HackAttic

Take a look at: https://hackattic.com/

Setup

$ echo <YOUR_HACKATTIC_TOKEN> > .env

INFO: I implemented dotenv() to get my token but there are other options to do this e.g. with gradle.properties - maybe next time.

Start

Tasks are started via the HackatticDispatcher from main.

There are two kinds of tasks:

• Challenges (Hackattic challenges, require your access token -> see setup)
• Secrets (local secret tasks, no token required)

You select the task by passing the corresponding enum value:

• Challenge.<Name> refers to a Hackattic challenge (CamelCase)
• Secret.<Name> refers to a local secret task
• playground = true enables Hackattic playground mode (optional, default is false)

fun main() {
    // Run a Hackattic challenge
    HackatticDispatcher().run(Challenge.TalesOfSSL, playground = true)

    // Run a secret task
    HackatticDispatcher().run(Secret.Secret01)
}

Solved Challenges

I have written down my thoughts/insights on the challenges in the docs about the challenges.

• Help me unpack ✅
• Tales of SSL ✅
• Brute force ZIP ✅
• A global presence ✅
• Visual basic math ✅
• Backup restore ✅
• Mini miner ✅
• WebSocket chit chat ✅
• Reading QR ✅
• Touch-Tone dialing ✅
• Collision course ✅

Solved Secrets (all 😎)

• Secret #0: ✅
• Secret #1: ✅

Solved Kata (all 😎)

• java solutions are located in: src/main/java/kata
• all other solutions are located in: kata-others/*

Name	Java	Python	C++	Haskell	JavaScript	Ruby	Perl	Elixir	Rust	Go	PHP
A Case Of Snake	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Almost Binary	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Debasing64	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
It Is Almost Compression	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Open Parens	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Sorting JSON Lines	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
The Sum Of Things	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
What Day Was It	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Yes It Fizz	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

Insights

• Certificate generation is awesome. (Alternatively: Creating certificates is a great way to track progress.)
• Ruby is a powerful and elegant language – definitely a keeper!
• Perl, like Ruby, is a very concise and beautiful language, but you absolutely have to delve deeper into regular expressions – cool language!
• Base64 refers to the 64 distinct characters used for encoding; there are many variations like Base62 (often used for URL shortness) or even Base58 (used in Bitcoin).
• Haskell: realized once again how beautiful FP is!
• Traditional PKZIP (zip -e) cracks damn fast (<0.1s) with John the Ripper ✌️ – use 7z+AES256, tar+GPG, or age (perfect for scripts & automation) instead.