namespace Day14 { class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { string[] lines = File.ReadAllLines("input.txt"); Part1(lines); //Part2(lines); } static void Part1(string[] lines) { string polymerTemplate = lines[0]; Console.WriteLine($"Template: {polymerTemplate}"); // Pair insertion rules are stored from index 2 onwards // A rule like AB -> C means that when elements A and B are immediately adjacent, element C // should be inserted between them. // Also, because all pairs are considered simultaneously, inserted elements are not considered // to be part of a pair until the next step. List rules = new List(); // Consider each rule for (int i = 2; i < lines.Length; i++) { // e.g. AB -> C string pairToMatch = lines[i].Substring(0, 2); string characterToInsert = lines[i].Substring(6, 1); rules.Add(new Rule() { First = pairToMatch[0], Second = pairToMatch[1], Insert = characterToInsert[0], }); } // Set the number of steps to run for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { CompleteStep(ref polymerTemplate, ref lines, rules); //Console.WriteLine($"After step {i+1}: {polymerTemplate}"); } // Count occurrences of each character char[] chars = polymerTemplate.ToCharArray(); List uniqueCharacters = chars.Select(x => x).Distinct().ToList(); List<(char character, int count)> countList = new List<(char character, int count)>(); foreach (char character in uniqueCharacters) { countList.Add((character, polymerTemplate.Count(c => c == character))); } (char character, int count) mostCommon = countList.MaxBy(x => x.count); (char character, int count) leastCommon = countList.MinBy(x => x.count); Console.WriteLine(mostCommon.count - leastCommon.count); } static void CompleteStep(ref string polymerTemplate, ref string[] lines, List rules) { LinkedList temporaryList = new LinkedList(); List temporaryTemplate = new List(); foreach (char character in polymerTemplate) { temporaryList.AddLast(character); temporaryTemplate.Add(character); } LinkedListNode pointer = temporaryList.Find(temporaryList.First()); // Insert the new character into the linked list but do not change the temporary template we're checking against for (int i = 0; i < temporaryTemplate.Count() - 1; i++) { Rule matchingRule = rules.FirstOrDefault(r => r.First == temporaryTemplate.ElementAt(i) && r.Second == temporaryTemplate.ElementAt(i + 1)); if (matchingRule is not null) { temporaryList.AddAfter(pointer, matchingRule.Insert); // Move on an extra position as we have added a node pointer = pointer.Next; } pointer = pointer.Next; } polymerTemplate = String.Join("", temporaryList); } class Rule { public char First { get; set; } public char Second { get; set; } public char Insert { get; set; } } } }