It's the big 57 this year, and I honestly don't feel it, but then again, not many probably do. I am glad to have had the last week off work - The Shop has shut down for the week between Christmas and New Year's, and I got lucky with the draw.
I have been really enjoying all the Advent of Code puzzles from past years, and that has really made the time pass nicely. Just keep living in this moment.
It's been a very quiet Christmas this year - and while I don't necessarily think that's the very best way to spend the holiday, it beats some of the alternatives, and that's what I have to remember... some of the alternatives.
There may come a day when I feel differently, but today, I'm happy enough that it's been a quiet day.
It's Day 11 of Advent of Code, and I have to say that I'm having a great time this year. It helps to have a little spare time as they are working on the rearrangement of the groups with the acquisition, so I've got a little spare time most days.
I honestly expected to be using Swift, Clojure, ObjC - all mixed in there. This was the advantage of getting CodeRunner a little bit ago - that I could mix-n-match language to the problem based on the needs of each problem. But I have to say that I'm enjoying using Clojure 100% so far this year. It's just so good at what I need it to do... it's hard to find a need for another language.
I've also really enjoyed the times when the solution for the first part of the day is fine with my original implementation, but then the second part requires that I really re-think the solution and come up with a much more performant solution. Not always easy, but when I get something that really changes the scope of what can be done, it's a lot of fun.
One of the guys at The Shop pointed out that I'm doing the problems like Programming Golf - where the minimal solution is the best. And that's exactly what I enjoy about these - it's about a minimalist approach to the problems. What fun. 🙂