Participate in Advent of Code 2024 using Deno and win prizes!
(Originally published on deno.com/blog.)
Advent of Code is an annual event starting December 1st where anyone can participate and solve daily coding challenges. It's a fun way to flex your problem solving muscles, a great chance to explore new tools and techniques, and to learn from others. In that spirit, this year we warmly invite you to give Deno a try as you join in the problem-solving fun. Deno is a great tool for building with JavaScript and TypeScript, offering a development pipeline we think people will love.
We're even giving away some swag as a reward, and the chance to win some rare and exclusive Deno prizes! 👇️
Completing every one of the 25 day challenges of Advent of Code is quite an undertaking, and we want you to get a reward even for completing one challenge using Deno. But the further you go, the bigger the payoff. We'll be giving away progressively more rare and prized rewards based on how many days you have completed! Here's what you can win:
- 1 day completed using Deno: A Deno Dino sticker
- 5 days completed using Deno: An Origins of Deno code sticker
- 10 days completed using Deno: A limited edition Reindeno sticker (Only available through this competition)
- 15 days completed using Deno: A very limited edition Gingerbread Dino sticker (Only available through this competition)
- 20 days or more completed using Deno: Qualify to win one of only 3 elite level, super limited edition, special surprise Deno stickers (A maximum 10 of these are awarded to the Deno community each year)
** The elite, special edition, 20 day sticker is new. None of the Deno team even have one. You'll rarely see one in the wild. If you keep tuned in, you might see a glimpse of one here or on our Bluesky account during December. The recipients of these might expect to be able to use them to gain free access to airport lounges, VIP areas, Oscar parties, and more. (Although formal arrangements with those organisations has not been finalised and cannot be guaranteed)**
Also note that these prizes stack, as in if you complete 5 days, you will receive the Reindeer Deno as well as the Logo sticker. Also, these days do not have to be consecutive!! You can complete any 5 days by the deadline and be eligible for the Reindeer Deno and the Logo sticker.
- The first person to complete 20 qualifying submissions with Deno and inform us as per the submission instructions below, will be rewarded with an elite level special edition sticker.
- All others who complete 20 qualifying submissions with Deno and inform us as per the submission instructions below will be entered into a prize draw for the 2 remaining elite level special edition stickers.
- The prize draw will take place shortly after the deadline submission.
- Good luck in your quest, friends.
Be sure to follow these steps in order to get your stickers!
- Share your solutions publicly on GitHub with the topic
aoc-2024-in-deno
- Have your contact details (email address) on your GitHub profile
- Share your GitHub repo of solutions on social media
- Not on social media? Create an issue on this repo
- Follow the Advent of Code guidelines (i.e. no using AI or LLMs!)
The deadline to submit will be 9pm PT on January 3rd, 2025.
There are many ways that you might use Deno as part of your Advent of Code efforts. Did you know:
- You can use
Deno as a package manager
with
deno add
- Deno provides a helpful task runner with
deno task
- Deno has native support for TypeScript, so you can go from zero to TS in record time. No other tools required
- Deno embraces existing standard web APIs so you'll probably already be familiar with it
- Deno is great for scripts and utilities and has CLI helpers as part of it's popular standard library
- Deno has a test runner built right in with
deno test
- Deno lets you import and use WASM directly
If you’re new to Deno, here are some resources to help you get started.
- Getting started with Deno
- Setting up your Deno development environment (video)
- Intro to Deno's all-in-one tooling for JavaScript and TypeScript (video)
- Short examples of using Deno to handle all variety of problems
- List of longer tutorials using Deno with web frameworks or other tools
You can also join our Discord to chat with the Deno engineers and other developers, get technical support, and share what you're working on! We're also active on Twitter, Bluesky, Reddit, and Mastodon.
We hope you use Deno for Advent of Code 2024 for a chance to win some exclusive prizes! Also, keep an eye on our social media channels for when we announce the mysterious 20 day sticker prize!