🎁 🎶 It's beginging to look a lot like Christmas.... 🎶 🎄
Since 2020, when I first discovered Advent of Code adventofcode.com, I can't help but feel excited as November ends. Every year, I start planning which programming language, IDE, or technology I’ll use for this fun and challenging event.
What is Advent of Code (AoC)?
Wait... you don’t know what Advent of Code is? No worries, let me explain!
adventofcode.com is a website created by Eric Wastl where, from December 1st to December 25th, a daily programming puzzle is published. These puzzles can be solved with code, and they range from simple to complex as the days progress. If you enjoy programming, it’s an incredibly fun experience!. For a sneak peak, check out puzzles from previous years here.
For me, Advent of Code has become a tradition that marks the beginning of the Christmas season.
How to approach Advent Of Code
Advent of Code can be a great opportunity to:
- Learn a new programming language or get comfortable with a new IDE.
- Sharpen your skills with algorithms, recursion, optimization, and more.
- Just have fun coding with the language and tools you already love!
Whether you’re diving into something new or sticking with what you know, the key is to enjoy the journey.
Why join the challenge?
There are several reason for taking this challenge, however the most important one is: to have fun!. Beyond that, it is an excellent opportunity to sharpen your skills. I totally recommend it, either if you are beginner in coding, or either you are an experienced developer, the challenges will push you and broaden your knowledge!
You are not alone!
Lets be real, it’s not a walk in the park, and as days go by, the puzzles are more complex so you have to spend for time solving it. There is a huge range of algorithms covered, recursivity, optimization, branch and bound, ... so it is rather complicated to get to the whole advent of calendar.
When you get stuck (because let’s face it, it happens to everyone),we must not forget that there is a active and supportive community in Reddit.
My setup for 2024
This year, I’ve decided to use C# with the latest .NET version in Visual Studio Code, and also Dev Containers. Why? dev containers in Visual Studio offer:
- A consistent, isolated development environment.
- Security and ease of managing dependencies.
- The ability to keep my base OS clean, regardless of the tools or languages I’m using.
With a busy schedule, I need something efficient, and this setup feels like the perfect balance of productivity and fun.
Final thoughts
What about you? Will you participate this year? Is it your first time, or are you a regular participant? I’d love to hear about your plans, tech stack, and experiences in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a like and share your thoughts. Happy coding, and good luck with Advent of Code!
Top comments (2)
This is in the leaderboard there are solution times of 9 secs or 54 secs or 1 minute. How is it possible?
Those must be people using AI... chatGPT, or similar, which ruins the whole point of this activity, as it should be fun coding! They will not win anything doing that!
It has been already discouraged:
adventofcode.com/2024/about#faq_ai...