Day 11: Plutonian Pebbles

Megathread guidelines

  • Keep top level comments as only solutions, if you want to say something other than a solution put it in a new post. (replies to comments can be whatever)
  • You can send code in code blocks by using three backticks, the code, and then three backticks or use something such as https://topaz.github.io/paste/ if you prefer sending it through a URL

FAQ

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
3 points

And now we get into the days where caching really is king. My first attempt didn’t go so well, I tried to handle the full list result as one cache step, instead of individually caching the result of calculating each stone per step.

I think my original attempt is still calculating at home, but I finished up this much better version on the trip to work.
All hail public transport.

C#
List<long> stones = new List<long>();
public void Input(IEnumerable<string> lines)
{
  stones = string.Concat(lines).Split(' ').Select(v => long.Parse(v)).ToList();
}

public void Part1()
{
  var expanded = TryExpand(stones, 25);

  Console.WriteLine($"Stones: {expanded}");
}
public void Part2()
{
  var expanded = TryExpand(stones, 75);

  Console.WriteLine($"Stones: {expanded}");
}

public long TryExpand(IEnumerable<long> stones, int steps)
{
  if (steps == 0)
    return stones.Count();
  return stones.Select(s => TryExpand(s, steps)).Sum();
}
Dictionary<(long, int), long> cache = new Dictionary<(long, int), long>();
public long TryExpand(long stone, int steps)
{
  var key = (stone, steps);
  if (cache.ContainsKey(key))
    return cache[key];

  var result = TryExpand(Blink(stone), steps - 1);
  cache[key] = result;
  return result;
}

public IEnumerable<long> Blink(long stone)
{
  if (stone == 0)
  {
    yield return 1;
    yield break;
  }
  var str = stone.ToString();
  if (str.Length % 2 == 0)
  {
    yield return long.Parse(str[..(str.Length / 2)]);
    yield return long.Parse(str[(str.Length / 2)..]);
    yield break;
  }
  yield return stone * 2024;
}
permalink
report
reply

Advent Of Code

!advent_of_code@programming.dev

Create post

An unofficial home for the advent of code community on programming.dev!

Advent of Code is an annual Advent calendar of small programming puzzles for a variety of skill sets and skill levels that can be solved in any programming language you like.

AoC 2024

Solution Threads

M T W T F S S
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25

Rules/Guidelines

  • Follow the programming.dev instance rules
  • Keep all content related to advent of code in some way
  • If what youre posting relates to a day, put in brackets the year and then day number in front of the post title (e.g. [2024 Day 10])
  • When an event is running, keep solutions in the solution megathread to avoid the community getting spammed with posts

Relevant Communities

Relevant Links

Credits

Icon base by Lorc under CC BY 3.0 with modifications to add a gradient

console.log('Hello World')

Community stats

  • 478

    Monthly active users

  • 109

    Posts

  • 1.1K

    Comments