A simple site about programming and puzzles.
I am super into this site, starting Jul 1 2023
My profile is here: https://code.golf/golfers/msbranicky
Snapshot and Highlights as of August 31, 2023 ( = 2 months in )
95/95 Holes, 50/51 Languages, 49/64 Achievements, 14 Diamonds ( incl. SI Units in Go )
Top 10: 2nd in Wren, 4th in Go, 6th in R, 7th in Lisp, 8th in brain*, 9th in ><>, 10th in Dart
44th Python ( of 3969; all 95 holes solved )
64th Overall ( bytes; out of 7969 = Top 0.8% )
Snapshot Language Rankings ( bytes; as of 9/30/2023 = 3 months in )
Top 10 in 20 languages: ><>.9, , Basic 8, brain*.10, COBOL 6, D 10, Dart 10, F# 10, Fortran 9, Go 5, Janet 8, Lisp 7, Lua.10, Nim 9, R:6, Rust:7, Swift:10, V 8, VimL 8, Wren 2, Zig.10
Top 20: Assembly:18, AWK.19, Bash.20, Crystal 16, Elixir:11, Factor 19, Java.20, Julia:16, OCaml:15, Pascal:13, PHP:18, Tcl 17, TeX.14
Top 50: C.47, C#.40, C++ 23, Forth:24, Perl.30, Prolog.28, Python 47, Raku.42, Ruby.44
Selected Ranking updates (as of 10/12/2023): Berry 2, Rust 4, R 5, Swift 8, Lua 9, Julia 15
Challenging Cheevos (as of 9/22/2023, with # solvers in parens, where 16 ~ 0.2% of golfers)
Single Language: Alchemist (11), Da**it Janet (15)
Multi-Language:
Archivist (14) - BASIC, COBOL, LISP
Bird is the Word (13) - AWK, Swift, Wren
Pangramglot (19) - Python Wren Javascript Swift Ruby Elixir Raku Nim D Go Zig SQL
Sounds Quite Nice (16) - C#, D, F#
Stefan Gimmillaro and I co-authored a hole: DFA Simulator
I highly recommend this site for honing programming, algorithm, optimization, and math skills
I started using the site on July 23, 2019 after learning Peter Norvig uses it
Level 10: Top 0.15% of registered site members (254 problems solved) [stats as of 02/04/23]
Selected Highlights and Awards:
Ultimate Decimator (0.118% of users at time of achievement)
Level 8 = 200 problems (top 0.23% of users) in less than 180 days (achieved January 17, 2020)
44th in the world to solve Problem 683: The Chase II, making me a ranked Eulerian for the first time
53rd in the world to solve Problem 691: Long substring with many repetitions
56th in the world to solve Problem 679: Freefarea
[You must be signed in as a registered user to see fastest solvers and rankings.]
OEIS: https://oeis.org/
I started contributing to this addictive site on Jul 02 2020: https://oeis.org/A240070
In my first year on the site, I made over 1200 contributions: https://oeis.org/search?q=branicky
A highlight has been joint work with my student, Apurva Rai, which started with https://oeis.org/A108728
In 2021, I completed a project called: Year of OEIS
As of 01/10/2023, I have over 4000 contributions; as of 04/10/2024, more than 5000.
IBM Research's Ponder This
I found this challenging programming site in Summer 2020
I have solved the monthly challenge problems and bonus (*) as follows:
March 2024: X1000
February 2024: Alice Bob Dice
January 2024: Addition Crossword Puzzle
November 2023: 15 Puzzle Magic Square *
September 2023: Recursive Riddle
August 2023: Square-Triangular Numbers
March 2023: Prime Chain
February 2023: 8-Queens <-- my AI student, Jet Semrick, solved this one!
December 2022: Letter Boxed *
July 2022: The Cell Doubling Game
March 2022: Primle
June 2021: Diophantine Delights *
January 2021: COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Robot
December 2020: Maximal Losing Votes
November 2020: Mersenne Primes via Powers
September 2020: Extended Rock-Paper-Scissors *
August 2020: Nim Win-Loss Sets
July 2020: Fibonacci Grammars *
538 Riddler Problems (from FiveThirtyEight's The Riddler blog)
2022-10-10: Here is my solution to the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Express for 10/07/2022
2022-09-16: My own problem, Can You Build the Biggest 'Anigram'?, appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Classic
2022-08-05: My own problem appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Express
2022-06-10: My extension to Dean Ballard's problem received a shoutout (cf. OEIS A354423)
2022-05-16: Zach featured my solution, which also appears in the OEIS as A353737
2022-05-06: My own problem, Can You Build The Longest Ladder? (appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Express on 05/06/2022)
2021-06-12: Topo Crypto
2020-09-18: Guess My Mean, which received a shout out in Zach's solution
2020-08-14: Squares overlapping Squares by Dean Ballard:
2020-06-19: King Auric's Golden Spheres
2020-05-29: Korok Seeds
2020-05-22: Fishy States, which was featured in Zach's solution
2020-05-15: D&D Dice
2020-04-17: Toroidal Game of Life, which was featured in Zach's solution
2020-03-27: Reduce Dice
2020-03-20: Game of SET
2020-03-13: Convergent Powers of 10 and 2
2019-12-15: Particularly Prismatic Puzzle
2019-12-15: Kasparov-Karpov Redux
2019-12-06: How Fast Can You Skip To Your Favorite Song?
2019-11-15: How Low Can You Roll?
2019-10-18: My own problem, Can You Break the Riddler Bank?, appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Classic on 10/18/2019
2019-10-11: Divisive Auditorium
2019-10-05: Triple Birthday Problem, which was chosen as the winner (see Zach's solution)
2019-09-18: Postal Code String Challenge
2019-07-26: 48-State Road Trip (Collect Them All! -- without any revisits)
2019-07-19: Where in the Square?
