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Every year I want to love this. Every year I get four days in before it feels like work. I think I’m just the wrong audience, but I really do want something th

Every year I want to love this. Every year I get four days in before it feels like work. I think I’m just the wrong audience, but I really do want something this well-produced but with perhaps a very shallow diff little curve, bordering on just effortless fun.

sundarurfriend 3y ago
> Every year I get four days in before it feels like work. Same for me, but I don't think it's exactly about difficulty for me - I've done harder problems on Project Euler, SPOJ, etc., and very much enjoyed them, but somehow Advent of Code doesn't click for me. I think the difference is that there's a lot more "chore" work in AoC problems, compared to Euler or SPOJ where it's mainly about an "Aha" moment figuring out a solution (possibly getting it wrong, going back on it, and getting a different "Aha" moment exercising a different area of your knowledge space).
sixothree 3y ago
Agreed. Games like TIS-100 just feel unrewarding to me because I'd rather be solving my own problems.
- epiccoleman 3y ago
  I had a similar realization a while back with Factorio. I caught myself watching Youtube videos on how various systems worked and how to optimize things and solve problems, and I just thought... "man, think what I could build if I put this same energy into my programming projects." Still, I like Factorio and similar games, and I'm excited about the upcoming expansion, but it is just kind of funny to notice that it basically feeds on the same kind of drive that I use to build little apps and whatnot, and with those projects, I end up with something a bit more tangible than an elaborate virtual factory.
brightball 3y ago
I interviewed somebody recently for a podcast who is a big AoC fan. His biggest reason is that, if you're learning a new language it's a great way to put it through its paces. He tries to learn a new language every year doing AoC. He's done it with R, Julia, Rust and this year Kotlin.
codr7 3y ago
Try a different language? Something you enjoy writing. I could never do it in one of my work languages.

sundarurfriend 3y ago

> Every year I get four days in before it feels like work. Same for me, but I don't think it's exactly about difficulty for me - I've done harder problems on Project Euler, SPOJ, etc., and very much enjoyed them, but somehow Advent of Code doesn't click for me. I think the difference is that there's a lot more "chore" work in AoC problems, compared to Euler or SPOJ where it's mainly about an "Aha" moment figuring out a solution (possibly getting it wrong, going back on it, and getting a different "Aha" moment exercising a different area of your knowledge space).

sixothree 3y ago

Agreed. Games like TIS-100 just feel unrewarding to me because I'd rather be solving my own problems.

epiccoleman 3y ago
I had a similar realization a while back with Factorio. I caught myself watching Youtube videos on how various systems worked and how to optimize things and solve problems, and I just thought... "man, think what I could build if I put this same energy into my programming projects." Still, I like Factorio and similar games, and I'm excited about the upcoming expansion, but it is just kind of funny to notice that it basically feeds on the same kind of drive that I use to build little apps and whatnot, and with those projects, I end up with something a bit more tangible than an elaborate virtual factory.

brightball 3y ago

I interviewed somebody recently for a podcast who is a big AoC fan. His biggest reason is that, if you're learning a new language it's a great way to put it through its paces. He tries to learn a new language every year doing AoC. He's done it with R, Julia, Rust and this year Kotlin.

codr7 3y ago

Try a different language? Something you enjoy writing. I could never do it in one of my work languages.