By definition, plagiarism is to steal and pass the ideas as their own without crediting the source. HackerRank is a place where programmers accept the challenges based on their expertise and attempt to solve them. Some programmers might copy others’ solutions and try to claim and win the challenge. To avoid this, HackerRank has its own plagiarism policy.
The website is augmented in such a way that innocent candidates are not penalized for plagiarism. But how does HackerRank detect plagiarism is what we will be explaining in the article below.
Hackerrank has a large team that is continuously searching the web using the tools to check the duplication of questions and answers. If found, they are automatically flagged, which is reviewed by the internal team and is archived. To ensure the question is not repeated in the interviews, a warning flag is placed on it.
How does HackerRank detect Plagiarism?
In HackerRank, to assess the knowledge and knack of the candidate for problem-solving, they conduct tests and code pair interviews. They expect the candidates to provide original and genuine codes and answers. With the help of the powerful algorithms, they detect the plagiarism in the submitted code, which helps the HackerRank team to verify the integrity of the code and also keep a tab on the candidates who conduct malpractice.
HackerRank uses two algorithms for detecting plagiarism that is Measure of Software Similarity (Moss) and string comparison. With the help of these algorithms, the website finds for similarity in the code and then uses a minimum of both for a smaller line of codes. For longer codes having multiple lines, the website gives precedence to Moss over String algorithm.
Moss is a better algorithm compared to Strings and is one of the most effective in detecting plagiarism.
Compared to Strings algorithm Moss is a better and more effective algorithm for detecting plagiarism, but it has no way of discovering why the codes are similar. Moss can analyze languages like C, C++, Java, Pascal, Python, etc. It is free and internet-based service and very easy to use, the user just has to upload the files that need to be compared, and the algorithm does the rest. The simple tricks like parameter renaming are easily detected by Moss.
By reading the above article, you might get some insight into how does HackerRank detects plagiarism. So, you must focus on creating genuine codes instead of copying from someone else and taking credit of the same, it will not enhance your knowledge and capability.