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Main Authors: Wang, Zihan, Chen, Jiaze, Liu, Zhicheng, Mak, Markus, Du, Yidi, Moon, Geonsik, Xu, Luoqi, Tua, Aaron, Peng, Kunshuo, Lu, Jiayi, Xia, Mingfei, Zou, Boqian, Ran, Chenyang, Tian, Guang, Zhu, Shoutai, Duan, Yeheng, Kang, Zhenghui, Lin, Zhenxing, Li, Shangshu, Luo, Qiang, Long, Qingshen, Chen, Zhiyong, Xiao, Yihan, Wu, Yurong, Zan, Daoguang, Fu, Yuyi, Wang, Mingxuan, Ding, Ming
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.16402
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author Wang, Zihan
Chen, Jiaze
Liu, Zhicheng
Mak, Markus
Du, Yidi
Moon, Geonsik
Xu, Luoqi
Tua, Aaron
Peng, Kunshuo
Lu, Jiayi
Xia, Mingfei
Zou, Boqian
Ran, Chenyang
Tian, Guang
Zhu, Shoutai
Duan, Yeheng
Kang, Zhenghui
Lin, Zhenxing
Li, Shangshu
Luo, Qiang
Long, Qingshen
Chen, Zhiyong
Xiao, Yihan
Wu, Yurong
Zan, Daoguang
Fu, Yuyi
Wang, Mingxuan
Ding, Ming
author_facet Wang, Zihan
Chen, Jiaze
Liu, Zhicheng
Mak, Markus
Du, Yidi
Moon, Geonsik
Xu, Luoqi
Tua, Aaron
Peng, Kunshuo
Lu, Jiayi
Xia, Mingfei
Zou, Boqian
Ran, Chenyang
Tian, Guang
Zhu, Shoutai
Duan, Yeheng
Kang, Zhenghui
Lin, Zhenxing
Li, Shangshu
Luo, Qiang
Long, Qingshen
Chen, Zhiyong
Xiao, Yihan
Wu, Yurong
Zan, Daoguang
Fu, Yuyi
Wang, Mingxuan
Ding, Ming
contents Competitive programming has emerged as a critical benchmark for evaluating the reasoning and coding capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs). Despite impressive progress on existing benchmarks, we argue that current evaluations overstate model proficiency, masking a substantial gap between LLMs and elite human programmers. This gap arises from two key limitations: insufficient difficulty and scope of benchmark problems, and evaluation bias from low-quality test cases. To address these shortcomings, we present AetherCode, a new benchmark that draws problems from premier programming competitions such as IOI and ICPC, offering broader coverage and higher difficulty. AetherCode further incorporates comprehensive, expert-validated test suites built through a hybrid of automated generation and human curation, ensuring rigorous and reliable assessment. By combining challenging problem design with robust evaluation, AetherCode provides a more faithful measure of LLM capabilities and sets a new standard for future research in code reasoning.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_16402
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle AetherCode: Evaluating LLMs' Ability to Win In Premier Programming Competitions
Wang, Zihan
Chen, Jiaze
Liu, Zhicheng
Mak, Markus
Du, Yidi
Moon, Geonsik
Xu, Luoqi
Tua, Aaron
Peng, Kunshuo
Lu, Jiayi
Xia, Mingfei
Zou, Boqian
Ran, Chenyang
Tian, Guang
Zhu, Shoutai
Duan, Yeheng
Kang, Zhenghui
Lin, Zhenxing
Li, Shangshu
Luo, Qiang
Long, Qingshen
Chen, Zhiyong
Xiao, Yihan
Wu, Yurong
Zan, Daoguang
Fu, Yuyi
Wang, Mingxuan
Ding, Ming
Software Engineering
Computation and Language
Competitive programming has emerged as a critical benchmark for evaluating the reasoning and coding capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs). Despite impressive progress on existing benchmarks, we argue that current evaluations overstate model proficiency, masking a substantial gap between LLMs and elite human programmers. This gap arises from two key limitations: insufficient difficulty and scope of benchmark problems, and evaluation bias from low-quality test cases. To address these shortcomings, we present AetherCode, a new benchmark that draws problems from premier programming competitions such as IOI and ICPC, offering broader coverage and higher difficulty. AetherCode further incorporates comprehensive, expert-validated test suites built through a hybrid of automated generation and human curation, ensuring rigorous and reliable assessment. By combining challenging problem design with robust evaluation, AetherCode provides a more faithful measure of LLM capabilities and sets a new standard for future research in code reasoning.
title AetherCode: Evaluating LLMs' Ability to Win In Premier Programming Competitions
topic Software Engineering
Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.16402