It's that time of year again - Advent of Code starts! And if this is your first time hearing about Advent of Code, worry not and read on to find out all about it 😊

What is Advent of Code?

Advent of Code was created by Eric Wastl back in 2015 as an advent calendar - but instead of little chocolates you get little programming puzzles to solve instead!

The puzzles range from beginner friendly and become more advanced as time goes on. You can choose to solve them in any programming language you like.

But what's the point?

Advent of Code is a nice bit of fun over the Christmas period.

Make it a bit more of a challenge by competing with a group of friends, co-workers or community group, challenge yourself to complete the puzzles within a set amount of time, use them to boost your understanding while learning a new language, or complete them in each programming language you know - it really is whatever you make of it!

The site hosts a global leaderboard, and also allows you to create your own private leaderboards if you wanted to get competitive with them.

The puzzles can also be a nice way of preparing for interview style questions, and get you practicing that problem-solving mindset.

How can I get involved?

Head over to the calendar section on the Advent of Code website to find the days puzzle.

Puzzles are released daily starting on the 1st of December, midnight EST (5am GMT).

If you're a member of the Codú Discord community, I'll be popping a thread up everyday to allow the community to discuss the daily puzzle - so feel free to to drop a message in to let us know how you got on, what language you used to complete the puzzle, or if you need a bit of help 😊

One Advent not enough?

If you really want to challenge yourself this year, or you're more into cyber security, you may like TryHackMe's Advent of Cyber with the added motivation of prizes

And Scrimba are also joining in the advent fun with JavaScriptmas - which also has some prizes

Have you ever taken part in Advent of Code before? Or will you be giving it a go for the first time this year? Leave me a comment below ⬇️