I recommend to anyone who wants to familiarize with the mechanics of competitive coding, the preparation to participate, or the kind of problems you are supposed to tackle, to get a copy of Steven and Felix Halim's "Competitive Programming" [1].<p>Even though I'm an outsider myself to these competitions, I found the book fascinating. Someone posted an article here at HN about someone reading Greek Classics a hundred or so times and what he got from that... this is the kind of book I feel like I'll have to read that many times in order to get the most of it!<p>"[...] the book contains a collection of relevant data structures, algorithms, and programming tips written for University students who want to be more competitive in [...] competitions, those who love problem solving using computer programs, and those who go for interviews in big IT-companies [...] The possible long term effect is future Computer Science researchers who are well versed in problem solving skills."<p>P.S.: nobody asked me but, what the hell. The other algorithms book I'm really itching to recommend is Sedgewick and Wayne's [2] :-). I like it more than other commonly recommended books, like Skienna's "Algorithms Design Manual" and Cormen's "Introduction to Algorithms".<p>1: <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/stevenhalim/" rel="nofollow">https://sites.google.com/site/stevenhalim/</a><p>2: <a href="http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/" rel="nofollow">http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/</a>