Wow! it has been quite a while since I have put an entry here. Sorry for my absence, with all the holidays and other pressures of life this kind of got shoved to the back burner. The good thing is that it gave me lots of time to think and redesign my code! Now I have a script that actually generates a fully valid sudoku board with less code then I was using before and much more optimized *i think*. Now this is where I am going to need more input:

* I need to figure out the best way of removing the squares so that we can create levels.
* Need to ensure that the removal of the squares will not cause the puzzle to become too ambiguous which would null out our "answer key"

Point two may not even matter. We could just use this to generate the board and then check the input against the board as they put it in. Because it is entirely possible for the user to put in a wrong number but at the point which the puzzle is at it is a valid move. Therefore, I strike this from discussion unless you disagree with me.

For the first point I want to draw from your knowledge of playing sudoku to see if we can come up with a common thread between easy, medium and hard puzzles.

Competition is the heart of excellence. I don't think I can attribute that quote to anyone other than myself, nor do I think there is a clamoring for recognition as it is more pretentious than deep.

Let me put this another way. There is a reason time trials are not as exciting as seeing head to head races.

The athlete has not only the desire to do his best, but to insure his best is better than his competition's best. Untapped energies are summoned when the agony of defeat is personified in the runner who is two feet ahead of you. Like the action hero running from an explosion, nothing surpasses the exhilaration of succeeding with certain failure clawing at your heels. It drives both the victor and loser to excel greater than they would have if left to their own devices.

Recipe for lost interest: Take two metaphors, mix vigorously.

What does this have to do with video games, specifically sudoku, you may rightfully ask. The game played in private is entertaining. I imagine the game played in competition could be thrilling. People enjoy defeating others, and we need to be defeated every now and then. It helps us learn how to cope. I think that the game of sudoku, paired with the appeal of competition can bring smiles, cheers, and tears to many internet users.

Paul, you are a Code Ninja.

Ok so this is the one month review. I must admit this has been much more difficult then first anticipated. I believe that I am up to version 9 of the core sudoku functions which is still in badly needed reorganization. Currently, I am trying to figure out the best way of determining where conflicts are located on the board so that I can resolve them. I already have a function to do the actual resolving but finding them is proving difficult. Once that is done, then the core functions will be able to generated a full solution sudoku board. The next step will be to write the code that will leave the numbers showing that will lead to that specific solution. Because it is possible to have the generation of a sudoku board that has some ambiguity to it leading to several solutions from one starting point.

In other news, I will try and be better at keeping updates on my progress. I plan to come out with weekly progress posts (on Thursdays since that is my day off) and I'll try and post when something significant happens. How is the recruiting of your friend going? I think it is possible to start working on an interface with out having the core functions in place.

Well thats all I have for now.

I successfully created a sudoku board by hand and have a rudimentary alogrithm. It took me all day today but I finally think I have it nailed down. The idea behind the approach is to first generate a completely random sudoku-like board where each internal square consists of a random set of numbers (1-9). This is the easy part. Next go through each row resolving any conflicts and missing digits in the row will out moving a digit from its internal square. Doing this cuts down on complexity and reduces the degree of freedom of the sudoku board. So now the only resolution that needs to be dealt with is the columns. This become reduced to swaping numbers among their respective rows and internal squares. Until all missing and conflicting numbers are resolved. I know this may not make too much sense and I'll try and rewrite this so it does. I have created a web page in aiding in the process.

Was taking a look around the web and found a few sites with online sudoku that we could glean a few ideas from. As i find more ill add to it.

fingertime
I like this one because it gives me an idea of the circle number picker. However, I dont like that you can not take notes in any of the squares. Maybe advance players don't need that but I know I sure do.

lovatts
This one is well done but still i dont like how taking notes are done. It slows one down too much because you have to keep the order of the numbers yourself. So one square could have notes of: 124 and other square the notes of 214. Also visiually the notes section is distracting from the puzzle. If there are no notes I think it should just look like a regular square. This does give us a good example of timing and ranking puzzles.

dkmsoftware
This one was my favorite though it does have somewhat of a learning curve. I like how the notes were handled and visually the puzzle looked nice.