Gonna miss it. So fun to see how fast one can parse the problem, figure out how to solve it while thinking of edge cases, and then actually write and run it. I've never been high up on the leaderboard, but enjoyed waking up early in December and give it a crack. Most often rank ~1000, a few times ~100.
But I also understand the decision. Fun while it lasted, but I'll find other ways to have fun with AoC this year!
In the earlier years, maybe. Last year you’d immediately see a 3m47s time for a puzzle that for most people would take at least an hour. Unless you were actively watching the clock for a new puzzle daily, odds are it would have already been solved a thousand times over by the time you started.
It’s like excitedly arriving to a potluck with your beef bourguignon, only to find twenty michelin-starred chefs competing against each other.
Not exactly my idea of “fun” :) to me AoC was much more of a neighborhood party than an olympic event.
I was one of those people, waking up a bit before 6 in the morning, sitting ready to refresh, seeing how fast I could solve it :)
As for when it's been solved a thousand times: 2022 I did part1 and part2 and was finished after 4m36seconds, and that gave me rank 1070. So don't underestimate how many who did this competitively, heh.