adventofcode2024

This repo contains TypeScript solutions for the Advent of Code 2024 puzzles. The scripts are written to executed in the Deno runtime.

Context

I have been using Deno for a while for personal scripting needs. Also, I always wanted to finish the Advent of Code puzzles. So, I decided to give a shot at solving this year's AoC using TypeScript. This way I can improve my TypeScript as well as solve the puzzles.

Thoughts

Typescript

So far, my experience with TypeScript has been subpar at solving AoC puzzles. Deno is a great runtime, but the TypeScript has been a bit of a pain to write data structures and algorithms. Coming from the Rust ecosystem, I missed some features very much.

Data is passed using references implicitly. If I change some value in a function, it changes the value in the caller function. Rust uses immutable borrow for this.
No hash function for objects. The Map and Set data structures uses object pointers for keys. So I can have new Set([[1, 2], [1, 2]]) with size 2 because the two arrays are different objects, even though they have the same values. I had to use string keys for objects when using them as keys in a map or set.
No standard data structure libraries. I had to maintain my own set, maps and other data structures.
- Must say that jsr:@std/data-structures helped me with BinaryHeap.
Not strong typing and type inference. I had to write concrete types at some places.
Not strong pattern matching. I missed Rust's pattern matching very much.
No pairs, tuples or constant size arrays.
Footguns like == and === or const elem of array and const elem in array.

Deno

Deno has been great. I would have stopped using TypeScript if it weren't for Deno. The runtime is great, and the jsr:@std library is very useful. None of my solution uses any external dependencies except jsr:@std. Deno's test and assert libraries allowed me to test my solutions. I can use a single binary for everything. The lint and fmt commands kept my code clean.