for some time i've been looking for some algorythmic contests. i'm a student, so i can take part in mostly all of them, like the most famous ACM. but i don't really have a team yet (so it'll have to wait ).

i'm working on the topcoder contest at the moment, but it's not quite an algorythmic contest... (anyway, those algorythms mostly aren't really hard to guess, it's more about the time you need to write them).

there's also data mining cup, which is more about data mining algorithms.

i'd appreciate some hints on where to look for some challenge. do you know any good contests, any competitions etc. ? if so, please write here.

There is absolutely a place for you. It is Online Judge at UVA. There are thousands of programming problems you can solve. And yes, many them requires very sophisticated algorithm. Moreover, you can use C, C++ or Java to write your code. So, language will not be a problem. There are many online competition going during school year. You probably find it is interested.

Oh, forgot, for each problem, you will be ranked based on the time for the code to run, and required memory space. It is tough to be on the top of this charting list. Since most successful ACM competitors out there using this website.