Topcoder Open

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

In addition to the main championship, from 2001 to 2007, Topcoder organized an annual TopCoder Collegiate Challenge tournament, for college students only. The TopCoder High School competition was held from 2007 to 2010.

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

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

Competition tracks

Competition tracks included in the 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)

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); ''tomek'' (2008, 2004, 2003); Jan Kuipers ''Jan_Kuipers'' (2007); ''Eryx'' (2005); John Dethridge ''John Dethridge'' (2002); ''jonmac'' (2001).

Details:

This was the only track that was present at all main TCO events and at most of the other Topcoder events. It followed the format of regular 1.5 hours Single Round Matches:

* ''The Coding Phase –'' 75 mins'':'' All competitors were presented with the same three algorithmic problems of differing complexity. Each problem had its own maximal number of points. Problem descriptions were initially invisible. Competitors had 75 minutes to solve these problems. A competitor could open any problem description in any order; once they opened a problem, the number of points they could get for the correct solution of that problem started decreasing over time. When the competitor submitted the problem solution—a code that successfully compiles—they were awarded with the current number of points they could get for that problem. They could re-submit a solution, getting the further decrease number of points, minus extra penalty for the resubmission. During this coding phase, competitors could see the current points awarded to each participant, but they could not see whether the solutions of those participants were correct or incorrect, including whether these scores would hold after ''The System Testing Phase'' or if they would be reset.
* ''The Challenge Phase'' – 15 mins: Each competitor could see all submissions completed by the other competitors. They could optionally challenge any of them by submitting test cases that would cause other competitor's submission to produce an incorrect result. Submission of a correct challenge test case gave the submitter a 50 points award, but submission of an incorrect test case (i.e. the challenged solution can solve it successfully) would lead to 25 points penalty for the test case submitter.
* ''The System Testing Phase'' – In the last phase, system tests were automatically executed for all of the submissions from all competitors. If a submission failed testing, the scores awarded for that submission during ''The Coding Phase'' were reset to zero. The final scores after the system testing determined the winner.

First to Finish (F2F)

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:

This was officially called ''Mod Dash'' from 2009 to 2013, and ''First2Finish'' from then on. Competitors were provided with a set of small programming tasks, such as bug fixes or enhancements in an existing codebase, and they received scores based on who correctly solved each task first. The exact rules for on-site competition varied from year to year.

Information Architecture

Timeline: ''2015 only.''

Champions: Silvana Vacchina ''f0rc0d3r'' (2015).

Details:

This provided competitors with client requirements for a software product, and they were asked to create a wireframe mockup of the future app or website.

Marathon Match (MM)

Timeline: ''2007 – 2022''

Champions: ''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:

This was officially called ''Marathon'' from 2007 to 2022. It followed the format of regular MM competitions: 1–2 weeks for online competitions or 1 day during on-site competitions. Competitors were provided with the same algorithmic or data science problem, which was judged objectively with a live leaderboard which was visible to everyone. Each competitor could submit multiple times with no penalties, with the goal to submit a code that scores the maximal possible amount of scores on that problem. During the competition, the leaderboard was generated based on submissions testing against a limited number of test cases, and, after the contest, the final results were determined with testing against a larger test dataset.

Quality Assurance Competition (QA)

Timeline: 2019 – ''2022''

Champions: Nuwan Gunarathne ''codejam'' (2022, 2021, 2020); Vladimir Timofejev ''v.t.'' (2019)

Details:

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

Software Design

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:

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

Software Development

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'' (2009 – ''Architecture'', 2004); Pablo Wolfus ''pulky'' (2009 – ''Assembly'')'';'' Yanbo Wu ''assistant'' (2009 – ''Component Development'')'';'' Piotr Paweska ''AleaActaEst'' (2009 – ''Specification''); Romano Silva ''romanoTC'' (2008); Feng He ''hefeng'' (2007); Sindunata Sudarmagi ''sindu'' (2006); Qi Liu ''visualage'' (2005).

Details:

This was officially called ''Component Development'' from 2004 to 2009, and ''Development'' from 2010 to 2022. The actual rules differed from year to year, but, typically, competitors were presented with technical specifications for development of a software component, application, or tool, or they were presented with more open, hackathon-style requirements, which they must implement in the best possible way in 4 hours. Submitted solutions were evaluated by a panel of judges according to objective scorecards.

UI Design

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, were asked to create the best user interface design for a software product.

UI Prototype

Timeline: ''2015–2018''

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

Details:

Competitors were provided with design specifications for a website or web-application, and they were required to create a working prototype of the frontend within approximately 4 hours. The resulting submissions were judged against objective scorecards.

List of Topcoder Open events

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

Topcoder Open victories by countries represented by champions

Notes

References

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Programming contests