Advent of Code feels · riki's house

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I wonder if I’m the only one who can never get into Advent of Code.
2024-11-30
- it’s kind of weird seeing all these programmers around me having fun, trying out new technologies, solving these very open-ended puzzles, yet I… I can just never get into it.
  2024-11-30
I tried time and time and time again to get through AoC puzzles.
2024-11-30
- frankly 2022 was the furthest I’ve gotten so far. tells you just how much my perseverance improved! though maybe it’s rather because it was my first time doing it with people at work, who knows
  2024-11-30
I guess my main issue with solving AoC is that the puzzles… they don’t really accomplish anything practical.
2024-11-30
- I’m a person who likes to solve real world problems, and while you can learn a lot by doing AoC—be it programming languages, algorithms, optimisation—your solutions can’t really be used for anything outside Advent of Code. that’s I think what hurts me the most.
  2024-11-30
another thing is that most projects I start nowadays are pretty much guaranteed to never finish. there is always something to work on.
2024-11-30
- the treehouse is a fantastic example of this.
  2024-11-30
- whereas with Advent of Code, your solutions will just be done and sit, gathering dust.
  2024-11-30
and probably worst of all, Advent of Code puzzle solutions have no potential users.
2024-11-30
- I like to build my software to solve real world problems—mostly my own, but I like to imagine it could one day become useful for someone else, too.
  2024-11-30
  - egoistic altruism, y’know. it’s why all the code I write outside of work is open source.
    2024-11-30
- believe me when I say this, but it is extremely fun to see your friends have fun with the software you build. I remember having a lot of fun ~~drawing dicks~~ back when I was building NetCanv.
  2024-11-30
  - at the same time olekolek1000 was competing with me by building his own multiplayer painting app, MultiPixel—it was some of the most fun I’ve had programming, ever! combine competition with your friends enjoying your software, and you get a huge amount of motivation to build something.
    2024-11-30
  - Advent of Code has a similar social aspect to it, but you never end up using each other’s solutions—maybe to verify your results, but once you do, you may as well throw your solutions away.
    2024-11-30
I just feel like Advent of Code never has a point. sort of like puzzle games without a story.
2024-11-30
- your reward for solving a puzzle is more puzzles. yay!
  2024-11-30
  - which is fine if you’re a person who enjoys the act of solving puzzles so much that having the game give you more puzzles fills you with excitement, but I’m not that kind of person.
    2024-11-30
- of course Advent of Code does have a story. it’s just that it’s extremely barebones, and I pretty much never find it very interesting.
  2024-11-30
so I dunno. it just do be like that sometimes.
2024-11-30
- sometimes you’re just not vibin’ with something, and that’s okay.
  2024-11-30