Re: Old programmers never die ...

[Mike H <postmaster@ada-augusta.demon.co.uk>]

In message <2e4c2077-76aa-4787-8f2e-572552903f47@googlegroups.com>, 
Patrick <patrick@spellingbeewinnars.org> writes
>Hi Mike
>
>Did you post in online by chance ?
>
>is it gui based ?
First things first. This version runs from the command line and that is 
where it displays the results. Apart from line feeds, the input is an 
unformatted string of '1' .. '9' and '  '. I have just broken it with a 
"Diabolical" (or rather it ran out of steam) so there is more work to do 
on the logic and a few more number crunching tricks to learn. The bit of 
theory that I have studied so far has convinced me that recursion and 
trial and error are routes to be avoided.

The fun has been the intellectual exercise of dealing with alternative 
views of the grid as 9 lines, 9 columns or 9 blocks (of 3x3). I soon 
found it useful to use strict typing to define the position of each of 
the 81 cells in three dimensions (line, column, block). By the rules of 
Sudoku, the other 25 cells that make up those three dimensions interact; 
more fun!

A GUI may come later, if at all. I suspect that will be an entirely new 
ball game and, for the time being, that aspect does not excite me. I am 
in my eightieth year and am doing this for my own amusement. Perhaps one 
reason for a lack of enthusiasm is that about 8 years ago I started, but 
never finished, a (model) railway signalling exercise. The logic was 
trivial but I got bogged down in trying to get an aesthetically pleasing 
display. Perhaps I was using the wrong tool, it was JEWL.

-- 
Mike
Swim? Naturally at Severn Vale
<http://www.severnvalesc.org/>