Alright, let me tell you about this “Cathedral Invitational” thing I messed around with. It was a wild ride, not gonna lie.
It all started when I stumbled upon this coding challenge online. The name sounded fancy, but the problem itself seemed straightforward enough: build a system that can manage a bunch of data, sort it, and spit it out in a specific format. Okay, I thought, I can do this.
First thing I did was fire up my trusty code editor. I decided to go with Python ’cause it’s my go-to for quick prototyping. I started by outlining the basic structure of the program. I needed classes to represent the different data objects, functions to handle the sorting logic, and a main loop to tie it all together. You know, the usual drill.
Then came the fun part: actually writing the code. I spent a good chunk of time wrestling with the sorting algorithm. I wanted something efficient, so I opted for a merge sort. I remember scratching my head for a while trying to get the recursion right, but eventually, I hammered it out. Lots of print statements to debug, gotta love ’em.
Next up was dealing with the data input. The challenge specified a particular file format, so I had to write a parser to read the data and convert it into my internal data structures. This involved a bunch of string manipulation and error handling. Boy, did I run into some weird edge cases! One time, the file had a missing field, and my program crashed. Had to add some extra checks to make sure everything was in order.
After that, I focused on the output. The challenge had very specific requirements for how the data should be formatted. I spent a good hour fiddling with string formatting and alignment. I even had to look up some obscure Python string methods to get it just right.
Once I had all the pieces in place, I started testing the whole thing. I created a bunch of test files with different scenarios and ran them through my program. At first, it was a disaster. Bugs everywhere! I fixed one thing, and another would pop up. It was like playing whack-a-mole.
But slowly, steadily, I started squashing the bugs. I used a debugger to step through the code and figure out what was going wrong. I refactored some of the functions to make them more readable and maintainable. And I added more error handling to prevent crashes.
Finally, after days of coding and debugging, I had something that actually worked! My program could read the input file, sort the data, and output it in the correct format. I was so relieved. I submitted my solution, and it passed all the test cases. Victory!
Looking back, the “Cathedral Invitational” was a challenging but rewarding experience. I learned a lot about data structures, algorithms, and debugging techniques. And I got a cool feeling of accomplishment for solving a tough problem. Would I do it again? Maybe. But next time, I’m bringing snacks.
