KenKen Solver – Multiple Solutions

Posted on March 23, 2009 by MXH

A reader asks if the KenKen solver we recently developed can handle puzzles with multiple solutions. It turns out to be pretty simple to modify the search-and-propagation algorithm to return all the solutions to a puzzle, instead of just one.

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Joe Calzaghe

Posted on March 22, 2009 by MXH

Joe Calzaghe retired from boxing last month. Calzaghe was generally regarded as the top fighter active in the 168 and 175 pound divisions. Debate about his career tends to center on whether he was merely a good fighter in a weak era, a great fighter, or an all-time great. I think he was a great fighter, who could have held his own with any boxer in his weight class, from any era; he was perhaps the most skilled boxer active when he retired, handicapped only by rather fragile hands.

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Irony

Posted on March 21, 2009 by MXH

According to this article in Slate, Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a little-studied condition. I bet this news makes those diagnosed with NPD very, very unhappy.

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Overspecialized Constructors

Posted on March 20, 2009 by MXH

I want to discuss a simple mistake which recently caused me a disproportionate amount of trouble. I believe I violated a simple rule which might be formulated as “do not create overly specialized constructors in languages which lack constructor overloading“.

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Making People Poorer

Posted on March 19, 2009 by MXH

There was an interesting story in the paper (well, technically, on the S.F. Chronicle’s website) the other day about a court order which has resulted in the suspension of operations of the “Hawaii Superferry“. I think this is interesting primarily as a micro-example of how to make people poorer.

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AIG Bonuses

Posted on March 18, 2009 by MXH

There’s been a lot of outrage lately over some $165M in total bonus compensation that was paid out to senior people at AIG, a recipient of over $100B in federal bailout money. This is silly. Anyone who’s been around floundering companies knows there’s good money to be made when they’re about to go under the waves.

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Ambiguity

Posted on March 17, 2009 by MXH

A friend once concisely illustrated why it’s difficult to write software that can understand human language. He cited as an example the (possibly well known) phrase “chocolate dessert cup store”. It’s a delightfully bizarre case.

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St. Isidore of Seville

Posted on March 16, 2009 by MXH

Did you know that computer programmers have their own patron saint? (Also in his portfolio: computers, computer users, and the Internet.) For some reason, I find that particularly touching.

I also think it’s interesting to reflect that, at one time, the sum of human knowledge could be thought susceptible to summarization in a single reference work.

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Watchmen

Posted on March 15, 2009 by MXH

I saw the “Watchmen” movie last night. When asked if it was good, my response was “I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call it good, but it was interesting.” Here I present some amplifications on this theme. I should mention that I never read the comic book on which it’s based.

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Cold Cuts

Posted on March 14, 2009 by MXH

You know those suspect cold cuts in your fridge? The ones that might have been there a little too long? You should throw them out. No, you shouldn’t try eating them, even if you’re sort of hungry.

Trust me.

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