Alright, let’s talk about this thing, number 1887. It popped up a while back when I was working through some coding challenges just to keep sharp, you know? Just a number, attached to a problem description. Looked pretty straightforward at first glance.
So, I jumped right in. Read the problem, thought I had a handle on it. Coded up what seemed like the obvious solution. Ran it against the test cases. Failed. Okay, no big deal, probably missed an edge case. Went back, tweaked a few things, added some checks here and there. Ran it again. Still failed. And not just failed, but like, spectacularly wrong on some inputs.
This went on for a bit longer than I’d like to admit. You know how it is, you get stuck on something that feels like it should be simple, and it just eats at you. I started thinking maybe I misunderstood the core logic entirely. I remember stepping away for a coffee, just staring at the number 1887 itself, wondering if there was some hidden meaning. Silly, I know, but frustration does weird things.
Digging Deeper
After clearing my head, I decided to scrap my initial approach. Completely. Wiped the slate clean. I went back to the problem description and read it word by word, super slowly. Then I started working through examples manually, on paper. Like, really basic stuff. What happens with input 1? Input 2? What about really big inputs? What if the input had certain properties?
I listed out the steps I was taking manually:
- Identify the core task.
- Figure out the simplest possible case.
- Think about what makes it complicated.
- Try breaking the problem into smaller, manageable pieces.
Doing it manually helped. I noticed a pattern I hadn’t seen when I was just trying to code it directly. It wasn’t some complex algorithm, but more about the order of operations and how certain intermediate results affected the next steps. My first approach was doing things in the wrong sequence, messing everything up down the line.
Getting it Done
With this new insight, I started coding again, but this time, much more carefully, following the logic I’d worked out on paper. It felt different this time. Cleaner. More logical. I focused on getting the sequence right.
Typed it all out, double-checked the logic. Held my breath a bit and ran the tests. Passed. All of them. Man, the relief. It wasn’t about the number 1887 having some magic property, it was just… procedure. Sticking to the basics, being methodical.
It really hammered home that sometimes you just gotta slow down, step back, and do the simple stuff first. Don’t just jump into coding. Think it through, trace it out. That problem 1887 wasn’t particularly hard in terms of advanced concepts, but it was a good reminder about the importance of process and not getting tripped up by your own assumptions. Just a regular day’s work, figuring things out step by step.
