DT: Debug Toolkit? Deep Thinking? Desperately Trying? Definitely Temporary? Dubious Technology? Maybe.
This is a mini-framework for solving coding puzzles. It runs on GitHub Codespaces with little effort.
Your objective is to solve puzzles by editing the following files:
dt/01.py- Day 1dt/02.py- Day 2
If you're solving AoC puzzles, you'll need to go there, get the input for your puzzle, and then put it into one of the following places:
dt/input/01.txt- Day 1 Inputdt/input/02.txt- Day 2 Input
Alas, DT is only built to support the Python programming language only (sorry, NextJS-ish folks! <3)
Here are some resources to help you on your merry way:
See the following two sections for pointers related to DT.
There's also a complete example of solving a puzzle down below.
Plus, you can always ask those most excellent colleagues around you (and the DMs!)
Some helpful pointers on string operations:
# String indexing (first character is position 0)
text = "hello"
first_char = text[0] # 'h'
last_char = text[-1] # 'o'
# String slicing (get parts of string)
part = text[1:4] # 'ell'
# String counting
count = text.count('l') # 2
# String comparison
text1 = "cat"
text2 = "dog"
are_same = text1 == text2 # False
# Split string into parts
text = "a,b,c"
parts = text.split(',') # ['a', 'b', 'c']
# Join parts into string
joined = '-'.join(['x', 'y', 'z']) # 'x-y-z'Some helpful pointers on list/number operations:
# List comparisons
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4]
for i in range(1, len(numbers)):
if numbers[i] > numbers[i-1]:
print(f"{numbers[i]} is bigger than {numbers[i-1]}")
# Sliding window (look at groups of numbers)
window_size = 3
for i in range(len(numbers) - window_size + 1):
window = numbers[i:i + window_size]
print(f"Window: {window}")The CLI will:
- Run your solution for all days or the days you specify (comma-separated list).
- Provide the answers you generated, either example or real, for each day.
- Provide CPU and timing information for each day.
- Provide Source Lines of Code (SLOC) and the number of characters for each day.
- Tell you whether it was a "golden" solution, i.e., it took less than one second.
- Tell you whether all together are "golden"; i.e., all took less than one second.
Just run the following in the VSCode Terminal (CMD/CTRL+SHIFT+'):
python -m dt
You can get help and other options by passing in -h:
python -m dt -h
To run a specific day, pass a number:
python -m dt 1
To force it to run with your example data instead of an input:
python -m dt 1 -e
To make it run with a specific into (e.g. 01b.txt):
python -m dt 1 -i b
If any of the above doesn't work, it's probably because it is the first time
you have opened the GitHub Codespaces or VSCode. Open a new terminal using CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+',
or, if that still doesn't work, reload the Codespace.
If you'd like to execute your tests, you can pass --test to the CLI or execute pytest.
Just run the following in the VSCode Terminal (CMD/CTRL+SHIFT+'):
pytest
OK, so we'll solve Part 1 of Day 1 of AoC 2022 here to show you what the process looks like.
Imagine you're helping Santa's elves organize their groups of snacks by total calories. Each elf carries several snacks, each with a number of calories. The elves wrote down their snacks like this:
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
Blank lines separate each elf's snacks. We need to find which elf is carrying the most calories.
OK, so we need to:
- Read the groups of elf snacks (their calories).
- Calculate a total for each group (one per elf).
- Find out which is the greatest total.
- Use that total as the answer.
Here's how we can solve this in Python, with each step explained:
EXAMPLE = """
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
"""
def solve() -> int:
"""Count the calories."""
# First, we'll read the elves' snack list; we're not really reading
# from a file here (that would use `open()`), just using the EXAMPLE
text = EXAMPLE
# Split the text into groups (one group per elf).
# The elves are separated by double newlines.
elf_groups = text.split("\n\n")
# For each elf, we'll add up their snacks, using a list variable.
elf_totals = []
# Iterate through each snack in the list
for elf_snacks in elf_groups:
# Split each elf's snacks into separate numbers
calories = elf_snacks.split("\n")
# Convert the strings to numbers and add them up
total = sum(int(calorie) for calorie in calories if calorie)
# Remember this elf's total
elf_totals.append(total)
# Find the elf carrying the most calories
most_calories = max(elf_totals)
return most_calories
# Use the function
result = solve()
print(f"The elf carrying the most calories has {result} calories!")
That's pretty much it.
You can run it yourself by copying and pasting the above to a file like
solution.py, and running it like:
python solution.py
It should say:
"The elf carrying the most calories has 24000 calories!"
But, of course, it only solves the example, and only solves part 1. But hopefully, it gives you an idea of what solving a puzzle looks and feels like.
Just ask the DMs for more help if you're stuck with environmental issues.
If you need help with puzzles, then you need to use a WTD signal + token.
... And may the quack be with you!