2 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

M 14/example.txt
A 14/puzzle_2.py

@@ 15,4 15,4 @@ BN -> B
 BB -> N
 BC -> B
 CC -> N
-CN -> C
+CN -> C<
\ No newline at end of file

@@ 0,0 1,33 @@
+"""
+Solution for AoC 2021 14 Puzzle 2
+
+cat input.txt | python puzzle_2.py
+
+We don't actually need to construct a giant string, we just care about character counts.
+
+Ref: https://markestedt.hashnode.dev/advent-of-code-2021-day-14
+"""
+import sys
+from itertools import pairwise
+from typing import Counter
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    template = next(sys.stdin).strip()
+    next(sys.stdin)
+    rules = dict(map(lambda line: line.strip().split(" -> ", maxsplit=1), sys.stdin))
+
+    pair_counter = Counter(map(lambda pair: "".join(pair), pairwise(template)))
+    char_counter = Counter(template)
+    for step in range(1, 40 + 1):
+        pair_counter_changes = Counter()
+        for pair, pair_count in pair_counter.items():
+            insertion = rules[pair]
+            pair_counter_changes[pair[0] + insertion] += pair_count
+            pair_counter_changes[insertion + pair[1]] += pair_count
+            pair_counter_changes[pair] -= pair_count
+            char_counter[insertion] += pair_count
+        pair_counter += pair_counter_changes
+
+    element_counts = char_counter.most_common()
+    value = element_counts[0][1] - element_counts[-1][1]
+    sys.stdout.write(str(value))