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Advent of Code 2025

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Re: Advent of Code 2025

#51

Post by jerpint »

qsort wrote: post #16

I'm actually pleasantly surprised to see a 2025 edition, last year being the 10th anniversary and the LLM situation with the leaderboard were solid indications that it would have been a great time to wrap it up and let somebody else carry the torch. It's only going to be 12 problems rather than 24 this year and there isn't going to be a gloabl leaderboard, but I'm still glad we get to take part in this fun Christmas…

I did a post [0] about this last year, and vanilla LLMs didn’t do nearly as well as I’d expected on advent of code, though I’d be curious to try this again with Claude code and codex

[0] https://www.jerpint.io/blog/2024-12-30-advent-of-code-llms/

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#52

Post by gray_-_wolf »

I am very happy that we get the advent of code again this year, however I have read the FAQ for the first time, and I must admit I am not sure I understand the reasoning behind this:

> If you're posting a code repository somewhere, please don't include parts of Advent of Code like the puzzle text or your inputs.

The text I get, but the inputs? Well, I will comply, since I am getting a very nice thing for (almost) free, so it is polite to respect the wishes here, but since I commit the inputs (you know, since I want to be able to run tests) into the repository, it is bit of a shame the repo must be private.

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#53

Post by sevenseacat »

gray_-_wolf wrote: post #52

I am very happy that we get the advent of code again this year, however I have read the FAQ for the first time, and I must admit I am not sure I understand the reasoning behind this: > If you're posting a code repository somewhere, please don't include parts of Advent of Code like the puzzle text or your inputs. The text I get, but the inputs? Well, I will comply, since I am getting a very nice thing for (almost) fre…

I use git-crypt to encrypt the inputs in my public repo https://www.agwa.name/projects/git-crypt/ :)

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#54

Post by sevenseacat »

fainpul wrote: post #20

Opinion poll: Python is extremely suitable for these kind of problems. C++ is also often used, especially by competitive programmers. Which "non-mainstream" or even obscure languages are also well suited for AoC? Please list your weapon of choice and a short statement why it's well suited (not why you like it, why it's good for AoC).

I've been using Elixir since day one, and it works pretty well :)

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#55

Post by [deleted] »

fainpul wrote: post #20

Opinion poll: Python is extremely suitable for these kind of problems. C++ is also often used, especially by competitive programmers. Which "non-mainstream" or even obscure languages are also well suited for AoC? Please list your weapon of choice and a short statement why it's well suited (not why you like it, why it's good for AoC).

[deleted]

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#56

Post by gerikson »

gray_-_wolf wrote: post #52

I am very happy that we get the advent of code again this year, however I have read the FAQ for the first time, and I must admit I am not sure I understand the reasoning behind this: > If you're posting a code repository somewhere, please don't include parts of Advent of Code like the puzzle text or your inputs. The text I get, but the inputs? Well, I will comply, since I am getting a very nice thing for (almost) fre…

If enough inputs are available online, someone can presumably collect them and clone the entire project without having access to the puzzle input generation code, which is the "secret sauce" of the project.

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#57

Post by lkuty »

WJW wrote: post #49
fainpul wrote: post #20

Opinion poll: Python is extremely suitable for these kind of problems. C++ is also often used, especially by competitive programmers. Which "non-mainstream" or even obscure languages are also well suited for AoC? Please list your weapon of choice and a short statement why it's well suited (not why you like it, why it's good for AoC).

I like to use Haskell, because parser combinators usually make the input parsing aspect of the puzzles extremely straightforward. In addition, the focus of the language on laziness and recursion can lead to some very concise yet idiomatic solutions. Example: find the first example for when this "game of life" variant has more than 1000 cells in the "alive" state. Solution: generate infinite list of all states and ite…

Do you plan to share your solutions on Github or something similar ?

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#58

Post by MattRix »

ls-a wrote: post #36
holyknight wrote: post #22

I never understood the craze for "Advent of code". Already at this time of the year the last thing I want to do is code even more.

I agree. Didn't these puzzles ruin interviewing for many years now. AI came along and they're still doing it. Some things will needlessly drag on before they die I guess

How do they ruin interviewing? The whole point of these puzzles is that they’re meant to be fun to solve, not a means to an end, but enjoyable for what they are.

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#59

Post by [deleted] »

fainpul wrote: post #20

Opinion poll: Python is extremely suitable for these kind of problems. C++ is also often used, especially by competitive programmers. Which "non-mainstream" or even obscure languages are also well suited for AoC? Please list your weapon of choice and a short statement why it's well suited (not why you like it, why it's good for AoC).

[deleted]
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