aoc-racket/2019/README.md

MB’s Advent of Code tips

• Complex numbers are a nice way of modeling two-dimensional positions.

• Use lists whenever feasible, because there are many useful list functions in the Racket library that don’t have vector equivalents.

• In particular, these list functions are very useful.

• eq? is the fastest equality check, but it only works for symbols and fixnums (therefore, use more symbols and fixnums so you can use eq?!)

• match is fantastic.

• Association lists (= lists of pairs) can be used with the dictionary forms (like dict-ref and in-dict)

• The graph library can be useful for graph-based problems.

My solutions

• I try to write solutions that are succinct but not cryptic.

• I don’t optimize for speed.

• I like doing the Advent of Code problems because it forces me to use parts of Racket that I don’t ordinarily use. So I treat it as a chance to expand my awareness of the Racketverse.