Input from file vs terminal

General Questions
#1

I started doing USACO very recently so please pardon me if my question is overly naïve.

Previously the problem input/output were file based, which worked quite fine for me. But seems since last December the input would be from the terminal. What was the rationale for making this change?

Now when I develop the code locally I will still read input from a file, and before I submit my solution I have to change all the “fin” to “cin”, which is time consuming and kind of error prone. Is there a better way of doing this?

The reason I liked reading input from a file is I do not have to manually input the data from the terminal each time I run the program.

#2

I recommend that you use the setIO function and store a “template” with that function. This way, you are used to writing cin and cout.

The rationale behind changing from file to terminal is due to the increase in the number of participants.

#3

???

Standard I/O is easier to use (at least in C++, Java, Python).

https://usaco.guide/general/cpp-command?lang=cpp#redirecting-input--output or https://usaco.guide/general/io?lang=cpp#method-1-freopen

#4

got you thanks a lot! :+1:

#5

Oh, mb. Sorry for the confusion.