Advent Of Code C++ Template

This is a template for C++ solutions to the Advent of Code challenges.

It uses CMake to retrieve the inputs, generate unit tests and sources for each day.

Each input is turned into a string_view inside an array of string_views, so that the input is available at compile time, one item for each day.

Unit tests are already setup for the 25 days of the advent calendar, and can be run with ctest or with a provided CLI.

Requirements

• CMake
• C++17 compiler

Usage

Setup

First you will need to retrieve your session cookie from the adventofcode website. It will allow to get your inputs automatically.

To do so, open the developer console of your browser, go to the network tab, and reload the page. Look for the request to input and copy the value of the cookie header.

Then, create a file named .session at the root of the project and paste the cookie value in it.

Generate a new day

To generate a new day, run the following command:

cmake -D DAY=1 -P generate_day.cmake

Or generate multiple days at a time

cmake -D DAYS=1,2,3 -P generate_day.cmake

This will take care of reading your input for the day, put it in a text file, and generate the sources for the day.

The source files are put in the src/problems directory, and the input files in the inputs directory. You can access the input from the class using the input_data member.

#include "day1.h"

namespace adventofcode
{
    Day1::Day1() : DaySolver(1) {
        // Data for tests
        test_data = R"()";
        test_results = { 0, 0 };
    }

    long Day1::solvePart1() {
        return 0;
    }

    long Day1::solvePart2() {
        return 0;
    }
}

Just fill out the solvePartN methods of the day class, they should return the result for each part of the day.

You can also fill the constructor of the day class with the test data and the expected results for each part. It will be used by unit tests to validate your solution. An optional member test_data2 is available for the second part of the day if required.

Any change to the file structure will be picked up by CMake and re-trigger a configure so everything is up to date.

Build

You'll first need to generate the first day

To build the project, run the following commands:

cmake --build build --target adventofcode

You can then run the executable with the following command:

./build/adventofcode [--day <number>] [--alldays] [--part 1|2] [--help]

Run tests

To run the tests, you must build the test target first:

cmake --build build --target solution_check

Then you can run the tests with the following command:

./build/solution_check [--day <number>] [--alldays] [--part 1|2] [--help]

Or you can use your IDE's test runner to run the tests, they should be registered automatically. There's a test for each part of each day.