Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought it was meant to be like an Advent Calendar, which is normally 25.
Not in all traditions. E.g. in Germany Christmas Eve is typically the last day so you only get 24.
Ah interesting. TIL.
Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
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Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same, I love AoC but I just never have time for them (December is always the busiest time of year in my job). I would have liked if a puzzle was released every 2 days though so it still spanned the whole month. Would be more aligned with the advent calendar concept. In fact in previous years the puzzles have always had two parts so if that format is still being retained there will still effectively be 24 puzzles.
Then again who has the time in the latter half of December? I completed AoC on time every day once and let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant experience. Very similar to sticking to a too ambitious, too rigid gym schedule. Still time well spent, but it sucks out all the joy.
I participated in the very first AoC and solved all problems, but the last 6 or 7 only way after Christmas, when I had more time, holidays, and I just wanted to complete the contest.
Then there was another AoC … and no, I didn’t solve all the problems, not even close. In most years I got 24 to 36 stars, 2018 and 2020 I did not participate.
Last year I was in a good place, wanted to practice a new programming language (Crystal). And I was determined to get every puzzle solved in 24 hours. And I did it, but for two or three puzzles it was oh so frustrating. With angry screams, searching help in the IRC, for two puzzles even not understanding for many hours how it works. And then at 1:52 AM (puzzles start at 6AM for me) I found the solution. It was liberating and gratifying, but at the same time so tiring and frustrating. The only reason I went along with was the overall goal, getting a permanent record of having solved every puzzle on the first day. And I am happy about it (in hindsight, it was the last opportunity for doing so with 25*2 puzzles), and now I never need or want to do it again.
Or do I? Only 12 days of trying to get solutions are much more possible.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought the purpose was to be a fun thing we used to kill time over the holidays
Christian holidays are not meant to be fun ; literally, the whole theme is about sins, suffering and death (or in this case, being born into life of suffering and culminating with death).
I think the majority of people celebrating christmas are not doing so for religious reasons
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#224> If you're still stuck, maybe ask a friend for help, or come back to the puzzle later. You can also ask for hints in the subreddit. Not sure why this is OK but prompt engineering isn't? If someone wants to test that skillset, let them be instead of asking 'please don't'. Especially given the competitive nature is now optional.
you can't see how asking for a hint and formulating using your own brain is totally different than telling the AI to code the entire thing for you?
I've never vibe coded. You could ask AI a question in the same way you'd ask a friend (what if you don't have friends?) I guess my point is there is a difference between using AI and overusing AI.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#225This is fantastic in every way. The hardest part of participating for me was finding more time closer to the holidays as the challenges got harder. Fewer, better challenges, with more space between them and the end of the year is a brilliant solution. So excited and grateful.
I don't see how less puzzles is an improvement - you always had the option to only do 12 puzzles and skip ones you don't find interesting. I guess just from a statistical perspective, you're probably more likely to find 12 puzzles you find interesting out of 25 vs. find all 12 puzzles interesting.
There's also nothing preventing you from doing more of them, or finishing in January... in fact, I know some people that space them out over the entire year, only doing a handful each time when they have lots of spare time.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#226> If you're still stuck, maybe ask a friend for help, or come back to the puzzle later. You can also ask for hints in the subreddit. Not sure why this is OK but prompt engineering isn't? If someone wants to test that skillset, let them be instead of asking 'please don't'. Especially given the competitive nature is now optional.
I think this is a holdover from before, where the request was to not use AI before the leaderboard is filled up. If you are stuck and have to ask a friend for help, you are not going to make the (global) leaderboard anyway. In practice, nothing prevents you from using AI to solve the problems anyway.
The subreddit also had a policy of not unlocking the megathread until the leaderboard was filled up. So any hints there will also be too late for the making the global leaderboard.
And the old About noted what you just said about there being nothing preventing someone from using AI:
> If you want to use AI to help you solve puzzles, I can't really stop you, but I feel like it's harder to get better at programming if you ask an AI to do the programming for you.