How to Setup IntelliJ IDEA For Java Competitive Programming Environment?

IntelliJ IDEA is a popular Integrated Development Environment (IDE) used by many developers for Java programming. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to set up IntelliJ IDEA for competitive programming. Competitive programming is a popular activity among computer science students and professionals, as it provides an opportunity to test their coding skills against others in a challenging and competitive environment. Java is a commonly used programming language in this field, and IntelliJ IDEA is a powerful IDE that can enhance your productivity and workflow. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to install Java and set up IntelliJ IDEA for competitive programming.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Installing Java

Before we can install IntelliJ IDEA, we need to make sure that Java is installed on our system. Here are the steps to install Java:

1.  Go to the Java SE Downloads page on the Oracle website.
2.  Accept the license agreement and choose the version of Java that you want to install.
3.  Download the appropriate installer for your operating system.
4.  Run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Step 2: Setting up IntelliJ IDEA

Once Java is installed, we can proceed to install and set up IntelliJ IDEA for competitive programming. Here are the steps:

1. Go to the IntelliJ IDEA Downloads page on the JetBrains website.
2. Choose the appropriate version of IntelliJ IDEA for your operating system and download the installer. 
3.  Run the installer and follow the prompt to complete the installation.
4.  Launch IntelliJ IDEA and click on the “Create New Project” option.
5. Choose the “Java” option and select the appropriate JDK version that you installed in the previous step.
6.  Choose a project name and location, and click on the “Create” button.
7.  Once the project is created, you can start coding in the editor window.
8. Once setup your window will look like something below with the terminal window:

Step 3:

Using plugins with Intellij IDEA can be helpful for doing competitive programming with Intellij IDEA. Here are a few:

AutoCP is a popular IntelliJ IDEA plugin that helps competitive programmers by automating some of the tedious tasks associated with coding challenges. It offers features such as template generation, test case generation, code generation, and more. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to use AutoCP with IntelliJ IDEA.

Installing AutoCP:

Before we can use AutoCP, we need to install it in IntelliJ IDEA. Here are the steps to install AutoCP:

1.  Open IntelliJ IDEA and go to the “Settings” menu.
2.  Select the “Plugins” option.
3.  Click on the “Marketplace” tab and search for “AutoCP”.
4.  Click on the “Install” button and wait for the installation to complete.

Plugins: AUTOCP Installation

Using AutoCP:

Once AutoCP is installed, we can use its features to speed up our coding process. Here are a few common tasks that we can automate with AutoCP:

1.  Competitive programming support: AutoCP can also support popular coding challenge websites such as Codeforces, AtCoder, and more. AutoCP can help you to setup an input-output test case window so that you can run your code and test it for the given test cases on competitive programming sites.
2. Once AutoCP is installed it will be shown as an option on the right-hand side of the IntelliJ IDEA window panel below “NOTIFICATIONS”. Click on the AutoCP option and you can then use it to paste input and output test cases from the coding sites and verify whether your code is passing all the test cases or not.

You can check whether your test cases passed or not in your Terminal section.

Here’s how your window will look like when you have completed all the steps.

Once set up you are ready to participate in coding contests and increase your problem-solving abilities using the IntelliJ IDEA editor. Some important tips for Competitive Programming using Java and IntelliJ IDEA:

1. Familiarize yourself with Java’s syntax and standard library.
2. Use IntelliJ IDEA’s code completion and suggestion features to write code faster.
3. Use keyboard shortcuts to navigate through the code and perform common tasks.
4. Use external libraries and frameworks to speed up your development process.