AdventOfCode2021

My solutions for the https://adventofcode.com/2021 challenge.

Build & run

• Install Cargo + Rust: https://rustup.rs

• Run solver:

  cargo run --release -- <day> <task> <data-file>
  

  with:

  • <day>: The day of the challenge, from 1 to 24
  • <task>: The task on the day, either 1 or 2
  • <data-file>: The path to a file containing the challenge input data

  Alternatively, building and running can be split into two steps:

  cargo build --release
  ./target/release/advent-of-code-2021 <day> <task> <data-file>
  

Running tests

To run tests for all existing solutions, run:

cargo test --release

Development

Recommended development environment:

• VSCode
• Plugin rust-analyzer (NOT the official Rust plugin)

This enables syntax highlighting, auto-completion, in-line type hints, error highlighting and buttons to run specific tests only (directly at the tests).

Adding new solutions

When a new challenge is released, perform the following steps:

• Copy input data to input_data
• Add a new solution as src/solutions/dayXX.rs
• Register the solution in src/main.rs

Then, populate the solution with:

• The solution for the task, as task1() or task2()
• Tests:
  • The aoc_tests macro makes this trivially easy, just write:

    crate::aoc_tests! {
        task1: {
            <test_name> => <expected_result>,
        },
        task2: {
            // For example:
            simple => 12345,
            complex => 56789,
        }
    }
    

  • Add the small test from challenge text right away
  • Add the larger test with the real challenge input data once the answer was accepted on the website