What's New -  November, 2012

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November 4, 2012: 

I ran across a Simple Slot Machine program in my Future Projects folder the other day.  It was submitted by a viewer several years ago but got lost in the shuffle.  The code uses some Delphi features that I haven't used much and it gave me a chance to practice my probability skills by calculating the theoretical odds compared to simulation results, so I cleaned it up and posted it today. 
 

November 8, 2012: I found another reason to modify Clear Blanks recently which led to posting Clear Blanks Version 4 today.  One of the minor irritations  of using Delphi 7 has been  their final Help file update  which included Kylix (a Delphi 7 Linux version) help items in the help table of contents file. This typically added extra time and an extra click to look up a Windows version VCL control.  But every Kylix help entry in the table of contents contains and identifying string which Clear Blank Lines can now use to remove.  Like magic, my Delphi help search no longer knows that Kylix ever existed and is much friendlier to use!

 November 15, 2012: Probability Calculator was an attempt to present solutions for some basic and more advanced probability problems like coin tossing, dice throwing, drawing balls from bags or cords from decks, etc.  The original version had a dozen or so sample problems for which one could determine the probability of single trial and for expected if an experiment is repeated multiple times  (e.g. chance of 3 heads if 10 coins are tossed).  Probability Calculator, Version 2, allows users to define, solve, and save additional problems. 

November 23, 2012:  I was bragging to my granddaughter today about hard problems I had solved.   One of the hardest was Kirkman's Schoolgirl Problem; taking 4 years to develop a version which could find all 7 unique solutions. Today's review with her resulted in a small cosmetic upgrade to Kirkman Tabu Search Version 3.2   in order to improve view-ability of the pages.