004 to 2009, and just as Development from 2010 to nowadays. The actual rules differ from year to year, but, typically, competitors are presented with technical specifications for development of a software component / application / tool, or with a more open, hackathon-style requirements, which they must implement in the best possible way in 4 hours. Submitted solutions are evaluated by a panel of judges according to objective scorecards.

UI Design edit

Timeline: 2007 – 2022

Champions:   Teeraporn Sriponpak iamtong (2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2012);   L. O. I. (2019);   Panji Kharisma kharm (2017);   Junius Albertho abedavera (2016, 2015, 2013, 2011);   Faridah Amalia Mandaga fairy_ley (2014);   Tri Joko Rubiyanto djackmania (2010);   Dale Napier djnapier (2009);   Nino Rey Ronda oninkxronda (2008);   Yiming Liao yiming (2007).

Details:

The event was officially called Studio from 2007 to 2014, and UI Design from 2015 onwards. Competitors, provided with client requirements, are asked to create the best UI (visual) design for an software product.

UI Prototype edit

Timeline: 2015–2018

Champions:   Mouly Gunarathne moulyg (2018, 2017, 2016);   Dileepa Balasuriya dileepa (2015).

Details:

Competitors are provided with design specifications for a website / web-application, and they should create a working prototype of the frontend within a ~4 hours timeframe. The resulting submissions are judged against objective scorecards.

List of Topcoder Open events edit

These are the main Topcoder Open events, where champions are determined.

The list of Topcoder Open events, and their winners[9]
Date Event Venue Competition Tracks,[note 1] and Their Champions[note 2]
Nov 15–18, 2022 TCO22 (online)[10] Online Dev (  xxcxy), Dg (  Teeraporn Sriponpak iamtong), F2F (  Fatih Tas neonray), MM (  Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho), QA (  Nuwan Gunarathne codejam), SRM (  Gennady Korotkevich tourist)
Nov 13–20, 2021 TCO21 (online)[11] Online Dev (  Jiang Liwu jiangliwu), Dg (  Teeraporn Sriponpak iamtong), F2F (  Thomas Kranitsas thomaskranitsas), MM (  Catalin-Stefan Tiseanu CatalinT), QA (  Nuwan Gunarathne codejam), SRM (  Gennady Korotkevich tourist)
Nov 13–22, 2020 TCO20[12] (online[note 3]) Online, at hopin.to platform. Dev (  Sergey Pogodin birdofpreyru), Dg (  Teeraporn Sriponpak iamtong), F2F (  Victor Roberto Gomes da Cunha cunhavictor), MM (  Hironao Tsutsumida iehn), QA (  Nuwan Gunarathne codejam), SRM (  Gennady Korotkevich tourist)
Nov 13–16, 2019 TCO19[13] (Houston, TX, USA) InterContinental Houston – Medical Center Dev (  Jiang Liwu jiangliwu), Dg (  L. O. I.), F2F (  Dilip Kumar Thapa veshu), MM (  Gennady Korotkevich tourist), QA (  Vladimir Timofejev v.t.), SRM (  Gennady Korotkevich tourist)
Nov 13–16, 2018 TCO18 (Dallas, TX, USA)[14][15][16][17] Southfork Ranch Dev (  Ngoc Pham ngoctay), Dg (  Teeraporn Sriponpak iamtong), F2F (  Dmitry Kondakov kondakovdmitry), MM (  Gennady Korotkevich tourist), Pr (  Mouly Gunarathne moulyg), SRM (  Petr Mitrichev Petr)
Oct 21–24, 2017 TCO17 (Buffalo, NY, USA)[18][19][20][21] Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Dev (  Sergey Pogodin birdofpreyru), Dg (  Panji Kharisma kharm), F2F (  Akinwale Ariwodola akinwale), MM (  Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho), Pr (  Mouly Gunarathne moulyg), SRM (  Yuhao Du xudyh)
Nov 18–21, 2016 TCO16 (Washington DC, USA)[22] Booz Allen Hamilton Innovation Center Dev (  Łukasz Sentkiewicz Sky_), Dg (  Junius Albertho abedavera), F2F (  vvvpig), MM (  Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho), Pr (  Mouly Gunarathne moulyg), SRM (  Makoto Soejima rng_58)
Nov 8–10, 2015 TCO15 (Indianapolis, IN, USA)[23][note 4] Omni Severin Hotel Dev (  Łukasz Sentkiewicz Sky_), IA (  Silvana Vacchina f0rc0d3r), MM (  TianCheng Lou ACRush), SRM (  Petr Mitrichev Petr)
Sep 21–22, 2015 TCO15 – Yogyakarta (Indonesia)[23][note 4] Eastparc Hotel Dg (  Junius Albertho abedavera), Pr (  Dileepa Balasuriya dileepa)
Nov 16–19, 2014 TCO14 – San Francisco (CA, USA)[24][25][26][27] Pier 48 Dev (  Łukasz Sentkiewicz Sky_), Dg (  Faridah Amalia Mandaga fairy_ley), F2F (  Akinwale Ariwodola akinwale), MM (  Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho), SDg (  Meng Wang albertwang), SRM (  Gennady Korotkevich tourist)
Nov 10–14, 2013 TCO13 (Washington DC, USA)[28][29] Capital Hilton Hotel Dev (  Zhijie Liu morehappiness), Dg (  Junius Albertho abedavera), F2F (  Pratap Koritala supercharger), MM (  Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho), SDg (  Meng Wang albertwang), SRM (  Petr Mitrichev Petr)
Sep 30 – October 4, 2012 TCO12 (Orlando, FL, USA)[30][31] Caribe Royale Hotel Dev (  Yang Li Yeung), Dg (  Teeraporn Sriponpak iamtong), F2F (  Kan Luo hohosky), MM (  Won-Seok Yoo ainu7), SDg (  Michael Paweska argolite), SRM (  Egor Egor)
Sep 25–28, 2011 TCO11 (Hollywood, FL, USA)[32] Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa Dev (  Franklin Guevarra j3_guile), Dg (  Junius Albertho abedavera), F2F (  Yang Lee Yeung), MM (  Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho), SDg (  WuJian Ye BLE), SRM (  Makoto Soejima rng_58)
Oct 11–14, 2010 TCO10 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[33] The Mirage Dev (  Yang Li Yeung), Dg (  Tri Joko Rubiyanto djackmania), F2F (  Margaryta Skrypachova Margarita), MM (  Yoichi Iwata wata), SDg (  Michael Paweska argolite), SRM (  Makoto Soejima rng_58)
Jun 1–4, 2009 TCO09 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[34] The Mirage Dev[note 5] (Architecutre:   GuanZhuo Jin Standlove; Assembly:   Pablo Wolfus pulky; Component Development:   Yanbo Wu assistant; Specification:   Piotr Paweska AleaActaEst), Dg (  Dale Napier djnapier), F2F (  Ninghai Huang PE), MM (  Andrey Lopatin KOTEHOK), SDg (  Olexiy Sadovnikov saarixx), SRM (  Bin Jin crazyb0y)
May 11–15, 2008 TCO08 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[35][36] The Mirage Dev (  Romano Silva romanoTC), Dg (  Nino Rey Ronda oninkxronda), MM (  Przemysław Dębiak [pl] Psyho), SDg (  Tim Roberts Pops), SRM (  Tomasz Czajka [pl] tomek)
Jun 26–29, 2007 TCO07 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[37][note 6] The Mirage Dev (  Feng He hefeng), Dg (  Yiming Liao yiming), MM (  Mateusz Zotkiewicz Mojito1), SDg (  Sergey Kalinchenko kyky), SRM (  Jan Kuipers Jan_Kuipers)
May 3–5, 2006 TCO06 (Las Vegas, NV, USA)[38][39][40][note 7] Aladdin Resort and Casino Dev (  Sindunata Sudarmagi sindu), SDg (  Tim Roberts Pops), SRM (  Petr Mitrichev Petr)
Oct 12–14, 2005 TCO05 (Santa Clara, CA, USA)[41][note 8] Santa Clara Marriot Dev (  Qi Liu visualage), SDg (  Nikolay Archak nicka81), SRM (  Eryk Kopczyński [pl] Eryx)
Nov 11–12, 2004 TCO04 (Santa Clara, CA, USA)[42][note 9] Santa Clara Marriot Dev (  GuanZhuo Jin Standlove), SDg (  Adrian Carcu adic), SRM (  Tomasz Czajka [pl] tomek)
Dec 4–5, 2003 TCO03 (Uncasville, CT, USA)[43][note 10] Mohegan Sun Casino SRM (  Tomasz Czajka [pl] tomek)
Nov 22–23, 2002 TCI02 (Uncasville, CT, USA)[44][45][note 11] Mohegan Sun Casino SRM (  John Dethridge John Dethridge)
Nov 2–3, 2001 TCI01 (Mashantucket, CT, USA)[46][note 12] Foxwoods Resort Casino SRM (  jonmac)

