Message #3960

From: metamind@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [MC4D] Re: Notation
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2018 04:08:57 +0000

Roice,

Wow. I can’t think of a more sophisticated word with which to respond, so "Wow!" will have to do for the moment. I looked at your links. Thank you. I’m wondering how much automation I’ll want in my first MC5D solution. Noting that some solvers took…quite a few twists, I see the appeal. Congratulations on being the first person to solve the 3^5, by the way.

The romantic in me wants to solve the 3^5 with no macros, but the more I look around, the less likely that seems. Hmmm…what’s the etiquette in the community about incorporating macros? How much automation is permitted for a person to be able to take credit for a solution?

Of course, there are challenges in developing effective and compact macros, as well as in simply "eyeballing" one’s way through. I’m not really in a hurry to finish the penteract, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on it either. LOL. I still have a lot of questions on the tesseract, and find myself wondering just how much is actually known. Since people have written programs to solve the cube for any number of dimensions, one might assume that the phenomenon has been fully "grokked."

Then again, there is the beauty of the process…

When I run the solve routines on MC4D (and MC5D), I am humbled by the computer’s ability to generate solutions to highly complicated puzzles in such a short time. We’re still a good ways from the singularity, too!

Incidentally Roice, I’ve looked at your web presence, and find your creations rather enchanting. Admittedly, I’ve only scratched the surface. I’m a longtime fan of computer graphics and animation, and I fear that I’m susceptible to spending long sessions just gawking at your oeuvre.

I hope to get started on MC5D by the end of the week.
What’s the advantage, if any, of solving the 5D cube with MC7D? Is it clearer? Is the interface better developed? I can certainly see doing the hexeract with MC7D (why make another program?), but I don’t know what criteria to apply when deciding which app to use?

At some point, I’d like to solve a puzzle no one has managed to, and add that knowledge to the community.

Time to catch my breath.

Ed : )