By Michael Hartley
While hunting around the web for sudoku stuff, I stumbled across this open-source sudoku solver applet. Since it's open source, anyone why wants can copy the sudoku Solver to their own website if they want. You can get the original, including the source code (written in the "Java" programming language), from this website.
The applet can do more than just solve sudoku puzzles. It can also generate puzzles for you to try, and these puzzles can be as small as four cells, or as large as 1296! Also, instead of numbers, you can use letters or shapes if you prefer. The downside? As far as I can tell, there's no guarantee that the sudoku puzzles it generates have a unique solution. If the original programmers fix that (or if I do) I will update the version on this page.
For now, enjoy!
You use the solver like this :
- Go to the File menu, and choose New
- Fill in the numbers in the grid by clicking on the grid. As you click on a cell, the number showing will cycle through the possible numbers.
- When you've filled in the numbers of the puzzle you want to solve, go to the Action menu, and choose Fix All.
- To solve the sudoku puzzle, go to the Action menu and pick Solve
- Action->Create : this creates a new sudoku Puzzle.
- Action->Hint : this tells you a cell you can figure out, and the logic behind it.
On other pages on this site, you can Play Sudoku Online, or get some Kids' Sudoku Puzzles, or print as many sudoku puzzles as you want.
Of course, there are some much cooler Sudoku solvers out there. The very best is this one :