Single Page Coding problem creation [I/O Problem]

This document explains the structure and requirements for designing Input-Output (IO) Coding Problems on the platform. Each field is described with its purpose and general guidelines.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 1. Click the Library tab on the home page
• 2. Then click + button at the bottom to create questions
• 3. In the Create new problem dialog box
• 4. Problem Name
• 5. Expected Solving Time (in minutes)
• 6. Problem Description
  • 6.1. Problem Statement
  • 6.2. Input Format
  • 6.3. Constraints
  • 6.4. Output Format
  • 6.5. Example Input/Output
• 7. Difficulty Level
• 8. Execution Time Limit
• 9. Allowed Programming Languages
• 10. Tags for Search and Categorization
• 11. Stub
• 12. Sample Solutions
• 13. Test Cases

1. Click the Library tab on the home page

2. Then click + button at the bottom to create questions

3. In the Create new problem dialog box

• fill in the problem name

• choose the level of difficulty

• select Problem Type as “Coding “

• choose the evaluation mode as I/O test case based.

4. Problem Name

• Requirement: A clear and descriptive name that reflects the core objective of the problem.

• Purpose:

  • Helps in easy identification and categorization.

  • Should be concise yet informative.

• Example: Maximum Triplet(clearly describes the task).

5. Expected Solving Time (in minutes)

• Requirement: Estimated time required for a candidate to complete the problem.

• Purpose:

  • Assists candidates in managing their time.

  • Helps determine the problem’s difficulty level.

• Typical Range:

  • Easy: 10–20 minutes

  • Medium: 20–40 minutes

  • Hard: 40+ minutes

• Example: Maximum Triplet is expected to take 15 minutes, making it an easy problem.

6. Problem Description

6.1. Problem Statement

• Requirement: A detailed explanation of the problem that includes:

  • The task candidates need to perform.

  • Expected functionality of the solution.

  • Special constraints, if any.

• Purpose:

  • Provides a clear understanding of what needs to be implemented.

  • Ensures candidates do not make unnecessary assumptions.

• Example: In Maximum Triplet, candidates need to write a program to calculate the maximum sum that three consecutive elements can have in the array.

6.2. Input Format

• Requirement: Defines how input data is provided to the program.

• Purpose:

  • Ensures consistency in test cases.

  • Helps candidates parse input correctly.

• Typical Structure:

  • Number of test cases (if applicable).

  • The format of each test case.

• Example:
  

6.3. Constraints

• Requirement: Defines the valid range of input values.

• Purpose:

  • Helps candidates understand input limitations.

  • Ensures test cases remain within reasonable limits.

• Typical Constraints:

  • Minimum and maximum values for input parameters.

6.4. Output Format

• Requirement: Specifies how the solution should print the results.

• Purpose:

  • Ensures output consistency for evaluation.

  • Helps candidates format results correctly.

6.5. Example Input/Output

• Requirement: Provides example input-output pairs.

• Purpose:

  • Helps candidates understand expected behavior.

  • Used to validate solutions before submission.

7. Difficulty Level

• Requirement: Classify the problem as Easy, Medium, or Hard.

• Purpose:

  • Helps candidates choose problems appropriate for their skill level.

  • Affects problem visibility and recommendations.

• Guidelines:

  • Easy: Straightforward logic, simple constraints.

  • Medium: Requires deeper understanding of concepts.

  • Hard: Complex logic, multiple constraints, and edge cases.

• Example: Maximum Triplet is classified as Easy.

8. Execution Time Limit

• Requirement: Defines the maximum execution time allowed for a solution.

• Purpose:

  • Ensures performance optimization.

  • Prevents infinite loops or slow solutions.

• Typical Range: 0–99 seconds .

9. Allowed Programming Languages

• Requirement: Specifies which programming languages can be used.

• Purpose:

  • Helps tailor problems to specific technology skills.

  • Ensures consistency in test case execution.

• Example: 

  • Maximum Triplet  is not targeted for any specific language so this field is vacant for this particular problem.

  • Printing Dictionary is targeted for Python. Hence this field will have Python specified as the only allowed programming language.

• Problems can support multiple languages.

10. Tags for Search and Categorization

• Requirement: Tags to improve searchability.

• Types of Tags:

  • Discovery Tags: Helps in finding the problem .

  • Insight Tags: Used for analytics ().

