Advent of Code 2020

01 Dec 2020

In what now feels like a previous life I got paid to be a software developer. I worked with Java and Python and a Java derivative called Kotlin. I struggled with some of the architecture side of things. My ability to solve specific local problems with code was pretty solid, but ask me to design a larger solution or an entire software system and I’d falter.

I’ve since moved into the application space, supporting ServiceNow in my current role. The work I do is more strategic than tactical, and I’ve missed some of that other kind of work, stretching my abilities to solve specific problems in the present moment.

Enter Advent of Code. From December 1 through Christmas Day, Eric Wastl (or more accurately a bot written by Eric Wastl) posts a small programming puzzle every day at Midnight Eastern US time. I have participated in AoC in the past, but have renewed interest this year.

The puzzles can be completed by people with limited programming knowledge and some problem-solving skills. It does not require you to be a professional developer at all.

For example: the first puzzle of 2020 asks you to help Santa’s elves with their finances. They give you a list of numbers and ask you to do this (I’m paraphrasing):

Two numbers in this list add up to 2020. Find those two numbers, and provide us the result you get when you multiply them.

The way I solved this problem was to go through each number in the list, subtract the number from 2020, and see if the remainder was a number on the list. That gave me the matching pair, and the rest was history.

If you have even the least little bit of interest in software development, or if you just like puzzles, check these out!

I’ll be posting my solutions on my github profile; if you have questions or want to learn more, don’t hesitate to reach out!