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Advent of Code 2025

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Re: Advent of Code 2025

#271

Post by jedimastert »

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…

The inputs are part of the validation that you did the question, so they're kind of a secret.

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#272

Post by ctxc »

alexfoo wrote: post #250
macintux wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone else in the thread lamented the problems as "too easy" and I wondered what world I was living in.

The group of people for which the problems are "too easy" is probably quite small. According to Eric last year ( https://www.reddit.com/r/adventofcode/comments/1hly9dw/2024_... ) there were 559 people that had obtained all 500 stars. I'm happy to be one of them. The actual number is going to be higher as more people will have finished the puzzles since then, and many people may have finished all of the puzzles but sp…

That's a pretty crazy background. I wish you'd put your profile in your bio so I could follow you!

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#273

Post by bombcar »

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).

The only way to win is with Brainfuck.

Or MUMPS.

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#274

Post by hooverd »

georgehotz wrote: post #100

I support the no global leaderboard. I was in 7th place last year but quickly got bored maintaining the aggressive AI pipeline required to achieve that. If I wanted to maintain pipelines I'd just do work, and there will never be a good way to prevent people from using AI like this. Advent of Code should be fun, thank you for continuing to do it. I'm looking forward to casually playing this year!

this is why we can't have nice things

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#275

Post by ghewgill »

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 done AoC on what I call "hard mode", where I do the solutions in a language I designed and implemented myself. It's not because the language is particularly suited to AoC in any particular way, but it gives me confidence that my language can be used to solve real problems.

Neon Language: https://neon-lang.dev/ Some previous AoC solutions: https://github.com/ghewgill/adventofcode

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#277

Post by chongli »

amitav1 wrote: post #131
chongli wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am so glad there is no leaderboard this year. Making it a competition really is against the spirit of advent calendars in general. It’s also not a fair competition by default simply due to the issue of time zones and people’s life schedules not revolving around it. There are plenty of programming competitions and hackathons out there. Let this one simply be a celebration of learning and the enjoyment of problem sol…

I agree with the first point but the second point feels irrelevant. Yeah, people's life schedules don't revolve around it, but that doesn't mean shouldn't make iy a competition. Most people who play on chess.com don't have lives that revolve around it, but that doesn't mean that chess.com should abolish Elo rankings.

Chess doesn't rank people based on how quickly they complete a puzzle after midnight EST (UTC-5). For people in large parts of Asia, midnight EST translates to late morning / early afternoon. This means someone in Asia can complete each AoC puzzle during daylight hours whereas someone in eastern North America will have to complete the puzzle in the middle of the night.

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#278

Post by CobrastanJorji »

alexfoo wrote: post #250
macintux wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone else in the thread lamented the problems as "too easy" and I wondered what world I was living in.

The group of people for which the problems are "too easy" is probably quite small. According to Eric last year ( https://www.reddit.com/r/adventofcode/comments/1hly9dw/2024_... ) there were 559 people that had obtained all 500 stars. I'm happy to be one of them. The actual number is going to be higher as more people will have finished the puzzles since then, and many people may have finished all of the puzzles but sp…

Yeah, getting 250 or so stars is going to be straightforward, something most programmers with a couple of years of experience can probably manage. Then another 200 or so require some more specialized know-how (maybe some basic experience with parsers or making a simple virtual machine or recognizing a topology sort situation). Then probably the last 50 require something a bit more unusual. For me, I definitely have some trouble with any of the problems where modular inverses show up.

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#279

Post by aadv1k »

Advent of code is such a fantastic event. I am honestly glad it's 12 days this year, primarily because I would only ever get to day 13 or 14 before it would take me an entire day to finish the puzzles! This would be my fourth year doing AoC. Looking forward to it :)

I plan on doing this year in C++ because I have never worked with it and AoC is always a good excuse to learn a new language. My college exams just got over, so I have a ton of free time.

Previous attempts:

- in Lua https://github.com/Aadv1k/AdventOfLua2021

- in C https://github.com/Aadv1k/AdventOfC2022

- in Go https://github.com/Aadv1k/AdventOfGo2023

really hope I can get all the stars this time...Cheers, and Merry Cristmas!

Re: Advent of Code 2025

#280

Post by ksenzee »

alexfoo wrote: post #227
deergomoo wrote: post #225

> You don't need a computer science background to participate - just a little programming knowledge and some problem solving skills will get you pretty far. Every time I see this I wonder how many amateur/hobbyist programmers it sets up for disappointment. Unless your definition of “pretty far” is “a small number of the part ones”, it’s simply not true.

Got to agree. I'm even surprised at just how little progress many of my friends and ex-colleagues over the years make given that they hold down reasonable developer jobs.

This type of problem has very little resemblance to the problems I solve professionally - I’m usually one level of abstraction up. If I run into something that requires anything even as complicated as a DAG it’s a good day.
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