Introduction

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Welcome to a tutorial site guaranteed to teach you something about programming, algorithms, math, puzzles,  and problem solving.    The basic premise here is  that  "by example" is an effective way to learn programming.    There's  a growing amount of sample code here to download and run. 

The examples range from simple (less than 50 lines of user code) to a few that have several thousand lines.  Some were written because I wasn't smart enough, or too lazy, to solve them by hand.  Some probably can only be solved by computer.   And there are one or two that I believe are unsolvable, even with a computer.   The programs all  have several things in common...

  • They solve interesting puzzles or problems that I've discovered over the years.  Examples (these may not all be posted yet):

    • Estimate the value of pi by shooting cannonballs into a  pond or dropping needles on a sheet of paper.

    • Duplicate the hidden mathematics of sunflowers . 

    • Solve those arithmetic word problems (BONG + BONG + BONG = GONGS).

    • Solve chessboard problems like The Knights Tour and Eight Queens.

    • A logic problem solver - at least help solve those logic story problems that are published  monthly in logic magazines.  

    • Lots of number problems involving integers, powers, primes, factors, etc.  (Find the largest and smallest non-prime numbers whose prime factors sum to 100).

    • A maze generator.

    • Palindromic number problems - palindromes read the same from the left or right. (What's the smallest Palindromic number that's a perfect square and has an even number of digits?)  

    • Simple animated physics programs - bouncing ball, cannon firing.

    • And much more....

     

  • They are all implemented in DelphiTM, the modern object oriented  implementation of the Pascal programming language with a visual development environment.   If you already own Delphi, you know what a great language it is.  If not,  check the  About Delphi page  to learn more about getting  it.   Delphi is a registered trademark of Borland Inprise Corporation

 

  • The problems  can be explored at different levels depending on your interest:  Read about the problem, browse the source, or download the source or executable code and then modify and explore.

     

  • Almost none are original.  Actually most all of the code is original,  but the problems are generally not.  I've cited sources where I could locate them.  Many are classical problems and puzzles that can be found in books and many places on the Internet.  

I've assigned a degree of difficulty to each program based on lines of user written source code.  That's not entirely accurate but provides a cartier replica rough guide.   Programs with less than100  user written source code lines are Beginner level, 100-300 are Intermediate and over 300 lines are Advanced.   About Delphi also has some links to first  programs and tutorials for true beginners.  

OK,  learning comes from doing - so lets go!

Programs