Day 8 done.

Now that's what I call Advent of Code! I'm happy with the algorithm for the most part. I'm sure it could be improved, but I paired up all boxes and pushed them into a BinaryHeap based on their squared distances, then popped the number based on the number of connections to consider (1000 for the real input). These I pushed into a set of "network" HashSets. This is the part I'm least happy with. I iterate the vector of networks to match each point to a network, and if they're both in a network, I extend the earlier one from the later and remove the later. I considered a lot of ways to improve this, but couldn't come up with one that wouldn't be either buggy or inefficient. I'll probably look at the Reddit solutions thread to see how other people tackled it.

Part 2 was really similar in execution to part 1, but continuing until all points were in a network and there was only one network, and keeping track of the last pair added.

Whew, this one was just the right amount of challenging and fun. Most of the days were pretty easy before today's. Now all we're missing is a nice A* problem.

#AdventOfCode #AdventOfCode2025 #AdventOfCode2025Day8 #AdventOfCode2025Day08 #Day8 #Day08 #Rust #RustLang #Programming #CodingChallenges

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. ❤️📚

­#BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #Day08
https://yadl.info/en/notes/2024/book-challenge-day-08

#AdventOfCode #AoC

I completed #Day08 of #AdventOfCode2023.

Part 1:
- Difficulty: 3/10
- Workout: 2/10

Part 2:
- Difficulty: 3/10
- Workout: 5/10

Part 1 was a straight simulation: instructions given, parse and table moves, loop for following instructions. Barely a half-hour of work.

Part 2 extends from one start point to several; it just means a list of places mapping to a list of places, instead of place mapping to place.

Brute force, like in part 1, turned out to be not viable: 1.8e9 iterations, and nothing. I tried to find repeatable sequences of places, starting with each place and instruction position, but the volume of data generated was getting too big.

I had to resort to r/AdventOfCode for tips. At once, I found: closed cycles and LCM. It was enough. I quickly found --Z to --Z cycles, and their periods; all multiples of the same number. A quick implementation of GCD, then LCM(a, b) = a * b / GCD(a, b), reduce list of periods by LCM, and done.

Total time, programming and wasting CPU: about 7 hours.

#AdventOfCode #AoC

I completed #Day08 of #AdventOfCode2015, just for the fun of it.

Part 1:
- Difficulty: 2/10
- Workout: 1/10

Part 2:
- Difficulty: 1/10
- Workout: 0/10

Bloody, tricky, quotes! :-P
Just kidding: easy one, done in just 1 hour.

The hardest part was quoting both searches, regexes and substitutions on strings, while the terms were quoted themselves. I have a lot of experience with that, from when I generate code by metaprogramming. The order of substitutions do matter.

The program itself was easy: for each line, do replaces, and compare lengths.

#MoveIt2020 #ywaHOME #day08 i guess.

i was struggeling along #session06 I had most problems with lack of arm/shoulder strength and therefor had to pass on some plank stuff. i was unfocused and distracted today. more a 'at least i showed up' experience.

#inktober2018 #day08 #star

there may be a zillion plus one stars out there, but let yours be mine and mine be yours.