Klotzki puzzle problem and translations

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Radovan Markus     2020-01-29 19:12:51
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Hello Rodion! (and our brethren and sistren of good will reading this)

So I decided to continue translating problems fron ENG to SK lang, as I found out it is more meaningful than I expected due to the fact that some friends of mine who are part of this great community, said that they are glad for those translations and encouraged me to carry on doing this because it is easier for them to understand the translated tasks.

But anyway....

The reason I am making this post is to remind people that there is new problem available

Yes the problem seems really hard in my humble opinion (sometimes I wonder how can one invent such a difficult task), however only 1 person solved it so far but I strongly belive that many more people are capable of doing so too! So this is just a little highlight that there is one more problem to overcome.

As I was translating this task 215 I have noticed one very little typoo "straigt" and if my english is good enough it should be "straight". Not that I wanted to imply imperfection of this newly added task, I was just looking for reason to make a new topic in general discussions and ask you if you know that I made once again more translations for tasks. It's okay if you don't have time to add them I just wanted to make sure that you have been notified or something. This is due to the github simplicity and my little knowledge of how it works. I started using "forked repository" instead of regular posintg links to my gist in issues tab. I just want you to ensure me that this "forking" works just as well as the "old" and "more simple" method with

"Gists or whatever are they called"

  • Sincerely Radovan.
Rodion (admin)     2020-01-31 14:37:23
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Radovan, Hi!

And congratulations on becoming Fanatic! :)))

Very glad to hear from you again :) After I've added this problem I found there is no easy way to notify you - but judged you'll eventually see it!

I found out it is more meaningful

just checked - for last months there are 64 pageviews in SK - so it seems the number have rised 2-3 times since we checked previously. Total time spent by people reading these pages is about 5 hours, well, this is definitely something! :)

I wonder how can one invent such a difficult task

Hey, it was less or more your idea... I just googled for various sliding puzzles after your hint... Though I think it is not top-hard, so it should be optimal to amuse experienced colleagues :)

if you know that I made once again more translations for tasks

I really sometimes miss notification, so it is good to ping me! The matter is github allows sending emails along with notifications, but I get bit too many from some other projects, so I have disabled this feature and check notifications manually (in top-right corner) of github web-interface when I log in here.

I started using "forked repository"

Ahm... I think I see what is the problem. There was some old "Pull Request" from you, and you added new tasks here - I just see them. In this case no notification happens...

Usually we rather create new branch and new PR (say, for every new task). But I'll check this old one bit later and grab new translations with gladness! Thanks a lot - and thanks for notifying about this!

Radovan Markus     2020-02-01 19:43:18
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Ahm... I think I see what is the problem.

So I was thinking... I will just post "new issue" with link to my repository from time to time (once I do enough translations let's say 5-10) which should notify you. At least I hope so.

And congratulations on becoming Fanatic! :))) Thank you. I had a little break because I found most of the tasks too difficult for me. Speaking of tasks I had somewhat fun with formatting while doing quadratic equation (spaces between results, no semicolon at the very last example, not printing '0'with no real part etc.).

I think it is not top-hard

As I was reading the forum where you introduced this problem I was quite surprised to see numbers like "15 minutes" and "16GB of RAM". I presume that this problem could be solved by simulating all the possible solutions with some rules (like undoing the move would be pointless etc.) so I agree with

it should be optimal to amuse experienced colleagues :)

Also I would like to highlight this I don't want to be too annoying but I also don't want this to be forgotten :D

One more thing, are there any "unwritten" rules about inventing problems? I understand that the problem should be generally good explained by some further wikipedia article etc. and it is not so easy to invent tasks but I have noticed that new problems are not so often added. Maybe you could add new branch to forum with some handy description how "not to think of new problems" or somewhat alike, where people could discuss problem ideas, so more problems could be added more often and more people could contribute.

Thanks for reading all the way down here! There is no need to reply but please try to think about what I proposed.

-Sincerely Radovan

Rodion (admin)     2020-02-07 13:48:17
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Radovan, Hi!

Sorry for delay - I at last added your latest translations! If possible please check I haven't missed something. We now have about 30 problems in Slovak - impressive!

I presume that this problem could be solved by simulating all the possible solutions with some rules

Yes, like this :) we need to remember already seen position so we don't investigate them if come to them via some different moves. I believe it is adequate to your level (if you know how to use HashMap / dict) - though still it will take enough time to implement. I spent hours in the course of two days myself. And more to test/verify.

Also I would like to highlight this I don't want to be too annoying but I also don't want this to be forgotten

Eh... I'm afraid I have already forgotten. Could you please remind?

One more thing, are there any "unwritten" rules about inventing problems?

No secret and nothing special :) I probably mentioned - we don't want to add simple tasks to this site anymore (unless they are very notable for some reason) - so that reaching certificate won't become simpler. So problems just should be of "advanced" level, requiring some thought.

As an example - besides Klotski I'd like to add "15 puzzle" problem. However I should first write algorithm myself as it seems obvious but tough for me :)

Another example - you mentioned the problem about breaking random number generator - it is also good - but now I'm struggling to do this myself first :)

There is no need to reply but please try to think about what I proposed.

Oh, please feel free to ping me when I forget something. Regretfully my memory is not outstanding and sometimes I just miss important things.

Radovan Markus     2020-02-07 14:32:16
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Sorry for delay It is okay, I made more translations till you added them. Maybe it's better for you to add more translations at once rather than few translations more often.

I at last added your latest translations! Thank you very much! If I am not thinking about some (already difficult) tasks, I work on these translations so it keeps me on track doing something meaningful rather than wasting my time by playing computer games.

I believe it is adequate to your level (if you know how to use HashMap / dict) Well I may try it someday, but for now it seems very difficult to me. As about hashmaps, I get used to use ArrayList of pairs instead as obtaining Key from Value seems a bit easier so I just stick to this rather than hashmaps.

Eh... I'm afraid I have already forgotten. Could you please remind? We already discussed this in this forum post I hope you will fix it someday.

However I should first write algorithm myself as it seems obvious but tough for me :) Glad to see that new tasks are "work in progress" ! (:

That is all I had to say.

-Sincerely Radovan
Rodion (admin)     2020-02-07 14:59:55
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Radovan, just to point out

use ArrayList of pairs instead as obtaining Key from Value seems a bit easier

Array of pairs will work with O(N) for retrieving value by key, instead of O(1) for map. This will ruin performance for large number of pairs.

For example this problem you have already solved: Matching Words - but your "contain" method iterates through whole ArrayList each time. Just generate 1000000 words for input, say just different numbers - then copy the first to the end - and try running your code. I suspect it will work for minutes at least.

Radovan Markus     2020-02-07 20:27:51
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Thanks for letting me know! I get the point, some of my solutions were really quite slow I am programming sicne highachool (to be more accurate something around 3 years) but I lack programming theory a lot. I will definitely try hashmap next time :) Thanks for your answer!

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