Tag: advent of code
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Applying Cramer’s Rule for Advent of Code 2024, day 13
Day 13 is relatively easy, especially if you’re comfortable with math. I originally started with a purely brute-force approach, but it quickly became clear that it would be inefficient as the difficulty increased. When I attempted the puzzle, I was already a few days behind. After a hint from a friend who was keeping up…
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Finally, an application for my FSM library! Advent of Code 2024 day 11
We’ve finally completed 10 puzzles, surpassing my previous record (though I still have days 24 and 25 to tackle, and I’ll likely need to revisit day 12 for part two). Coincidentally, I was able to adapt my FSM library to solve day 11. While it’s not the most efficient solution, I’m eager to share it.…
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Climbing a depth-first search hill, Advent of Code 2024, day 10
Today, we’re diving into the Day 10 puzzle. Like Day 6, it’s a 2D grid, but this time, we need to consider multiple paths. It’s fascinating to see how depth-first search comes into play here. Each point on the map is represented by a single-digit integer indicating its height, ranging from 0 to 9, with…
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How to parse computer code, Advent of Code 2024 day 3
Having tackled some of the later Advent of Code challenges, I wanted to revisit Day 3, which presented an interesting parsing problem. The task involved extracting valid code from a noisy input, a great exercise in parser and lexer development. Join me as I explore my approach to this challenge. When I first wrote about…
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How to repair a bridge, Advent of Code 2024 Day 7
After what felt like an eternity (five hours, to be precise), Day 20 part 2 finally decided to cooperate. I’m still slightly dazed from the wait, but duty calls! Today we’re tackling Day 7 of Advent of Code, picking up where we left off with Day 6 last week. Our task today is to repair…
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How to trace steps in a map, Advent of Code 2024 day 6
Back to my Advent of Code challenge, due to some unforeseeable issues, I am unable to complete the challenges in time and am currently about 5–6 days behind. However, I am still determined to complete the puzzles this year. Today, let’s discuss the 6th puzzle. Looking for things in a 2D plane seems to be…
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How to code a Sorting Algorithm for Advent of Code 2024 day 5
In the previous post, I briefly mentioned that I am participating in this year’s Advent of Code. Co-incidentally, in one of the puzzles, specifically the one published on day 5, involves fixing the order of pages in a list. This came not long after I posted about implementing a sorting algorithm, so I figure I…