JamIt - A Python Framework for Google Code Jam Problems

Google Code Jam 2012 starts today! (April 13, 2012)

If you are reading this, you're no doubt as enamored with puzzles and problem-solving as I am, which makes sitting down to attack some Google Code Jam (GCJ) problems an exciting prospect. However, something I noticed in my first competition was that I found myself spending way too much time on setting up the problem space (file I/O, classes and their associations -- general glue code), when I would have been better served by focusing directly on the problem.

This year, i've taken a step towards solving that problem, and am releasing my tools to offer a bit of help to everyone else. Introducing JamIt!, a framework and scaffold generator for GCJ problems.

You can download or fork JamIt on Github, and use it to generate base code for your GCJ problems. Just to be clear, this is 100% ok with the GCJ terms and conditions (I even contacted the guys at Google who make GCJ happen every year to be sure), as long as you submit the code generated by JamIt along with your own.

Once you download the code, you can use it to generate scaffolding for your GCJ problems.

To use, simply:

$ cd JamIt
$ python jamit-generator.py <problem-name>

JamIt will create a new named directory for your problem. In that directory, it will place a file named .py, with autogenerated scaffold code specific to your problem.

Check out the Github Pages site for more detailed usage information.

Happy Jamming!