Topcoder Open victories by countries represented by champions edit

Topcoder Open Victories by Countries Represented by Champions[note 13]
Country Total Competition Tracks[note 1]
Dev Dg F2F IA MM Pr QA SDg SRM
  Argentina 1 1
  Australia 2 1 1
  Belarus 7 2 5
  Brasil 2 1 1
  Canada 3 1 2
  China 22 11 1 4 1 3 2
  Greece 1 1
  India 2 1 1
  Indonesia 8 1 7
  Japan 5 2 3
  Latvia 1 1
  Nepal 1 1
  Netherlands 1 1
  Nigeria 2 2
  Philippines 2 1 1
  Poland 15 3 8 4
  Romania 2 1 1
  Russia 8 1 1 1 5
  South Korea 1 1
  Spain 3 2 1
  Sri Lanka 7 4 3
  Thailand 5 5
  Turkey 1 1
  Ukraine 2 1 1
  Vietnam 1 1
  USA 4 3 1

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b The following abbreviations are used in the table "The list of Topcoder Open and Regional events": Dev = Software Development (Code); Dg = UI Design (also called as Studio Design); DS = Data Science; F2F = First to Finish (also called Mod Dash); IA = Information Architecture (Wireframes); MM = Marathon Match; Pr = UI Prototype; QA = Quality Assurance Competition; SDg = Software Design (also called Component Design, and just Design); SRM = Algorithm.
  2. ^ Topcoder member nicknames are given in italic
  3. ^ Originally planned to be held in Seattle, WA, USA; held online due to COVID-19 pandemic.
  4. ^ a b In 2015, on-site finals for UI Design and UI Prototype competitions were held at TCO15 Yogyakarta event; and other on-site finals: Competitive Programming (SMR), Information Architecture, Marathon Match, Software Development were held at TCO15 Indianapolis event.
  5. ^ Software development competition that year was online-only, and it was divided into Architecture, Assembly, Component Design, Component Development, and Specification sub-tracks.
  6. ^ Officially titled 2007 TopCoder Open Sponsored by AOL
  7. ^ Officially titled 2005 TopCoder Open Sponsored by AMD
  8. ^ Officially titled 2005 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Sun Microsystems
  9. ^ Officially titled 2004 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Microsoft
  10. ^ Officially titled 2003 TopCoder Open Sponsored by Intel
  11. ^ Officially titled 2002 TopCoder Invitational
  12. ^ Officially titled 2001 TopCoder Invitational
  13. ^ Updated up to TCO22, inclusive

References edit

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