\chapter*{Preface}
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The purpose of this book is to give you
a thorough introduction to competitive programming.
It is assumed that you already
know the basics of programming, but no previous
background in competitive programming is needed.

The book is especially intended for
students who want to learn algorithms and
possibly participate in
the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) or
in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).
Of course, the book is also suitable for 
anybody else interested in competitive programming.

It takes a long time to become a good competitive
programmer, but it is also an opportunity to learn a lot.
You can be sure that you will get
a good general understanding of algorithms
if you spend time reading the book,
solving problems and taking part in contests.

The book is under continuous development.
You can always send feedback on the book to
\texttt{ahslaaks@cs.helsinki.fi}.

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Helsinki, October 2017 \\
Antti Laaksonen
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