Online Programming contest sites are websites which are an ideal platform through which a programmer gets a unique opportunity to test his programming skills through the online contests held online at set frequencies. These contest sites would also enable a programmer to do a self-evaluation on where he stands vis-a-vis the other online contestants. The contestants also get the opportunity to showcase his brilliance by solving problems which no one else might have solved yet. And last but not least; the prize money for the winner is much higher when compared to a freelance site and the probability of landing up with a good job is much higher.
The following section discusses the specialty of some of such websites and why they are good to be tried out.
CodeChef
The specialty of the site is that not only it is an online programming contest site but it also provides the programmers an opportunity to be trained, meet each other and have a healthy competition. It is good to try out this site as apart from competing, aspiring programmers stay updated through its presence in social media.
Sphere Online Judge (SPOJ)
This online judge system (tests programs online in contests) has the solutions to 10000 problems in languages like English, Polish, Vietnamese and Portuguese. C++, Java, C are some languages in which solutions are submitted. Availability of an online forum allows more than 100000 users registered to decide how to solve the problem.
UVa Online Judge
This is also an online judge system where the registered users can submit problems in variety of languages. The problems are quite similar to those in online contests and are stored in formats like PDF or HTML.
ProjectEuler
Both adults and students who have interests in programming and mathematics can try this site out. The site has hundreds of problems solved by programming. There are 17 levels of achievements and participants can go to a higher level by solving certain problems.
Programming Challenges
The site is still under construction and it’s beta version is only available and as such at present, all the features are not available. The C/C++ programs being submitted are judged fairly but at its present stage, the same in Java may not be judged properly.
Programmr
It is an Asia based company with a big fan following on Facebook supporting budding programmers to polish and improve their programming skills and is an online training school in that way.
TJU
This site conducts both online and virtual contests for users registered here and solutions can be submitted online on Java, Pascal, C++ or C. This online system can tell the answer is right or wrong after judging it.
PJU
PJU is a website offering online contests founded by the nonprofit international organization, Union Panamericana de Judo.
USACO
This website not only conducts various online contests, 6 to be precise but provides valuable online training resources through which programmers can polish their problem solving and programming skills. The USASCO training Program gateway is used for the latter purpose.
TIMUS
TIMUS online judge system allows an opportunity to be a part of the innumerable contests which are conducted regularly at the Ural Federal University, TIMUS is the largest online storehouse of programming problems for Russia.
AIZU
This website is an online judge system. The website hosts online programming challenges in both English and Japanese versions. The solutions for online contests can be in C++, C, Ruby. There are also online contests on algorithms.
URI
It is an online judge system which is under constructIon by the University of URI and the online availability of the problems is in Portuguese as well as English. The goal is to share knowledge on programming. A user must log in to start enjoying the features with Email id and a password.
ZOJ
ZOJ is an online judge system which helps its users to solve programming as well as algorithmic problems which are submitted to it online. This online judge system runs on the operating system Linux. Languages like Pascal, C, and C++ are used.
NTHU
NTHU is an online judge system from National Tsing Hua University and it provides a very knowledgeable training platform for the budding and aspiring programmers and a platform for online challenges or contests.
LeetCode
LeetCode provides a platform for ensuring that IT professionals are thoroughly prepared for technical interviews. It is also an online judge system which has a library of problems and a user can submit and find whether they are correct or not.
AI Challenge
It initially started as a programming contest on Artificial Intelligence internationally by the University of Waterloo. In the beginning, it was exclusively for the students of the University however after Google sponsored the contest in the year 2010 and it was opened for all.
Code Forces (Formerly Saratov)
Saratov online contester is an online judge system from the Saratov State University and conducts virtual contests and online contests. The compiler used is Delphi and the user has to login with a login id and a password to start participating.
Google Code Jam
In the year 2008, Google initiated a programming competition called Google Code Jam at the international level with an objective to identify the best engineering manpower for hiring in their company. There is a fixed time limit within which the contestants need to solve a specific number of problems on algorithms.
