Welcome to UCLouvain ICPC! This site is about everything related to algorithmics at the University of Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve.
We routinely take part in (and organize!) algorithmics contests targeting all skill levels, as well as discuss clever solutions to these algorithmics problems.
Here are a few reasons why taking part in algorithmics contests is a good idea:
ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest) is an algorithmics programming contest for university students. Teams of three - representing their university - work to solve the most problems, fostering collaboration, creativity, innovation, and the ability to perform under pressure.
Here in Belgium there are 3 levels to go through before reaching the world finals:
Each contest has an average of 12 problems ranging from easy (-ish) to hard, though the NWERC is generally harder than the BAPC which is generally harder than the pre-BAPC. Each problem has a time limit and a memory constraint, which your solution must execute within.
The Pre-BAPC is a qualifying round which takes place in each university participating in the BAPC (in our case, University Catholique de Louvain). The best teams will go on to participate in the BAPC.
BAPC (Benelux Algorithm Programming Contest) is a regional contest to determine which teams of the university will go to the NWERC.
NWERC (Northwestern Europe Regional Contest) is the contest where universities across Northwestern Europe compete for a spot in the ICPC world finals. Generally it's the best 3 teams who go to the world finals. Doing well in the BAPC isn't necessarily a prerequisite for being sent to the NWERC; that's a decision the university makes.
World finals can take place anywhere around the world, and is the most prestigious of the contests. The contest rules are the same as the NWERC and the BAPC, but the problem set tends to be harder than the NWERC.
Each week, our beloved coach Henri prepares a weekly contest on Kattis. Every Thursday at lunchtime we discuss the problems and solutions together.
There are a lot of resources to learn competitive programming. Some website even host online contests to train on.
Here are a few of them:
There are also books from which you can learn the basics:
You can join us on Discord!