Coding Contracts

Coding Contracts are a mechanic that lets players earn rewards in exchange for solving programming problems.

Coding Contracts are files with the “.cct” extensions. They can be accessed through the Terminal or through scripts using the Netscript Coding Contract API

Each contract has a limited number of attempts. If you provide the wrong answer too many times and exceed the number of attempts, the contract will self destruct (delete itself)

Currently, Coding Contracts are randomly generated and spawned over time. They can appear on any server (including your home computer), except for your purchased servers.

Running in Terminal

To run a Coding Contract in the Terminal, simply use the run command:

$ run some-contract.cct

Doing this will bring up a popup. The popup will display the contract’s problem, the number of attempts remaining, and an area to provide an answer.

Interacting through Scripts

See Netscript Coding Contract API.

Submitting Solutions

Different contract problem types will require different types of solutions. Some may be numbers, others may be strings or arrays. If a contract asks for a specific solution format, then use that. Otherwise, follow these rules when submitting solutions:

  • String-type solutions should not have quotation marks surrounding the string (unless specifically asked for). Only quotation marks that are part of the actual string solution should be included.

  • Array-type solutions should be submitted with each element in the array separated by commas. Brackets are optional. For example, both of the following are valid solution formats:

    1,2,3
    [1,2,3]
    

    However, if the solution is a multidimensional array, then all arrays that are not the outer-most array DO require the brackets. For example, an array of arrays can be submitted as one of the following:

    [1,2],[3,4]
    [[1,2],[3,4]]
    
  • Numeric solutions should be submitted normally, as expected

Rewards

There are currently four possible rewards for solving a Coding Contract:

  • Faction Reputation for a specific Faction
  • Faction Reputation for all Factions that you are a member of
  • Company reputation for a specific Company
  • Money

The ‘amount’ of reward varies based on the difficulty of the problem posed by the Coding Contract. There is no way to know what a Coding Contract’s exact reward will be until it is solved.

Notes

  • The scp Terminal command does not work on Coding Contracts

List of all Problem Types

The following is a list of all of the problem types that a Coding Contract can contain. The list contains the name of (i.e. the value returned by getContractType()) and a brief summary of the problem it poses.

Name Problem Summary
Find Largest Prime Factor
Given a number, find its largest prime factor. A prime factor
is a factor that is a prime number.
Subarray with Maximum Sum
Given an array of integers, find the contiguous subarray (containing
at least one number) which has the largest sum and return that sum.
Total Ways to Sum
Given a number, how many different ways can that number be written as
a sum of at least two positive integers?
Spiralize Matrix
Given an array of array of numbers representing a 2D matrix, return the
elements of that matrix in clockwise spiral order.

Example: The spiral order of

[1, 2, 3, 4]
[5, 6, 7, 8]
[9, 10, 11, 12]

is [1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 11, 10, 9, 5, 6, 7]
Array Jumping Game
You are given an array of integers where each element represents the
maximum possible jump distance from that position. For example, if you
are at position i and your maximum jump length is n, then you can jump
to any position from i to i+n.

Assuming you are initially positioned at the start of the array, determine
whether you are able to reach the last index of the array EXACTLY.
Merge Overlapping Intervals
Given an array of intervals, merge all overlapping intervals. An interval
is an array with two numbers, where the first number is always less than
the second (e.g. [1, 5]).

The intervals must be returned in ASCENDING order.

Example:
[[1, 3], [8, 10], [2, 6], [10, 16]]
merges into [[1, 6], [8, 16]]
Generate IP Addresses
Given a string containing only digits, return an array with all possible
valid IP address combinations that can be created from the string.

An octet in the IP address cannot begin with ‘0’ unless the number itself
is actually 0. For example, “192.168.010.1” is NOT a valid IP.

Examples:
25525511135 -> [255.255.11.135, 255.255.111.35]
1938718066 -> [193.87.180.66]
Algorithmic Stock Trader I
You are given an array of numbers representing stock prices, where the
i-th element represents the stock price on day i.

Determine the maximum possible profit you can earn using at most one
transaction (i.e. you can buy an sell the stock once). If no profit
can be made, then the answer should be 0. Note that you must buy the stock
before you can sell it.
Algorithmic Stock Trader II
You are given an array of numbers representing stock prices, where the
i-th element represents the stock price on day i.

Determine the maximum possible profit you can earn using as many transactions
as you’d like. A transaction is defined as buying and then selling one
share of the stock. Note that you cannot engage in multiple transactions at
once. In other words, you must sell the stock before you buy it again. If no
profit can be made, then the answer should be 0.
Algorithmic Stock Trader III
You are given an array of numbers representing stock prices, where the
i-th element represents the stock price on day i.

Determine the maximum possible profit you can earn using at most two
transactions. A transaction is defined as buying and then selling one share
of the stock. Note that you cannot engage in multiple transactions at once.
In other words, you must sell the stock before you buy it again. If no profit
can be made, then the answer should be 0.
Algorithmic Stock Trader IV
You are given an array with two elements. The first element is an integer k.
The second element is an array of numbers representing stock prices, where the
i-th element represents the stock price on day i.

Determine the maximum possible profit you can earn using at most k transactions.
A transaction is defined as buying and then selling one share of the stock.
Note that you cannot engage in multiple transactions at once. In other words,
you must sell the stock before you can buy it. If no profit can be made, then
the answer should be 0.
Minimum Path Sum in a Triangle
You are given a 2D array of numbers (array of array of numbers) that represents a
triangle (the first array has one element, and each array has one more element than
the one before it, forming a triangle). Find the minimum path sum from the top to the
bottom of the triangle. In each step of the path, you may only move to adjacent
numbers in the row below.
Unique Paths in a Grid I
You are given an array with two numbers: [m, n]. These numbers represent a
m x n grid. Assume you are initially positioned in the top-left corner of that
grid and that you are trying to reach the bottom-right corner. On each step,
you may only move down or to the right.

Determine how many unique paths there are from start to finish.
Unique Paths in a Grid II
You are given a 2D array of numbers (array of array of numbers) representing
a grid. The 2D array contains 1’s and 0’s, where 1 represents an obstacle and
0 represents a free space.

Assume you are initially positioned in top-left corner of that grid and that you
are trying to reach the bottom-right corner. In each step, you may only move down
or to the right. Furthermore, you cannot move onto spaces which have obstacles.

Determine how many unique paths there are from start to finish.
Sanitize Parentheses in Expression
Given a string with parentheses and letters, remove the minimum number of invalid
parentheses in order to validate the string. If there are multiple minimal ways
to validate the string, provide all of the possible results.

The answer should be provided as an array of strings. If it is impossible to validate
the string, the result should be an array with only an empty string.

Examples:
()())() -> [()()(), (())()]
(a)())() -> [(a)()(), (a())()]
)( -> [“”]
Find All Valid Math Expressions
You are given a string which contains only digits between 0 and 9 as well as a target
number. Return all possible ways you can add the +, -, and * operators to the string
of digits such that it evaluates to the target number.

The answer should be provided as an array of strings containing the valid expressions.

NOTE: Numbers in an expression cannot have leading 0’s

Examples:
Input: digits = “123”, target = 6
Output: [1+2+3, 1*2*3]

Input: digits = “105”, target = 5
Output: [1*0+5, 10-5]