AdventOfCode2023

For solving Advent Of Code 2023 puzzles using python

There are a total of 50 puzzles, two puzzles each day for 25 days. Each puzzle has it's own directory (i.e. day01a for day 1 puzzle a) for the code (normally puzzle01a.py for example for day 1 puzzle a). These directories have a subdirectory data for sample data, usually test.input for the sample given with the puzzle and my.input as the actual random input given for the competition.

The puzzle program should look in the data directory for .input files and produce corresponding .output files.

Common utilities can be found in util.py in the root directory, for example functions to list the input files.

Example

In the _test folder is a script called example.py. This will sum all the integers in _test/data/example.input and return the output. Since 45 is passed as the 'expected' parameter, it asserts that the result matches that value (str() called on each so numbers or strings can be specified) and an error occurs if it doesn't equal. If you have this file open and there is an example.input file in the data subdirectory you can hit 'F5' to debug:

import sys, os
sys.path.insert(0, os.getcwd() + '/..')
from util import test_solution

# take an array of lines and return the solution
def solve(lines):
  return sum([int(f) for f in lines])

# attempt solution from lines in `example.input` in the `data`
test_solution(solve, 'example.input', 45)

If your solve function contains a parameter named debug, a file with .input replaced with .debug will be created in the data directory and the file object will be passed to your solve function also so that you can print to it for debugging:

import sys, os
sys.path.insert(0, os.getcwd() + '/..')
from util import test_solution

def solve(lines, debug):
  total = 0
  for i,line in enumerate(lines):
    intvalue = int(line)
    total += intvalue
    # output to debug file
    print("Line " + str(i) + " is '" + line + "', total is now " + str(total), file=debug)
  return total

test_solution(solve, 'example.input', 45)

Notes

test_solution expects 2-3 parameters:

the solver function which takes a list of strings that are lines in the input file
the input file name, which should be in the 'data' directory under the current working directory

configured in launch.json to set CWD to the directory the python file being run is in
if running the puzzles from the console, you should change to their directory before running them
if using the Run (play button) on top of the code window, it uses the current console so you should change that to be the correct one where the file is in.

the expected output - displayed and throws an error if the result of calling the solver function is different (converted to strings to check)

launch.config should be setup so that these methods all use the debugger anbd work, you need to install the Python addon (first available when searching for Python, by Microsoft). You should also probably create a virtual environment (CTRL+SHIFT_P and Python: Create Environment) and then select the interpreter from the environment (CTRL+SHIFT_P and Python: Select Interpreter).

If using the play (not debug) icon at the top of a python file window, it will be run in the current directory in the current console, so if you aren't in the right directory you might get: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'util'. This is because os.getcwd() is used to simplify code and the current directory should be the one with your python file and with a data directory for inputs and debug outputs.

JasonGoemaat/AdventOfCode2023

AdventOfCode2023

Example

Notes