Downloads and installation

The program is available as a free download. It is written in Python and Tkinter and distributed under the GNU General Public License. This means that you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL. So, if you like it you can give a copy to your friends.

Because it is written in Python and Tkinter it should run on many platforms. At the time of writing it has been tested on XP and Linux. The program is stored as Python source code in a single 273KB file which can be downloaded from the link given below. Those running Microsoft systems, such as XP, will also need to install the latest version of Python. (Not necessary for others as it's been a standard component of all Linux systems I've used, and, being Unix based, I assume the same is true for the Mac. However, Ubuntu users please see below). Python is a much bigger download (around 10MB). I would strongly recommend installing Python before you get SourGumdrop. Preinstalling Python should make, say XP, recognise python files as python code and so perhaps not offer notepad to open them!

A bit about Python. Unlike most programs, programs written in Python are not stored as files compiled into code specific to a particular hardware/operating system combination. Instead, Python programs are stored as Python source or byte code and interpreted into machine specific code as they run. This can only happen if the Python interpreter and associated libraries are installed on the machine. So, Microsoft users, please obtain and install the latest version of Python from Python.org. By the way, don't think that because SourGumdrop is "compiled" while it runs means that it will be slow. It is fast.

Now please download SourGumdrop.pyw (all platforms). For most of the browsers I've tried, a right mouse click on this link brings up an appropriate save option. A left mouse click can also be used. If this results in a page of source code in your browser, it has loaded the Python code. In this case, save the page. Either way, save to a text file named SourGumdrop.pyw. I am reliably informed, though why it should be so is a mystery to me, that on XP systems it may be necessary to save the page as a file of type text (e.g. as SourGumdrop-pyw.txt) and then rename it to SourGumdrop.pyw

On XP, no installation is required - simply save the file to your desktop where it should appear as an icon which includes the Python logo:

(But only if you've installed Python).

Double clicking will start the program.

On Linux, save the file in a convenient directory. You can run the program from that directory by typing:

"python SourGumdrop.pyw &"

But that may be considered the old fashioned way. To run the program from a Linux GUI such as KDE you need to make Python the default program for opening SourGumdrop.pyw (On Microsoft this is done automatically by naming the file *.pyw!). To do this from KDE I download the file to the Desktop; right click on the file icon; drag down to "Open With"; select "Other"; and type "python" into the text box; before closing the window I also click on "Remember file association for this file type" so that python remains the default application for opening this file (and other files named *.pyw). Now I can run the program by simply clicking on the file icon.

Here I have assumed you have a recent Python (2.4, or newer) with interpreter named "python". On my old machine, running Mandrake 10.1, the installed version of Python was too old to contain some of the recent language components used by SourGumdrop. To play safe, I kept this version and installed 2.4 as python2.4. So to run SourGumdrop I type

"python2.4 SourGumdrop.pyw &".

On a Mac, I don't know, but I will include information as soon as someone tells me. All I have been told is that the program works but that some fiddling with the font sizes is required.

I've not bothered to find out how to associate icons with programs on XP or Linux, but it must be trivial, and I could provide a standard image file if there was any demand!

Those wishing to use my programs on Ubuntu will need to install python-tk using the Adept Package Manager as it is not installed by default.

(eg type "sudo aptitude get python-tk").

Default font sizes

Some people have complained about the default font sizes which appear the first time SourGumdrop is run. For most they are too small, but were chosen to fit on laptops with small screens. Please use the "Configure SourGumdrop" option in the File menu to the set the fonts to an appropriate size for your screen. The "Save" option will make sure they are used in future.

Feedback

Feedback, of any kind (or unkind), is welcome.

I started out writing this program to try to learn a bit about Python and Tkinter (both of which are excellent and strongly recommended.) Along the way I've discovered that there is more to Sudoku than I realised from doing a few puzzles from the Guardian. However, the project has now reached the stage where I and the program would benefit from some external stimuli. So please send comments.

It should be realised, and, indeed, it may be all too obvious, that I have deliberately avoided finding out about other programs for working on Sudoku problems. Part of the fun was to devise an interface and I did not want to be influenced by what others have done. I gained from descriptions of "algorithms", such as X wing on sites which also describe programs, but tried to avoid any information about the actual programs. So, there are undoubtedly many ideas which could be incorporated into SourGumdrop if enough people wanted to use them.

And, of course, there are bugs in any program. So please help to improve it. Development in Python and Tkinter is very rapid, even for a novice in these languages, and so it should not take long to make changes or add functionality.

My ignorance about html, cascading style sheets and the variety of ways different browsers can interpret the same instructions (or maybe lack of instructons?) has made the production of these web pages seem to take as long as it did to write SourGumdrop, and has been rather tedious, but please report any problems and I'll try to rectify them without making things worse for other browsers. After many compromises, the pages probably look least bad in Firefox.

Please send any comments about the program or the web pages to

rodg (the usual curly AT symbol) sourgumdrop DOT org DOT uk