InterviewStreet ( HackerRankX)
Now rebranded as HackerRankX, they provide recruitment solutions for programmer and coders of companies by taking online selection tests for the candidates and share the results with the recruiting companies. The site claims to assist in hiring the best programs for recruiting companies. Codesprint3 from Interview Street was an online programming contest to hire the best talents to certain companies who needed them.
Kaggle: Big Data Competetion- Making Data Science A Sport
Kaggle comes with data-driven analytics and solutions especially to the energy sector thus helping the energy and power sector to have the maximum production at the minimal cost and thus offers a cost-benefit solution.
Herbert
Herbert is an online judge system currently under construction and is having the Beta version released. The codes submitted by users are saved only if they are registered. Currently, some content is in Japanese.
CoderCharts
It builds up the skills of the coders by making them participate in online puzzles with attractive prizes for the winner. The site also aids in skill building of coders and get them noticed to the recruiters.
PKU
It is an online judge system for ACM-ICPC by the Peking University and tests the solutions given online for the contest problems. It is an archive for a very large number of programming problems submitted.
CodingBat
Codingbat is a website where the coders can build up their programming skill by practicing programs in Java and now in Python as well as programming and logic techniques. It facilitates instant feedback.
HackerRank
It has several online programming contests as well as challenges on Artificial Intelligence to test the user’s programming skills for various programming languages. The coders also post their resumes after participating in the contests.
Al Zimmermann
The site offers online contests wherein the participants have to come up with the best possible solutions to the problems which might not be in a programming language with very prompt feedback on the solutions provided.
Lightoj
This is a brand new online judge system still under construction. It seems to have a user-friendly interface with the compiler designed to support languages like Java, C, and C++ to name a few.
Infoarena
It is the largest Romanian online contest site and helps several young students to brush up their coding skills so that they come out with flying colors after participating in the online programming contests.
CrowdAnalytix
With the increasing business complications band challenges, this site helps to provide solutions to the challenges faced by the business houses who approach them through data analytics.
TunedIT
It is a site providing an online competition forum for Artificial Intelligence. The website also has put a lot of research work on data mining.
Innocentive
The site is rightly called so as it is a repository of the most innovative ideas from the domain experts from various fields like technology, business, commerce to name a few. These tailor based solutions help the clients to solve their domain issues.
Challenge.gov
It conducts a bevy of online contests and challenges which are conducted by the selected agencies of the US government on diverse topics like science, technology, and creative fields.
Topcoder
Topcoder invites experts from all over to work in stimulating and nail-biting problems for innovative and effective solutions and thus helps in skill building of the members and reward them too.
Codeforces
It is a site for conducting online programming contests. These contests are held online quite frequently and the skills of the participants can be judged through the rating given to them based on their performance.
Hackquest
Hackquest is an online challenge website which teaches how to hack to its users. It poses challenges for the users who are still a novice as well as those with intermediary skills.
Hacktissite
Contrary to the name of this site which makes it sound as if it is into illegal activities, it is a very safe and legal website which offers resources through which the budding hackers can become knowledgeable about how to do hacking and check their skills in hacking.
TrythisOne
This website offers online free challenges on various fields namely programming and hacking. This is a legal website.
Hackchallenge
This site provides online hacking challenges to the participants and as they clear the challenges in one level, they are taken to the next level of hacking challenges. There are as many as 75 odd challenges divided into several categories.
Hacking-lab
This website specializes in IT security simultaneously dealing with strategies related to defense.
Coder Byte
Coder byte is a programming challenge and competitions website. This site also provides a programming-related discussion forum to ask for programming problem solutions.
Ahmed-aly Virtual Online Contests
A2 can actually judge the computer programs submitted online and the user can both create and take part in virtual online contests after signing up or after becoming a registered user before participating in the virtual online contests.
Thus, the above discussion on online contesting and challenges actually help us to understand how the web is aiding in building up the programming as well as nonprogramming skills online with attractive rewards, besides bestowing them with opportunities to get hired in the best companies.
- Article updated on June 2019