Advent of Code (AoC) 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. A new puzzle is uploaded every day, from December 1st through December 25th. Each puzzle has two parts to it, which are usually connected in some way. The puzzles get progressively harder and more challenging, forcing one to carefully think about one's solution. AoC was created by Eric Wastl. It's 100% free, and all of the puzzles from previous years are available 24/7 - which makes it great for people to practice and study throughout the year. AoC has grown very popular, and has accrued multiple sponsors and great communities like r/adventofcode. If you'd like to show some support to Eric and his team for making this wonderful project, you can do so here.
I didn't discover AoC until 2021, and I had a very rough time with it. I was able to get through the first several days on my own, before becoming dependent on other smarter individuals for guidance and/or copying. I would study people's code for hours, trying to make sense of their organization, process, and overall cleverness. I have tried to keep this repo organized, but since my AoC 2021 attempt was not only my first AoC, but also my very first GitHub repo, it's gotten a little too disorganized (for 2021 at least). I'm hoping that for 2022 and onwards it makes a bit more logical sense.
In 2022's folder you will find:
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inputs/: This folder contains each days puzzle input (every user gets their own unique input) -
solutions/: This folder contains my solution attempt. I will try to make it clean and legible for anyone who might be looking for help or a different approach.aoc_helpers/: This folder contains a helper script that I basically took from fellow GitHub user mebeim. The main things I use it for is to pull my puzzle input, as well as the puzzle name, and to create a separate text file for reference. I initially took it because I wanted to study more about how to interact with websites via code, but it has proven quite helpful. He helped me quite a lot initially, and he writes amazing code with fantastic explanations. This entire repo is heavily influenced by him.