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Advent of Code 2020

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Re: Advent of Code 2020

#31

Post by daveFNbuck »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #2

I've always found AoC to be added stress during a time of the year I'm not really running a stress-deficit. I find the competitive aspect a pretty big turn off. I usually get a few puzzles in and then burn out, because I can't keep up with the people who do it every day (I don't even use my computer every day). I wish the scoring didn't prioritize timeliness. This is really the sort of thing I'd enjoy cranking out on…

I enjoy doing these too and would prefer if there were no scoring at all. When I start right at release time, it stresses me out. So I try to find reasons to introduce small delays that guarantee I'm not in the top hundred, and the stress goes away.

If you're not using your computer every day, just think of yourself as having been removed from the competition. Then you can just solve fun puzzles that don't have a competitive aspect for you.

You could also make a browser extension to hide the leaderboard if that helps.

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#32

Post by recursive »

ojnabieoot wrote: post #9
recursive wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you must look at the scores, you can now make your own private leaderboards. If you're the only member of the leaderboard, then you'll win every challenge.

This is dismissive and unnecessarily condescending. Is it possible to opt out of the public leaderboard entirely? Because if not - perhaps things have changed - the stressful part about AoC is having a publicly viewable permanent score based on arbitrary and unfair criteria. Simply “not looking at it” isn’t enough. I did AoC a few years ago and realized that I had my GitHub profile associated to “middle-of-the-road”…

Unless you are actively trying to compete, it's pretty unlikely you'd end up on any of the leaderboards. As far as I can tell, it only tracks the top 100.

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#33

Post by karmakaze »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #2

I've always found AoC to be added stress during a time of the year I'm not really running a stress-deficit. I find the competitive aspect a pretty big turn off. I usually get a few puzzles in and then burn out, because I can't keep up with the people who do it every day (I don't even use my computer every day). I wish the scoring didn't prioritize timeliness. This is really the sort of thing I'd enjoy cranking out on…

I usually just do the most recent year's whenever I have an itch to learn a new programming language, or one I know used differently. I like the problem format and the stars tracking progress.

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#34

Post by daveFNbuck »

keithnz wrote: post #6
llimllib wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also find the scoring stressful, so I just ignore it and do the puzzles at my leisure. I still burn out/run out of time eventually, but it’s much more peaceful

last year I did that, I just did it without worrying about time, year before I did it as fast as I could ( as did a bunch of other HNers ), I got a fair few top 100 placements and finished the entire thing....super stressful, but fun. Last year, doing it in a relaxed manner, I never finished them, I'd just keep putting off doing the next puzzle. This year I think I'll just watch from a distance. I think it is really…

Why do you think you kept putting off the puzzles? Do you enjoy the competition, but not the puzzles? Maybe it's better that you didn't finish them.

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#35

Post by daveFNbuck »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #29
aaomidi wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't make a leaderboard and then say it's not important. Especially when you don't even opt into it, you just...get on the leaderboard. If the creator was genuine about it not being important they'd explicitly limit the leaderboard with an opt in process. You shouldn't even be able to see the leaderboard unless you have opted into it. It shouldn't be visible or clickable.

Last year almost 100,000 people solved the first part of the first puzzle. Almost 3000 people solved the last part of the 25th and last puzzle. The leaderboard has only 100 entries. The leaderboard is not important.

It's important to a lot of people. I get that I'm in the minority here, but I can make it on the leaderboard a lot of the time if I try. But trying to get on the leaderboard stresses me out and ruins the fun, so I instead do things like start a bit late to sabotage myself.

I still make it on the leaderboard sometimes if I get too excited about starting right away or if it's a particularly hard problem and I get lucky figuring it out. That stresses me out a bit. I'd be happier if the leaderboard weren't there.

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#36

Post by Waterluvian »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #2

I've always found AoC to be added stress during a time of the year I'm not really running a stress-deficit. I find the competitive aspect a pretty big turn off. I usually get a few puzzles in and then burn out, because I can't keep up with the people who do it every day (I don't even use my computer every day). I wish the scoring didn't prioritize timeliness. This is really the sort of thing I'd enjoy cranking out on…

I really enjoy it until like day 7 where the difficulty just ramps up.

I need a casual difficulty because I really do enjoy cozy simple short puzzles.

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#37

Post by Mister_Snuggles »

I look forward to Advent of Code every year.

So far, I've used it as a way to learn new languages - I've done it in D, C#, Swift so far. I don't bother with the competition aspect, but I do have a few people that I bounce solutions off of.

This year I'm taking a different approach though, I'm going to use it to re-learn an old language - UniVerse[0] Basic[1]. In my first IT job, I supported an in-house system that ran on UniVerse. I then moved on to working with a commercial system built on UniData[2] (a close cousin to UniVerse). These products mainly exist to allow Pick-style MultiValue applications to run on modern systems. They are closed-source commercial products, but there is a limited-use personal edition available.

One nice thing about these is that they don't just emulate a Pick environment, they also give it features that Pick systems never had. For example, UniVerse Basic is capable of making HTTP/HTTPS requests, parsing XML and JSON, and at some point UniVerse Basic even gained the ability to interact with Python objects. One of the first things I built in preparation for this was a subroutine to retrieve the input data, downloading it and caching it if required.

It's been about 10 years since I've worked with this technology, so I'm really looking forward to re-learning it.

[0] https://www.rocketsoftware.com/products/rocket-universe-0/ro...

[1] https://docs.rocketsoftware.com/nxt/gateway.dll/RKBnew20/uni...

[2] https://www.rocketsoftware.com/products/rocket-unidata-0/roc...

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#39

Post by teraflop »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #35
forrestthewoods wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last year almost 100,000 people solved the first part of the first puzzle. Almost 3000 people solved the last part of the 25th and last puzzle. The leaderboard has only 100 entries. The leaderboard is not important.

It's important to a lot of people. I get that I'm in the minority here, but I can make it on the leaderboard a lot of the time if I try. But trying to get on the leaderboard stresses me out and ruins the fun, so I instead do things like start a bit late to sabotage myself. I still make it on the leaderboard sometimes if I get too excited about starting right away or if it's a particularly hard problem and I get lucky…

You could always solve this problem by setting yourself an extra "day 0" challenge: write a userscript that runs on the contest website and hides all references to the leaderboard.

Re: Advent of Code 2020

#40

Post by mpalmer »

ojnabieoot wrote: post #24
mpalmer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Likewise, there are many people desperately competing for a “top spot” that measures their ability to... drink coffee late at night, mostly. Talk about dismissive and unnecessarily condescending. Consider arguing against ideas, not tone.

I used a cutesy synecdoche to illustrate the overall point that “AoC leaderboard ranking” is essentially uncorrelated with programming ability, despite how heavily the leaderboard is pushed on participants. Otherwise I think the rest of the comment is well-argued and I don’t think a full reading of my comment suggests that “drink coffee late at night” was literally the main deciding factor. In a literal sense, geogra…

You are quick with an explanation that your comment was in good faith, maybe extend that generosity to others next time.

I don't have much to say to your arguments, except that it seems extremely possible not to tie your GitHub handle to AoC.

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