This repository contains my solutions to the Advent of Code challenges by Eric Wastl. After initially creating a new repository every year I've collected all of my work into this one repo.
Language used during event in brackets
I was not aware of the Advent of Code event this year. It was still fairly new and I was also quite new to programming in general. I often go back to this year and 2016 to practice programming skills when I need a break from other projects.
Stars: 20/50
See above, I was not aware of the event at this time.
Stars: 14/50
My first AoC. At the time I was working through Bjarne Stroustrup's Programming Principles and Practice using C++. I was much stronger in JavaScript so I planned to do as many exercises as possible in C++ then swap over when it got "tough". I was able to finish the event in C++(!) but not without a few late nights and sneaking in stars on breaks at work.
The code is pretty cringe-y but has been preserved here for educational purposes.
Stars: 50/50
After completing the previous year I was very excited for the 2018 event to start. This time I was armed with a stronger grasp of C++ and an official AoC coffee mug. I struggled mightily to maintain a better AoC/work/life balance. In the end I got absolutely wrecked by a weighted path-finding problem and a 3D space collision problem.
Did not complete.
Stars: 46/50
When the 2019 event rolled around I hadn't been programming as much so my expectations were a little lower. I returned to using C++ because that's where I felt I was strongest. Other languages considered were JavaScript and C. This was the famous Intcode year and I made an attempt to break out as much reusable code into a separate library as I went along.
Pathfinding and 2D spaces were my achilles heel again and I tapped out early when problems started taking me 2+ hours to solve.
Stars: 30/50
I really wanted to do better in 2020. Unfortunately the global pandemic had taken hold and my focus was on shifting to remote work for much of the preceding months. Still, come the end of November I started setting up a C++ repo. I made it a little further than 2019 but gracefully backed out in the final third of the event.
One change I hoped to make was to change over to using C for my solutions. This hit a roadblock almost right away as I lacked the ability to read input and was missing a quality dynamic array implementation.
Currently (January 2022) I'm re-attempting this problem set using the GNOME project's GLib. This has opened my mind to the experience of working with a world-class third-party library. The work continues..
Stars: 35/50
This was my year. I had managed to balance work-from-home and my personal projects well enough to be in the right mindset for daily programming. I also had spent a little time writing my own C utility library for use in the event. Progress went well and I was able to concentrate on learning better algorithms for some basic pathfinding problems.
I still withdrew from the event in the final third to focus on family going into our second pandemic Christmas season. I look forward to returning to these problems and my library after spending some time with GLib.
Stars: 34/50