This repository contains my solutions to the Advent of Code problems for the year 2022, in the Rust programming language. Note that the solutions for only a few days are there, as tasks with higher priority took over my time.
Advent of Code (popularly known as AoC) is an annual programming and coding event that takes place in the month of December. It starts on December 1, each year and lasts until Christmas, December 25. Each day you are given two puzzles, and the second can only be opened upon successfully completing the first one. The two are often interlinked to each other. Additionally, each year, the problems are Christmas themed. For each solved problem, you recieve a certain number of stars, which is just one of the metric used to determine the leaderboard positions. AoC maintains a global leaderboard, which takes into account the number of stars a participant has, the amount of times it took them to get the right answer, and how quickly they solved the puzzles to rank them over the entire course of the event. Additionally, people can also create personal leadersboards to compete with friends, or within communities etc.
As everyone has heard by now, from one place or another, Rust is the hot new language on the scene. Boasting high level language constructs with low level speed, a new take on memory management, and a wide range of applications from kernels to web frontends, it has quickly become one of the most loved programming languages in recent years. The choice to go with Rust was mostly a didactic one for myself. I had seen the language in action, but never found a good enough reason to perform a full dive into it. Thus, I took this event as an opportunity to learn the intricacies, idioms and common pitfalls associated with the language. This turned out to be a good choice, as the language is mostly pleasant to work with once you have figured the basics out. It provides speed on the level of C/C++, safety guarantees much beyond either of the two, and still maintains high level constructs as in Python or Haskell. Overall, my experinces with the language were positive. You can start learning Rust here
- Karan Ahlawat