Lars,
Until someone takes you up on your proposal, I think the best Sudoku
computer program is Robert Woodhead's Sudoku Susser, written in REALbasic.
Here's a partial description to whet your interest from TuCows (which
gave Sudoku Susser its highest rating):
"This Sudoku assistant and master-level solver features a hints mode to
show you what numbers are legal for the remaining squares. The deducer
uses human-style reasoning to solve the puzzles and can take you
step-by-step through their solution with detailed explanations of each
step. The brute force recurse option solves all puzzles. Highlighting
modes help you see the patterns in the puzzles. You can even drag
puzzles right from Web pages of major UK newspapers into the
application, then edit, save and print them offline."
--http://www.tucows.com/preview/413254
Don't download it from TuCows, however, because they do not have the
latest version (2.5.0). You'll find information on how to download the
latest version here:
--http://www.madoverlord.com/projects/sudoku.t
And here are the author's own comments from that page on the features of
the program:
"The Sudoku Susser makes it easy to make your selections as you solve
the puzzle; just click on one of [the cells] and select the new number
from the popup menu that appears, or mouse over it and press the number
on the keyboard. But it does far more than that!
"It can display the remaining possibilities for each square in several
ways, making it easier for you to see the patterns that are the key to
solving tough puzzles. You can add and remove possibilities as you make
inferences about the puzzle.
"It can hi[gh]light 14 different simple and advanced Sudoku patterns.
Everything from simple forces and pins up to mega-expert techniques like
forcing loops and chains.
"It can give you hints on how to proceed, or solve the puzzle by
human-style logic, with detailed explanations of the steps. No known
puzzle can stump the Susser's heuristic deduction engine.
"Other features:
" * You can drag Sudoku graphics from just about any webpage and
they'll be scanned and loaded into the application.
" * Instant download of new puzzles from the Menneske.no Sudoku
archive [at http://www.menneske.no/sudoku/eng/] (and other popular
puzzle sources)
" * Extensive help, hint and hi[gh]lighting features show you the
logical structures in the puzzles.
" * You can manage, rename, reorder, and print out your Sudokus.
" * You can drag them out of the app as graphics or in a variety of
text formats.
" * Undo and redo are fully supported.
" * Many sample puzzles to get you started.
" * Comprehensive manual gives detailed explanations of all the
advanced solving methods the program can use."
You can also check out what VersionTracker.com (who gave Sudoku Susser a
rating of 4.8) had to say:
"Sudoku Susser is a free program that helps solve Sudoku puzzles. In
addition to being more convenient than pencil-and-paper, the Susser also
can show hints, solve the problem step-by-step using human deductive
reasoning, or brute-force solve it using recursion. You can drag Sudoku
problems directly from web pages, save, edit, print and more. And if you
like the program, you can tip the author to encourage him to improve it."
So - until someone implements your proposal - Robert Woodhead's Sudoku
Susser may be the best resource available to Sudoku fans.
Warm regards,
Barry Traver
P.S. Go into any major bookstore, and you'll find scores of books
containing Sudoku puzzles. What you will NOT find is much discussion of
the principles involved in the solving process. The following
introduction to Sudoku (written by Robert Woodhead for kids) is as good
an introduction as I've seen in any Sudoku book:
http://www.madoverlord.com/PDF/Sudoku4kids.pdf
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