When comparing Topcoder vs exercism.org, the Slant community recommends exercism.org for most people. In the question“What are the best coding challenge sites?” exercism.org is ranked 1st while Topcoder is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose exercism.org is:
Rather than merely test for code correctness, Exercism uses peer review to improve general programming techniques. Users are encouraged to comment on others' solutions, and refine their own based on feedback.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Problems faced will force users to practice their algorithm skills
Division 1 upper levels in Topcoder has problems which forces users to think about which is the correct algorithm to use to solve them. A lot of problems will also force developers to use multiple data structures and algorithms to find the solution.
Pro Great community
There are a lot of top programmers who hang around the Topcoder forums answering questions or giving their insight and their way of solving to different problems.
Pro Human review and feedback
Rather than merely test for code correctness, Exercism uses peer review to improve general programming techniques. Users are encouraged to comment on others' solutions, and refine their own based on feedback.
Pro Practice with production tools
Unlike many code practice websites, Exercism requires the user to develop and test entirely offline, submitting only the finished code. This promotes familiarity with essential tools and workflow, not just the bare language.
Cons
Con Custom commandline client
Exercism requires using a CLI utility to fetch and submit exercises. This is inconvenient compared to web-only alternatives, and poses an additional barrier to entry for some users.