Currently the most comprehensive introduction to competitive programming, this improved new textbook includes new material on advanced topics such as calculating Fourier transforms, finding minimal cost flows in graphs, and using automata in string problems. Critically, the text accessiblely explains and demonstrates how competitive programming is a proven method for applying and testing algorithms, as well as developing computational thinking and improving both programming and debugging skills.Topics and features: introduces dynamic programming and other basic algorithm design techniques and explores a wide variety of graphics algorithms; While aligned with the IOI Curriculum, it also covers more advanced topics such as maximum flows, Nim theory and additional structures; explores specific algorithms for trees and discusses mathematical issues related to competitive programming; Reviews the features of the C++ programming language and explains how to create efficient algorithms that can quickly process large data sets; discusses sorting algorithms and binary search, and examines the various data structures of the C++ standard library; covers advanced algorithm design topics such as bit parallelism and amortized analysis, and focuses on efficiently handling string range queries; It explains a selection of more advanced topics, including square root algorithms and dynamic programming optimization.