11. Stub

• A stub is a predefined block of code provided to the candidate in IO-based coding problems. It typically contains the head, Body and tail part.

  • The head part sets up the programming environment and contains all necessary preprocessing directives, library imports, and global definitions (if needed).

  • This is the only part of the stub that the candidate is expected to implement. It contains the function or class definition with a clear interface (input parameters and expected return type).

  • The tail part contains the main() function or entry point. It handles:

    • Reading input from stdin

    • Calling the candidate’s function with the parsed input

    • Writing output to stdout

• Example: Predefined stub file with interface definition for maximumTriplet

• A stub can be generated in 2 ways:

  • Auto Generated stub

    • Specify the function name, return type, and optionally add function parameters and then click GENERATE STUB to generate the code stub

    • Stubs can be auto-generated in below mentioned languages:

      • Python 3

      • Java 21

      • Java 8

      • Java 7 

      • C#

      • JavaScript (NodeJS)

      • C++

• Example: Predefined stub file with interface definition for maximumTriplet

• Manually generated stub

  • Manually generated stub is a stub where the creator has to write the head, body and tail part manually and then click on the SAVE button to save the stub,

  • A stub once generated manually cannot be auto generated.

  • Manually generated stub can be given for below mentioned languages:

    • Bash

    • Clisp

    • Clojure

    • Elixir

    • Erlang

    • F#

    • Go

    • Haskell

    • Julia

    • Kotlin

    • Lua

    • Assembler 32 (Mars 4.5)

    • ObjectiveC

    • Perl

    • PHP

    • PHP7

    • PHP8

    • Python 2

    • R

    • Ruby

    • Rust

    • Scala

    • Swift

    • Typescript

• Purpose:

  • Helps candidates understand expected input/output handling.

  • Ensures uniformity in implementation.

12. Sample Solutions

• It is optional to add a sample solution in any one or more programming languages but it is recommended to add one for the following reasons:

  • It will help in evaluation of the test cases.

  • After giving a sample solution and the test cases, if the sanity checks button is clicked, it will run the sample solution against all the test cases and if it gets passed, it will indicate the correctness of the sample solution and the TestCases.

• Click on ADD NEW, select the programming language and add a working solution to the problem

13. Test Cases

• Requirement: Defines actual test cases used for validation

• A TestCase can of 2 types:

  • Sample TestCase

    • A sample test case will be a public TestCase and will be visible to everyone attempting the problem.

    • When you click on TRY THIS PROBLEM for trying the problem:

• And then select any one programming language for writing a solution:

•  And then after writing the solution, click on the VERIFY button, your solution will run against the sample TestCases.

• When you click on the RUN CODE button your solution will be evaluated against 1 of the Sample TestCases or it can also evaluate a Custom TestCase provided by the user.

• A sample test case can range from 1 to 3.

• Hidden TestCase

  • A hidden TestCase will be a TestCase which will cover all the edge cases, boundary cases and will be hidden from the user.

  • When you click on SUBMIT Button, solution will evaluated against all the test cases including the sample and hidden TestCases.

  • A hidden TestCase can range from 1 to 10.

• Total number of Testcases(Sample + Hidden) can 1 to 13.

• Below is the mentioned process for adding a TestCase:

  • Click Add New and Specify the name of the test case.

• Specify the input and expected output values for the test case.

• Test cases can be written in two formats:
  It can be uploaded in a text file format by clicking on the UPLOAD button.

  • The input file name should be in the format:- input000.txt, input001.txt, input002.txt.

  • The output file name should be in the format:- output000.txt, output001.txt, output002.txt.

  • Input and Output file should be in txt format.

  • The size of each test-case file can be a max of 64MB.

  • For every input file, there should be an output file too.

  • The input and output files can not be empty.

  • Files which contain file like (input001, input003, input004, output001, output003, output004) is invalid because file sequence is not maintained.

              It can also be written manually by clicking on the MANUAL button.

• By clicking on Is sample testcase?, the Test Case will be made a sample and else the Test Case will be made hidden.

  • 
    

• Enter Testcase weightage for the test cases.  If the code passes a particular test case, the score is assigned. The sum of scores of all test cases is the total score assigned to a coding question.

• A sample TestCase is given 0 weightage.

• Purpose:

  • Ensures accuracy and robustness of solutions.

  • Covers normal, edge, and corner cases.