Norvig's Python programs to practice or demonstrate skills

Re:Norvig's Python programs to practice or demonstrate skills by rb808 on Monday November 27, 2017 @10:17AM (#15787919)

Is the adventofcode.com fun/educational/worthwhile? I see it starts again Dec 1. I like doing things like this but end up regretting it as it sucks too much time solving unnecessary problems.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Norvig's Python programs to practice or demonstrate skills by wellpast on Monday November 27, 2017 @10:30AM (#15788039)

Well I would consider any puzzle type problems technically "unnecessary" but I thought the adventofcode puzzles in 2016 were fun, well designed and tapped into some good CS algorithm and theory stuff.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Norvig's Python programs to practice or demonstrate skills by maxerickson on Monday November 27, 2017 @10:33AM (#15788059)

I imagine the best way to make it educational would be to skip the problems you know how to solve and then try to solve the others without a whole lot of "cheating".

Obviously looking at resources to learn approaches to solving the problem isn't cheating, but there is some value in spending time just trying to figure out an approach before doing that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Norvig's Python programs to practice or demonstrate skills by narimiran on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @09:43AM (#15797636)

> Is the adventofcode.com fun/educational/worthwhile?

For me, the answer to all three questions is - yes.

It depends on your previous knowledge, so some problems might seem too easy and/or some other problems might be too hard.

If you are an experienced programmer, maybe use AoC to learn/practice some language you didn't use before?

[ Parent | on HN ]