Hey, everybody! It's time for the Advent of Code again! AoC is, of course, a yuletide set of logic puzzles usually solved using some kind of programming. Matt and I did it for the first time last year, had a lot of fun, and are doing it again this year.

On this episode we go over our thoughts about how it's going after 4 days of not-too-grueling-yet Christmas elf-themed word problems.

* Advent of Code: https://adventofcode.com

* Eric Wastl Behind the Code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb8WwKS6ajk

* aoc-cli: https://github.com/scarvalhojr/aoc-cli

* solving AoC using GPT: https://github.com/max-sixty/aoc-gpt

  * discussion on reddit about the ethics of such a thing: https://www.reddit.com/r/adventofcode/comments/zc27zb/2022_day_4_placing_1st_with_gpt3

There's a lot of digital stuff across all the computers and devices that exist in the world. Somehow, you, the user, must find specific things in all that stuff, and content tagging is one way to make it easier. Matt and Mike explain how.

Usually, this podcast goes for more evergreen content, but the shakeup at Twitter over the last few weeks is too juicy to ignore with a new CEO and a daily influx of restructuring and drama. Join Matt and Mike as they try to make sense of it all, while also explaining microblogging and software development leadership.

* It Begins: Elon Musk purchase timeline, courtesy of NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/1131378869/twitter-elon-musk-timeline

* Breaking news on "Twitter 2.0": https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/16/elon-musk-demands-twitter-staff-commit-to-long-hours-or-leave.html

When a creative work is, uh, created, the question of who deserves the credit for its, um, creation is not an easy one to answer. Matt and Mike, er, try to do that, though, in this particular episode.

Matt: We should do a podcast episode about Improv, and the concept of "Yes, And".

Mike: No, that sounds bad.

Matt: ...

Mike: I mean, uh...yes! And it should be how it relates to programming!

Matt: Let's do it!

Matt and Mike start a new recurring segment about the similarities between creating music and creating code, starting with their shared usage of libraries.

Intelligence usually refers to the ability for humans to acquire new knowledge and apply it accordingly. Computers can do this, too, so...are they human-like? Maybe! Matt and Mike do the thing about that.

How programmers accomplish the task of finding answers in a database of text may have changed over the past quarter of a century, but it's still a valuable skill. Matt and Mike dig into the ins and outs of using the current method, Google, in today's episode.

There are many things you can do with code, such as make a web browser, photo editor, or even a tax, uh, doer. Lots of people, however, prefer to make games with their code, and Matt and Mike break down this huge and varied use on today's episode.

Displaced Gamers, which goes behind the code of old video games: https://www.youtube.com/c/DisplacedGamers

Sample episode on Zelda 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSSUrnIpcds

Spaghetti is a delicious pasta, but it's also a form of coding practice that we all fall prey to at some point. Matt and Mike talk about what it is, how it comes to be, and how to untangle the mess.