Villanova Programming Team

What is Competitive Programming?

Competitive programming is like an academic sport for coders. If you’ve ever done math competitions in school, it’s a similar idea — but with algorithms and code.

Each contest includes around 10–15 short algorithmic puzzles that teams solve within a fixed time limit, using the programming language of their choice. Students typically work in teams of three. Java and Python are popular for their readability, while C++ is often preferred by advanced competitors for its speed and efficiency.

Why Join the Programming Team?

• Sharpen your problem-solving skills. The more you practice, the cleaner, faster, and more efficient your code becomes.
• Learn advanced algorithms. As you tackle harder problems, you’ll deepen your understanding of graph traversal, recursion, and dynamic programming.
• Prepare for technical interviews. The skills you build here overlap directly with those tested in coding interviews at major tech companies.
• Boost your resume. Recruiters notice competitive programming experience—especially ICPC. It highlights teamwork, logic, and real problem-solving skill.

Competitions We Attend

Local contests: Villanova competes annually in the CCSE Local Competition, usually in late October. It’s a great introduction, featuring 7–8 problems over 3 hours. We typically send two teams and often place among the top schools.

ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest): ICPC is a global contest for university programmers, with regional, national, and world rounds. Villanova belongs to the Mid-Atlantic Region and usually competes at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

• Division 1 (D1) and Division 2 (D2) categories.
• D2 problems are slightly easier, but only D1 teams can qualify for nationals.
• Contests are hosted on Kattis.

Villanova has a strong record — 2nd place in D1 and 1st in D2 in 2024! Competing at ICPC Nationals is like training for a Division I sport. Even earning a site award is a big achievement — and it’s a lot of fun.

Getting Started

1. Visit kattis.com and try their “Hello World” problem: https://open.kattis.com/problems/hello
2. Then try a problem that involves input: https://open.kattis.com/problems/hipphipphurra

Once you submit your code, Kattis will run a hidden test suite. A green check ✅ means your solution passed all tests!

Set Up Your IDE to Solve Kattis Problems

Kattis doesn’t provide detailed error messages, so the easiest way to debug is to write and test your code locally in your preferred IDE. You can simulate Kattis input by redirecting sys.stdin to a file while you test. Just remember to remove or comment out that redirection line before you submit your solution.

import sys
# Use this line while testing
# Comment out before submitting
sys.stdin = open('training.txt', 'r')

# Read input
abc = sys.stdin.readline().strip()

Here is an example for the problem above https://open.kattis.com/problems/hipphipphurra

First, create test.txt and put the input from kattis into it.

Arnar
3

Now write your code to solve the problem, reading the input from test.txt.

import sys
# Use this line while testing
# Comment out before submitting
sys.stdin = open('test.txt', 'r')

# Read input
name = sys.stdin.readline().strip()
age = sys.stdin.readline().strip()
for i in range(age):
    print("Hipp hipp hurra, "+name +"!")

import sys
# Comment out before submitting
sys.stdin = open('test.txt', 'r')

# Single integer
n = int(sys.stdin.readline())

# Two integers on one line
m, n = map(int, sys.stdin.readline().split())

# List of integers on one line
bats = [int(x) for x in sys.stdin.readline().split()]

# Integers line by line
lst = []
for _ in range(n):
    lst.append(int(sys.stdin.readline()))

# Fixed number of test cases
q = int(sys.stdin.readline())
for _ in range(q):
    n = int(sys.stdin.readline())

# Unknown number of input lines
for line in sys.stdin:
    # process each line
    pass