Frédéric Dandurand, P. Eng.
Professional software engineer for enterprise and research applications
  • Welcome
  • CV
  • Software Engineering
  • Research
  • Neural Art
Research Projects
  • Automatic Maxima Detection
  • Self-Organizing Maps
Problem Solving
  • Hanjie puzzles
  • Gizmo task

GNU General Public License

Programs and codes distributed on this website are free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Paper copyrights

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Comments, suggestions, questions, bugs? Please email: [email protected]

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Hanjie Puzzle Applet

With the Java applet below, play with Hanjie puzzles! The applet features:

  • a selection of existing puzzles
  • the ability for users to enter their own data about the contraints on rows and columns
  • algorithmic solvers to find puzzle solutions, using one of two methods:
    1. A heuristic constraint-satisfaction ("smart") solver that optimally extracts information from a given line (row or column), and uses a heuristic to select the order in which lines are solved.
    2. A standard depth-first search technique, that can be used to demonstrate how depth first search works

Note: Java required to view the applet below.

Demonstration of depth first search

To see how a depth-first search algorithm solves Hanjie puzzles:

  • Load a puzzle in the applet above
  • Select the "Use computer solver" tab
  • In the drop down list for "Solver type", select "Depth first search"
  • In the "Execution" drop down list, select "Step by step"
  • Click on the "Solve" button
  • In the "Status" text area, you will see messages about the progress of the search (which lines are tested, if the solver needs to backtrack, etc.)
  • Click on "Next step" to process the next solving step