At this point, there are probably more Sudoku solvers/generators than
there are unique Sudoku puzzles. But that's the easy part, and it
doesn't really serve most Sudoku fans, who in my experience want to:
a) solve their puzzles by themselves, getting minimal hints when stuck
b) solve them on paper, not on a computer
Therefore I propose a "Sudoku Buddy" that lets you hold a paper puzzle
in front of your iSight camera and hit a hotkey, at which point it
swiftly auto-recognizes the puzzle and your solution so far. It then
gives you hints like "you have several wrong guesses", or "there are
spaces in row 3 that you should be able to fill", depending on your
hinting preferences.
Without the auto-recognition and hinting, this software would be like
Delicious Library without a barcode reader -- an interesting piece of
technology that nobody would use. Without the hinting, it would solve
a data entry problem that no one would care about. Together, they
might make for a terrific user experience.
I usually keep my most brilliant ideas to myself, but I know I will
never get around to this one. Whoever does this and makes a million
bucks, please mention me in the credits. :)
lj
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