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Comment by carapace | Hacker News Reader

FWIW, "Boring Sudoku" a solver in Prolog w/ CLP(FD):

https://swish.swi-prolog.org/p/Boring%20Sudoku.swinb

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I don't mean this in a critical way, just an observation. To me the video was boring because watching a human do machine work is frustrating (to me). (As fast and as clever as that fellow is, he's still so slow compared to a computer.)

However, designing elegant constraint rules to encode the special constraints of this puzzle is also a puzzle, and that puzzle seems interesting to me. (Although not very because it's not that challenging.)

I have the same problem with most video games: after playing just a little while I get bored and want to reprogram the game itself instead of just playing it.

Do y'all feel me, or am I just a freak?

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That's cool, but that doesn't solve this puzzle. It's just a normal solver unless I'm missing something.

You're correct.

Adding constraints that encode the additional rules is also a little puzzle, eh?

I'll probably work on it later this evening for fun.

> To me the video was boring because watching a human do machine work is frustrating (to me).

I wouldn't think Sudoku is machine work. Yes, a machine can solve it, but it's not intended to be machine work.

It's intended as recreation, yeah, but to me watching that video was like watching someone carry large rocks without aid of a wheelbarrow.

Or like digging a large ditch without aid of a backhoe.

To me there is a clear hierarchy or graduation of puzzles. Metaphorically:

1. Ditch digging by hand.

2. Planning efficient ditch layouts to be dug by machines.

3. Designing new and better ditch digging machines.

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1. Solving Sudoku puzzles.

2. Designing new Sudoku puzzles (with additional constraints even.)

3. Designing e.g. CLP(FD) programs to solve all sudoku puzzles everywhere.

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What I'm saying is, Why don't people move up that hierarchy? Why is level 1 so fascinating to people?

I believe that anyone who can solve sudoku can program a computer, but they don't. Why not?

Futamura Projections

You can have fun at all those levels, jumping back and forth between them at your leisure. Just because you can program a computer to solve a sudoku doesn't mean that you can't enjoy solving one by hand from time to time. Digging a ditch can be fun too, as long as you don't have to do it all the time.

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