2019-07-13: Penalty Shootout Game Theory
2019-07-09: Scrabble Superstring Challenge, which received a shout out in Ollie's solution
2019-06-28: Buckets of Balls
2019-06-25: Perplexed by Hex (a Better-Late-Than-Never solution)
2019-06-23: Flipping Quarters
2019-06-23: Contiguous States Mystery
2019-06-14: US History Coincidences
2019-05-17: A-Maze-ing Color Mazes
2019-05-17: Scrabble Sequences
2019-05-10: How Safe is Joe DiMaggio's Streak?, which was featured in Ollie's solution
2019-04-26: How Many Earthlings Would Survive 63 Thanos Snaps?
2019-04-19: Concise Circular Conundrum
2019-04-19: What Comes After 840?
2019-04-12: Transitive Champions
2019-04-12: How Many Times A Day Is A Broken Clock Right?, which was featured in Ollie's solution
2019-04-05: Does Your Gift Card Still Have Free Drinks on It?
2019-03-29: Ordinal Bees
2019-03-29: Ticket To Ride
2019-03-08: How Many Numbers Contain The Numbers Of Their Numbers?
2019-03-02: The Long and Short of Bananagrams, which was chosen as the winner and featured in Ollie's solution
2019-03-01: A Pack of Redemption
2019-02-22: Don't Trust Anyone Over L
2019-02-15: Come On Down
2019-02-15: Escape the Maze Redux
2019-02-08: Magic Square Tic-Tac-Toe
2019-02-08: What are the Chances?
2019-02-01: Can You Escape the Maze?
2019-02-01: Three Deck Monte
2019-01-12: 3D Do or Die!
2019-01-12: The Case of the Missing Digit
2018-12-22: The Mathy Elf
2018-12-22: Santa Needs Help
2018-12-16: Twisted Tic-Tac-Toe
2018-12-09: Antisocial Settlers
2018-12-09: Louie Gets Wet
2018-12-03: Alice and Bob Have Kids
2018-12-03: Alice and Bob Maximize Face Time
2018-11-18: Reinventing Beer Pong, which received a shout out in Ollie's olution
2018-11-16: Chess Match, or Will the Better Player Win?
2018-11-13: Long Paths In Divisor Graphs
2018-11-09: Do You Have My Number?
2018-11-02: All You Can Do Is Flip
2018-10-19: Archipelago
2018-08-17: My solution was the winner
MIT's Technology Review Puzzle Corner
2023-09-12: I solved S/03 - 2023
2023-04-26: I solved M/J 2 - 2023
2023-01-16: I solved Y2023
2022-08-31: Puzzle Corner featured my solution to S/0 1 - 2022; I also solved S/0 2 - 2022
2022-07-26: I solved J/A 2 - 2022
2022-04-08: I solved (M/J 1 - 2022; my solution) and (M/J 2 - 2022; my solution)
2020-11-06: Puzzle Corner noted I found a flaw in M/A 1
2020-07-08: Puzzle Corner featured my solution to the Pentomino Challenge (M/J2 - 2020) -- and posted my full solution
2020-07-01: Tit-for-Tat Checkmate (J/A 1 - 2020)
2020-06-18: My comment on M/A 1 -2020
2019-12-15: Product-Sum Prices (J/F2 - 2020)
2019-08-29: Chess Blockade (S/O1 - 2019)
2019-08-29: Non-transitive Dice (S/O2 - 2019)
2019-06-24: Family Differences (J/A2 - 2019)
2019-05-15: Cryptarithmetic Solver (M/J2 - 2019)
2019-03-10: Deuce Match Math (M/A3 - 2019)
2019-03-07: Nine Boxes (M/A2 - 2019)
2018-11-07: Desert Crossing (N/D3 - 2018)
2018-11-07: Smooth Numbers (N/D2 - 2018)
2018-09-04: River Crossings (S/O2 - 2018)
2018-07-30: Puzzle Corner featured my solution to Mate with Many Variations (J/A1 - 2018)
2016-07-01: Puzzle Corner featured my solution to Think Big (aka Company Mergers) (M/A2 -2016)
2015-01-01: Puzzle Corner featured my solution to Jenny Phone Number (S/02 - 2014)
2014-11-01: Puzzle Corner featured my solution to Chemical Symbol Words (J/A2 -2014)
I am also a regular solver at https://www.primepuzzles.net/
NPR Sunday Puzzle Challenge By Computer
2019-10-01: Curious Word
2019-09-18: Capitol Animals
2019-07-14: Capitol Zodiac
2019-06-34: Bordering Countries Words
2019-04-28: Transportation Words
2019-04-14: Sneaky Snake
2018-12-03: Unrhyme Time
MSB's Own Problems
2022-11-18: Platonic Dice (appeard as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Classic)
2022-09-16: Can You Build the Biggest 'Anigram'? (appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Classic)
2022-08-05: Gnocchi Board Dice (appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Express)
2022-05-06: Can You Build The Longest Ladder? (appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Express on 05/06/2022)
2020-09: Problems E-9, E-10, and E-11 in The National Puzzlers League magazine, The ENIGMA (September 2020, p. 30, under MSBITS)
2019-10-18: Can You Break the Riddler Bank? (appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Classic on 10/18/2019)
2019-04-05: Does Your Gift Card Still Have Free Drinks on It? (appeared as the FiveThirtyEight Riddler Classic on 4/15/2019)
2018-12-03: Words of Words (inspired by my son Stephen Branicky)