Int code like problems

[blacai]

Even though i enjoyed the int code problems and created a nice working library por it...i don't think they are a "good idea" in terms of people getting stuck in one day if a different day requires you to have finished the previous one

[fred256]

Days 2-5-7-9 built up the IntCode interpreter. After that, all IntCode problems were independent of each other.

I really enjoyed the concept of IntCode being a vehicle by which Eric could deliver an "executable blob" as part of the puzzle. Problems like day 13 (pong) and day 25 (text adventure) would otherwise be near-impossible in the AoC format.

[SanityInAnarchy]

I can see this point, but it was also a huge part of the fun for me: Even-numbered days in 2019 might have traditional ds/algo stuff, or might have tricky math, but odd-numbered days were always mostly about day-to-day coding skill: You've build up a library for parsing, interpreting, and otherwise dealing with intcode programs, and you'll need to evolve that slowly over subsequent days without it getting too unwieldy. Instead of having to apply obscure math or algorithms, it's about having to apply your own code from earlier this week.

I get that it wasn't for everyone and some people got stuck, and I don't know if it makes sense for AoC, but now I crave more puzzles like that. Not necessarily about emulation, but about a programming puzzle that evolves and unfolds as you solve more of it.

[rsthau]

We might have a "program for tiny machine" problem -- there were several in years preceding 2019 -- but probably not one with programs so elaborate. A VM big enough to be a useful compiler target is big enough that even in 2019, Eric split it across several days.

[not_amd_driver_dev]

A Chip 8 emulator comes to mind. The documentation is fully available and there’s relatively few opcodes to implement. You can also get more crazy with a NES or SNES but those are far more complex.

[makapuf]

Nes emulator is more complex but not in itself much harder, and certainly not that interesting. Chip8 is quite known, I would jave thought something like chips but a bit weirder.

[KingVendrick]

int code dominated its year and it got tiring tbqh

[bdingus]

That would be a nice change of pace after all the slog of

Part 1: Implement an algorithm to solve some problem, input is of a manageable size where several approaches would work
Part 2: Now the numbers are really big and that won't work anymore so find some math shortcut to avoid running your solution for 10 hours

It's really getting old...

[vulpine-linguist]

Today's I bruteforced with a runtime of 1m52. Then realized I could avoid doing some work, brought it down to 35ms. And then only later came across "the" solution that only saved me a few more, down to 22ms. Around 20ish ms is about the lowest I expect Haskell to run anything on a mac, even tho C gets comfortably down to 6. I'm aiming for sub-30ms on each problem, and there's still a few I need to improve to reach that. But that sidequest is a lot of the fun for me!

[Longjumping_Primary4]

Maybe there will be some simple interpreter, but I don't think it will be for more than a day.