What's New - August 2010
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August 6, 2010:
Drag the lettered blocks onto the template to form valid words reading across
and down crossword style. I only have this one example of this type of
puzzle, but Version 2 at some future date will use our dictionary unit to help
generate more. In the meantime, Fit the
Pieces, Version 1.0 was harder to solve (and to program) that I would have
thought. Maybe I am getting old!
August 9th, 2010: As regulars know, there are
no advertisements in DFF. I do get emails occasionally offering $ to place
a link for this or that product or service. I decline because I would not
want to promote what I do not know and I don't aspire to be in the evaluation
business. Today however, I am recommending
The Cat Connection as one
of the "good guy" businesses because of recent experience. I had purchased
a clever device called the
Loc8tor Pet
from them several months ago ($99, free shipping). It consists of two
small tags that fit on the pet's collar and send a radio signal response
when they receive a locator request from a hand held radio direction finder
device. It works great for tracking the cat down when it's time go
come in for the evening, although I'll admit that it is more for our peace of
mind than his. One of the tags stopped working last week while under
warranty, the hang-up being that the device is manufactured in the UK and that's
where the customer support is located. I was dreading sending
the tag across the big water for a replacement and before doing so, called Erin
at the Cat Connection. To my surprise, she offered to send me a
replacement tag and a prepaid label to return the broken one, which she did.
When you call, a real human being answers the phone who actually wants to help!
That deserves a no charge recommendation. If you have a cat (or dog, or
other items you don't want to lose) check out the Cat Connection and the Loc8tor
Pet.
August 21, 2010: There's no particular reason for the
delay between programs this month. Just slowing down I guess.
Today's program asks, How Many
Triangles? in this figure and takes a considerable amount of effort to answer
with pencil and paper or with a program.
August 23, 2010: Catching up on the backlog, here's some sample code posted in Delphi Techniques section showing how to Move String Grid Rows using arrow buttons to move a selected row up down by one row, one page, or to top or bottom of the grid.
August 24, 2010: Some encouraging news for those of us waiting for an affordable "learners" version of Delphi. I ran across this report today at this Network World site and at several others:
Company officials discussed plans for Delphi at the Delphi Live conference in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, stressing the new technologies would be released in 2011 only if they are ready by then. ...
... Later this year, the company also anticipates introducing starter kits to entice neophyte developers to the company's Delphi and C++ technologies.
I've tried for years to convince them that they need to do more to "spread the word", so this sounds good to me!