Aneurysm99

As a moderator on the subreddit and coworker of Eric Wastl, that'll never happen because we would die. It's set up so that puzzles unlock at a time that Eric is awake and able to respond to any issues that may arise.

Last year I solved most problems the first time through using Perl and then later came back and used it to try to learn Rust. The second time through I started by writing test cases using the known-good answer from the Perl implementation.

The prior events are still available! http://adventofcode.com/2016 and http://adventofcode.com/2015

It's really not designed as a speed coding competition; that's just what it became by accident. Eric built the first edition for friends and friends of friends, expecting maybe 70 people to participate. He thought a 100 person leaderboard would be more than enough. The look on his face the next day when he realized what had happened and that his infrastructure wasn't going to hold up was priceless :)

That said, it is a fun way to learn a new programming language or to brush up on one you haven't used in a while. Stop by the subreddit and get help if you're having trouble or give some help if you're able!