Re: Old programmers never die ...

[Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@stephe-leake.org>]

Mike H <postmaster@ada-augusta.demon.co.uk> writes:

> 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.

That's a _real_ program :)

> 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.

GUI's are a pain; I have yet to see a GUI framework that actually makes
it easy. I was excited about the Android framework, but it turns out to
have too many bugs to be easy. And they change it too fast. (when was
the last time an API in the Ada standard _changed_?).

See http://www.enjoysudoku.com/ for my recommendation for a Sudoku
player.

So unless you really don't like any of the available Sudoku GUI's, don't
waste your time on it; that's for minor programmers who can't handle Ada ;).

-- 
-- Stephe