First part was built for Python so it wasn't too difficult.
I tried to take a shortcut on the 2nd part by calculating on the fuel required for fuel and turns out that wasn't right. Did it the right way and got another answer, but the website said it wasn't right. Tried another person's solution, got the same answer as what I submitted. Tried submitting one more time, and it worked. 🤷
Hopefully I have better luck copying and pasting going forward...
Fairly straightforward. Thinking about converting the IntCode computer function into a class as we will reuse.... will do that later.
Solved this challenge with dictionaries, but changed it to sets once I saw I could do it a bit more simply. Then part 2 required a dictionary... oh well.
Not really proud of the code, but this challenge was grindy so I don't really mind too much. Did have some fun using zip to do math with adjacent indices.
As they hinted at, IntCodeComputer was being reused so before starting the problem, I refactored my solution to change my implementation from a function to a class. This allowed me to replicate my conditional logic with objects versus if statements.
Once that was done, adding new OP codes and tests was a breeze. This way of doing things makes it a lot easier to debug.
A bit overkill? Probably. But then again... I am the guy who thinks that if statements are a code smell.
I stumbled into using trees with path calcutions. Had to backtrack and re-learn about graphs and path finding.
Python dict make graph data structures a breeze.
Day 7 was super grindy and process heavy. I had to add a couple of variables to my IntCodeComputer class to get things working for today's challenge.
First solution was hacking together a series of 5 IntCodeComptuer. It did the job, but when we started having to feed outputs in a loop, this was not the right way of doing things. By adding an instance variable that breaks when an output is generate, we can get the IntCodeComputer to function in a way that can solve the problem.
I used a generator to create inputs given outputs from the previous step. TIL: you can modify instance methods and generators will output terms given the updated value.
Day 8 was a nice change from all the IntCodeCalcualtor challenges. Even though Day 7 was straight-forward, it took me a while. Then again... I am also doing it at 2am while eating Taco Bell.
After a couple of weeks off, I'm picking this back up. Took some time to remember how the IntCodeComputer works. This wasn't too difficult once I remembered some details of work from 2-3 weeks back. Luckily the code isn't TOO TOO messy. I think there are a few more puzzles coming up that will use the IntCodeComputer. Might clean it up before the next set of challenges.
Had to hack _within_map_boundary() to get the right answer. Not sure what's going on, but was able to hack things together to get the test case to pass. Had to review radians and degrees for part 2; used paper to figure out a formula and got things working.
Useful StackOverflow post: Getting key of dict with maximum value
Another puzzle using the IntCodeCalculator. I added the ability to propagate exceptions up to allow higher order abstractions to control flow. Also allowed driver programs to control how much output to break on.
Thinking about refactoring IntCodeCalculator before the next go around. Also added a test file to ensure changes don't break existing functionality.
I wanted to practice my Python skills for this one. Fun with magic methods! I modified my simulate function to function as more of a driver. It takes a state, runs thru timesteps, returns the final stste back. This makes it more general and easier to use in other places.
I feel that part 2 is going to involve figuring out the pattern for each of the moons. I'm going to take a break with the next day's challenge before coming back to this.
I was wrong about this earlier. In order to find a repeating pattern, we find out if the x-values, y-values, and z-values for position and velocity repeat. Once we find the period of repetitions, we can find the Lowest Common Multiple of our period to find out when the pattern repeats.
Thanks to Joel Grus' Day 12 on YouTube for helping me figure it out.
- Fancy way to do LCM in Python for an iterable (h/t StackOverflow)
All the work I did to make my IntCodeCalculator easy-to-use was work it as I was able to quickly complete Part 1.
Part 2 seemed challenging, but after using matplotlib to draw out the game field, I decided it would be easy to just have the paddle follow the ball at each point in the game loop where I can put in an action. Brute force it.
Have enjoyed having to mess with underlying implementations while keeping all higher level code working. Fortunately I have been refactoring at the right times. This is great practice!
Very impressed with the IntCode language. Makes me want to dig into compilers.
Still need to complete
Implementing both Breadth First Search and Depth First Search. I was having a bit of trouble getting the right answer, but that's because I was not saving / loading the state of the IntCodeComputer.
While completing Day 15, I added the ability to import and export the state of the IntCodeComputer.
Learned about the A* Search Algorithm and implemented it because I was bored.
Still need to complete
Part 1 was fairly straightforward. I usually convert array questions into dictionaries, but this time I left it as arrays.
Part b sounds like we want to find max spanning trees along with substrings. I'm reading a couple of books and will come back to this.