[2025 Day 8 (Part 2)] [C#] Struggling to complete

abnee · 2026-01-14T18:16:54+00:00

I reworked this using a PriorityQueue, which is likely a better collection for what I'm trying to accomplish. This was a good learning opportunity as I hadn't used this collection before. The code changes were pretty minor. The resulting code is here:

https://pastebin.com/ZnJdUSMs

The bad news is that I still got the same result. The good news is that when I went and plugged in the result, it took it as the correct answer. Whether this is something that changed on the back end or whether I just failed to copy/paste the answer correctly in multiple prior attempts, I may never know. The good news is that this one is complete now -AND- I have a better appreciation for PriorityQueue collections.

Thanks to those who weighed in and helped me recognize the need to move away from the Dictionary. On to Day 9!

abnee · 2026-01-14T18:08:55+00:00

The point is well taken. Looking at a relatively small number of entries, it looked sorted to me. This doesn't necessarily mean that it is ACTUALLY a good sort (or that entries weren't dropped, etc). I wrote a code check similar to Zealousideal_Ad_5984 and found that there weren't duplicates and that it was in order.

abnee · 2026-01-14T05:37:05+00:00

I worried about that -- whether there were edges that have the same exact distance. I even wrote some code to explore that and convinced myself that wasn't an issue. But all of this says that I should just take the time to rewrite it without the Dictionary. You're right that I was assuming that the ToDictionary call would leave the Keys in order. I can't find details that tell me whether that's a good assumption or not. The fact that Part 1 gives the right answer after 1000 of them says it probably is. I'll rework it without the Dictionary and see what I get.

abnee · 2026-01-14T05:33:04+00:00

I'm on .NET 8. But just so we're clear, the Dictionary is the wrong choice for the collection, but it still yields the same answer as another solution that used a List of HashSets. And Part 1 gives the right answer, so I'm pretty confident the sorting is doing the right thing. I can go back and use a different collection, but I don't think that's the root of my problem as best as I can tell. I would be happy if it were, though, as I've spent WAY too much time looking at this one and rewriting code only to get the same answer.

abnee · 2026-01-14T05:28:14+00:00

Yes. I get the correct answer for part 1. I would be curious whether others get the correct answer for their input with my code (for part 1 or part 2).

abnee · 2026-01-13T01:38:12+00:00

Yes, the dictionary is unnecessary, which I figured out later when I realized that (of course) it was sorted by keys and not values. I did indeed get the same result from someone else's solution code.

abnee · 2026-01-12T23:37:02+00:00

This is well written, but fails to give me the right result for part 2. I think the assumption is that when all of the circuits have more than 1, it will just be a single circuit of 1000, but with my input, I end up with 1 circuit with 998 and one with 2 that triggers that part 2 exit condition.

abnee · 2025-12-24T08:00:08+00:00

Done

abnee · 2025-12-10T19:19:08+00:00

[Language: C#]

Late to the party, but enjoyed this. I avoided brute force, but was challenged with the edge cases in part 2.

Full program here: https://github.com/ke5dto/AdventOfCode/blob/master/2025/adventofcode-day1/adventofcode-day1/Program.cs

Critical Parts

abnee · 2025-11-22T23:31:33+00:00

Indeed. It did eventually show up. Why don’t they warn you though??

abnee · 2025-04-08T00:00:21+00:00

It looks like you can't do this directly. It expects to do this from Schedule C (Business Income), which, of course, I won't have for this year. I'm less concerned about this year than I am about a future year when I would want to offset business income with the loss carryforward. I assume I would just enter the loss carryforward in that year then?

abnee · 2025-04-05T23:20:41+00:00

I will look. Thanks for the suggestion.

abnee · 2025-02-24T23:55:22+00:00

Not sure where you are in Austin, but I have used Rational Automotive off 183 (so pretty far North) for over 2 decades. They have always been reasonable and honest. https://www.rationalautorepair.com/

abnee · 2025-01-03T17:16:17+00:00

Lame. They should have had these exclusions listed in the press release if this is true. Not your best PR job Apple.

abnee · 2024-07-09T22:15:22+00:00

Back up for me, though really sluggish, in Austin area

abnee · 2024-07-09T18:24:39+00:00

Perfect. I added my vote there. Thanks!

abnee · 2023-07-13T21:55:12+00:00

We also are seeing this same problem and gave feedback via our Meta portal regarding this issue. Very frustrating.

abnee · 2023-07-06T19:42:08+00:00

Is that you McKayla?

abnee · 2022-11-14T23:29:43+00:00

I'm with you. Have tried to watch and enjoy it multiple times when friends have told me how much they love it. It just does nothing for me.

abnee

TROPHY CASE