Advent of Code 2024

Seeing as I hang out on Hacker News, I’ve been aware of Advent of Code for many years now, but it was only in 2023 that I participated for the first time.

In 2023, I fully completed 16 days (both parts)[1] and partially completed an additional 4 days (only the first part). There was one day that I attempted but didn’t even solve the first part, and 4 days in which I didn’t participate at all.

In 2024, I completed all 25 days, and the whole business felt subjectively easier. I wasn’t sure though: was it really easier than the year before, or had I just gotten a bit better at solving this kind of question? Alternatively, had I tried a bit harder in 2024? Might it even be true that I was, um, "scrappier" in 2024; that is, more willing to throw elegance, purity, and truth out the window in service of getting the right answer?[2]

That’s a very hard question to reliably answer, so I posted an ultra-scientific poll at work and found that 9 respondents thought 2024 was easier than 2023, and 1 thought they were about the same. So, I guess that settles it, then.


  1. On one of those days, I got stuck, and ended up looking on Reddit for a hint for how to proceed with the second part. ↩︎

  2. I’m specifically thinking of days 17 and 24 here, where in both cases I used "by-hand" analysis of the problem input to strongly guide the solution, as opposed to implementing an algorithm that obviated the need for such analysis.

    On day 17, I figured out what the provide byte-code was supposed to do, and used that knowledge to run a search over possible values so as to run the computation in reverse, ultimately arriving back at the necessary initial value.

    On day 24, I used knowledge of how binary addition can be implemented using logic gates to explore the problem input finding deviations from the expected wiring.

    Both of these felt somehow like "cheating", but the truth is I cared more about getting the answer than doing it in a "pure" way. ↩︎