Template for solving 🌟 Advent of Code 🎄

About · Usage · Contents · What is Advent of Code?

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🗣️ About

This template was developed for solving 🌟 Advent of Code 🎄 puzzles. It includes a framework for automating repetitive tasks and a library with useful tools for solving the puzzles.

The framework automates repetitive tasks such as:

• creating the necessary files for solving the puzzles of a given day;
• downloading one's personal input;
• reading and formatting the input text;
• running the solving code for a given day, both for one's personal input and testing inputs;
• testing of multiple different inputs.

🛠️ Usage

Requirements

• Python 3.10
• termcolor
• make (for running Makefile)

Instructions

0. Create a new repo from this template, git clone it and start submodules
1. Configure the config.ini file
2. Create a new day folder from template
3. Fill in the input files
4. Write the solving code in the main.py file
5. Run the puzzle solver

0. Create a new repo from this template, git clone it and start submodules

To create a new repo from this template, click on "Use this template", then on "Create a new repository":

After creating a new repository from this template, git clone it and start submodules:

$ git clone <your_cloned_repo.git>
$ cd your_cloned_repo
$ git submodule update --init

1. Configure the config.ini file

To enable automated downloading of your personal input from the AoC website, on the my_solutions/config.ini file, fill in the year of the AoC edition you will be solving and your personal session cookie.

Note: to get your session cookie, open the AoC website and log in to your account; open DevTools (inspect) and go to the "Application" tab; on the left menu, under "Storage", click on "Cookies", then on the AoC url; from the table, copy the value of the "session" entry.

2. Create a new day folder from template

$ make new d=01

Note: the make commands have to be run from the cloned folder's root, i.e. from where the Makefile is placed.

The resulting folder structure will be:

your_cloned_repo
  my_solutions
    aoc_framework
      ...
    aoc_lib
      ...
    config.ini
    day_01
      input_test.txt
      input.txt
      main.py
      README.md
      solutions.txt
  Makefile

3. Fill in the input files

For your personal input, upon creating a new day folder from template, it is automatically downloaded from the AoC website and pasted into the input.txt file.

If an error occurred while downloading your input upon creating the new day folder, you can try again with:

$ make input d=01

For testing inputs, add them in the input_test.txt file in substitution of the text INPUT and add the expected result in substitution of the ? character. The line <---> is used to separate inputs for a given puzzle part, while the line <===> separates inputs from each puzzle part. In the example below, there are 3 testing inputs for part 1 and 2 testing inputs for part 2:

2x3x4
:-> solution=58 <-:

<--->

1x1x10
:-> solution=43 <-:

<--->

2x3x4
1x1x10
:-> solution=101 <-:

<===>

2x3x4
:-> solution=34 <-:

<--->

1x1x10
:-> solution=14 <-:

(test inputs for AoC 2015 day 02 puzzle)

4. Write the solving code in the main.py file

The solving code for each part of the puzzle have to be written as the methods solve_part_1 and solve_part_2 of the DayPuzzleSolver class:

class DayPuzzleSolver():
    def __init__(self):
        self.delimiter = ""

    def solve_part_1(self, raw_input):
        ...

    def solve_part_2(self, raw_input):
        ...

The self.delimiter parameter determines how the text from the input file should be broken down. The result is then passed as the raw_input parameter of the solving methods. For example:

• "" (empty string) - the input text remains the same, i.e. raw_input will be a string containing the input text in whole, for example, AoC 2015 day 1:

(((())))()((((((((())()

• "\n" - to be used when the input should be broken down line by line, i.e. raw_input will be a list of strings (lines), for example, AoC 2015 day 2:

20x3x11
15x27x5
6x29x7

• "\n\n" - to be used when the input is written in blocks and should be broken down by so, i.e. raw_input will be a list of strings (blocks of lines), for example, AoC 2020 day 4:

cid:83 pid:524032739 iyr:2013 ecl:amb byr:1974
hgt:191cm hcl:#ceb3a1 eyr:2028

ecl:gry hcl:eefed5 pid:88405792 hgt:183cm cid:221 byr:1963 eyr:2029

pid:777881168 ecl:grn
hgt:181cm byr:1923 eyr:2021 iyr:2018 hcl:#18171d

5. Run the puzzle solver

for a certain day (both parts):

$ make d=02

for a certain day and part:

$ make d=04 p=1

$ make d=08 p=2

for testing input:

$ make test d=12

$ make test d=12 p=1

📑 Contents

• config.ini - needed for downloading your personal input from the AoC website.
• Makefile - used for duplicating the day template folder and running the solver script for a given day.

📂 aoc_framework

A framework to automate repetitive tasks when solving the puzzles. For more information, refer to the framework repo.

📂 aoc_lib

A library with useful tools for solving the puzzles. For more information, refer to the lib repo.

📂 day_template

• input_test.txt - text file containing input from tests given in the puzzle.
• input.txt - text file containing my personal input for the puzzle.
• main.py - Python class that implements the code for solving the puzzle.
• README.md - markup file containing a summary and link to the puzzle.
• solutions.txt - text file containing the solutions for my personal puzzle input.

🌟 What is Advent of Code?

🚀 TLDR: an online event where a two-part programming puzzle is released each day from Dec 1st to the 25th.

Advent of Code is an online event created by Eric Wastl. In his words:

Advent of Code is an Advent calendar of small programming puzzles for a variety of skill sets and skill levels that can be solved in any programming language you like. People use them as a speed contest, interview prep, company training, university coursework, practice problems, or to challenge each other.

Source: https://adventofcode.com/about