Artyom Makarov is ready for Certificate of Zealous Coder
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I am so happy to finally be able to apply for this certificate on this site! Since I got here in 2019 (I saw that somebody advised CodeAbbey somewhere, but I don't remember where) I have always wanted it (back then it was Certificate of Stargazer though) but it seemed to be out of reach for me. Until this year!
Artyom, Hi!
I watched your "comeback" during recent weeks with much curiosity. Very glad you did it.
Since you registered long ago, you were eligible for Stargazer paper too, though it feels like Zealous Coder is more tough - at least certificate requests become significantly more rare now so I even start considering to lower the threshold... (or probably people dislike the design)
Congratulations and thanks for your persistence! Certificate is at your profile!
Thank you, I really apreciate it! In the nearest future I plan to get the Certificate of Stargazer too, though for the time being I want to take some rest - the remaining problems are still tricky. As for the theshold, I will say that even though the problems were difficult (and were becoming harder as I approached 120 mark), the certificate is worth all the effort put into getting it, despit its amount. It really feels to me like I earned it, so to speak. And the design seems great for me, it's simple and at the same time catching. Thanks again! I have gained a lot of experience on this site!
I plan to get the Certificate of Stargazer too
hm-m-m, there is probably some misunderstanding, but stargazer certificate only needed to reach stargazer rank, so I can award it to you right now, but as it is somewhat obsolete and simpler (also many old problems already have multiple solutions found on github) generally it makes no sense to get both :)
BTW I wanted to ask whether you have some background in competitive programming (as you solve in C++ and this is popular language of choice in that field)?
Oh, I thought that I had to solve 145 problems with c-0 tag, and currently I have abnout 120 of them, so I didn't know I could get it right now. This would be really great if you awarded it to me since it was the first certificate I was trying to win after all:)
I have some minor backgroung in competitive programming if school contests can be regarded this way (participated in one in 11th grade, in December of 2019, even won a diploma, though it was just a city stage of the contest). When I started programming in 2017 I didn't plan to participate in competitions. So the reason why I use C++ is different. And moreover it's my first programming language. You may ask why, since C++ is not considered to be the best choice for newcomers. It's a bit weird story. In 8th grade I had a classmate which upon being asked about whether he programmed or not answered that yes. And he said he was learning C++ because... It's the best language to start with. In his opinion, of course. Back then I didn't know what programming was at all, though I considered myself as a "computer guy". So I got a bit jealous over what he had achieved, but I soon forgot about it. He also said that he had written a game in C++ and promised to demonstrate it to the teacher, but when he brought it to the school, the game just refused to work, from what I heard from his friend when they were trying to launch it. In summer of 2017 I made a dicision to begin programming and, remembering what that classmate had said about C++, I chose this language. Surprisingly, I didn't have much trouble learning it, and I still love this language. It's highly flexible, in my humble opinion, though at times can be too intricate. So where is that weird part of the story? On one occasion, I was typing some code in C++ during the break in school, and this classmate noticed it and immediately recognised this language. Then we had a brief chat, in which I said something like "Well, you should know C++, don't you?" His answer shocked me. He said he never knew C++ nor programmed in it. I clearly remembered what he had said in 8th grade, and those contradicting things just couldn't live together in my head? Though he may have mistaken C++ for C# since I also vaguely recall that he once said something about Unity. So the whole reason why I use C++ is because long ago I heard that it would be a great start and didn't search for alternatives :)
What a long post I wrote :)