Sudoku Contest Invitiation

[Darryl]

http://www.cpp-home.com/forum/viewto...1dff3fc3b520b7

It's a contest to generate a completed sudoku puzzle in the fewest amount of tokens... see link to thread for details

Thanks,
Darryl

[kryptkat]

relationships between numerals are absolutely irrelevant

sudoku ... what is that? the japanese way of trying to hit the lottery numbers?

i read the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku page. i still do not get it. if no mathmatical relationships between numerals that are absolutely irrelevant then how do you know if it is correct or not? and are there some start numbers or was that just an example of partly compleaated?

[LuckY]

Su Doku is a puzzle. It consists of nine boxes composed of nine cells. Each box has each digit from 1 to 9. Each puzzle-wide row and column (spanning three boxes) has each digit from 1 to 9. This inherently restricts duplicate digits from any box, row, or column.

The puzzle starts out with just a few numbers present in seemingly random places in the grid and the player's goal is to fill in all the blank cells. Given a correct starting puzzle, there is one and only one solution.

[Sang-drax]

Originally Posted by kryptkat

You misquoted Wikipedia, the page says:

arithmetic relationships between numerals are absolutely irrelevant.

[PJYelton]

Bah, why are all contest I see shortest or obfuscated code contests, or in this case both more or less? Its like having a contest to write the best short-story but then saying you can't use the letter 'e'. The shortest algorithms usually does not make it the best or most elegant algorithm. Easy to grade I guess?

[kryptkat]

Each box has each digit from 1 to 9. Each puzzle-wide row and column (spanning three boxes) has each digit from 1 to 9. This inherently restricts duplicate digits from any box, row, or column.

how about diagonally?

Given a correct starting puzzle, there is one and only one solution.

well? is there a starting puzzle?

ps sangdrax it is funnier the ohter way...

[CornedBee]

Originally Posted by kryptkat

how about diagonally?

No limitations.

[LuckY]

how about diagonally?

Just within the box, rows, and columns. Diagonally wouldn't make sense because there are only two diagonals with 9 cells.

well? is there a starting puzzle?

Every complete puzzle, of which there are billions of trillions, has practically countless starting puzzles depending on how many "givens" (or clues) there are and how many blank cells there are. There isn't a single puzzle given to beginners which you can call "the starter puzzle." By that term, I just mean the grid & values you start out with to solve the puzzle.

Check out websudoku. It's the best source for clean, easy, free play I've found. It's a challenging and very fun game (if you like challenging games).

[PJYelton]

Originally Posted by kryptkat

well? is there a starting puzzle?

No starting puzzle, you just need to create a program that can generate a finished answer from a blank board, creating a random answer each time it is run.

In other words, when you run the program it spits out a random finished soduku board.

[Sang-drax]

Originally Posted by PJYelton

Its like having a contest to write the best short-story but then saying you can't use the letter 'e'.

Are you thinking of http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156...books&v=glance €?

[PJYelton]

What is that book about? I don't see a synopsis anywhere on the page. I'm guessing an entire story without the letter 'e'?

[laserlight]

if no mathmatical relationships between numerals that are absolutely irrelevant then how do you know if it is correct or not?

I think that statement was just to convey the idea that each line or group consists of 9 distinct symbols. Whether the symbols are numerals, alphanumeric, or are not (yet) in Unicode doesnt matter.

Its like having a contest to write the best short-story but then saying you can't use the letter 'e'.

Gadsby

[Sang-drax]

Originally Posted by PJYelton

I'm guessing an entire story without the letter 'e'?

You guess correctly. It was originally written in French and amazingly enough translated into English successfully. It was referenced in "The Code Book" by Simon Singh; that's where I know it from.

[kryptkat]

Originally Posted by PJYelton
Its like having a contest to write the best short-story but then saying you can't use the letter 'e'.

M30w!

[Darryl]

Originally Posted by PJYelton

Bah, why are all contest I see shortest or obfuscated code contests, or in this case both more or less? Its like having a contest to write the best short-story but then saying you can't use the letter 'e'. The shortest algorithms usually does not make it the best or most elegant algorithm. Easy to grade I guess?

I have been trying to host monthly contest over at cpp-home. From my experience, most people are too busy to do any "complicated" coding and therefore don't participate in say for example AI contest(unless there is a prize). Therefore, what I have found is that many people, even beginners will at least try their hand at a very simple algorithm ( ie generating a sudoku) and then "optimizing/obfuscating" as time allows.

Also keep in mind that these are contest and not just "challenges" like you'd find at mathschallenge.com..or other "algorithm" type challenges I've seen here. So there is also the difficulty of finding a unique idea (can't just google an answer) that is easy to judge objectively.

With that said, what suggestions can you give?