display of moves

how should moves be displayed? should we display how “white space” moves – i.e. N/S/E/W (north, south, east, west), or should we display coordinates of “white space” after every move, or should we draw the a new puzzle for every move?

and (specially if last is the way to go) should we display ALL of the moves, for ALL of the puzzles in a single file or what?

I am doing the simplest text mode for speed, i.e. Game data, number of moves, and list of moves.

And then a hyperlink to display one solution in detail / HTML with tables etc.

All puzzles in detail/graphics is just too hard on the browser.

I've been thinking long and hard about this one (which I had thought about it before releasing the contest)...

I am going to modify the rules slightly on this one...and it will be very close to what annuca just said..

Your script must provide a summary sheet. On the summary sheet, you must display the input for each puzzle and if it was solvable or not. If it was solvable, you must display the number of moves it took. At the bottom of the summary sheet, show how many of the puzzles were solved. From each puzzle listing, there should be a link to show all moves required to solve the puzzle.

Sorry to make an update like this, but I feel it is necessary.

matt, u see that i should be in Contest Focus Group... questions i ask result in new rules!

(btw, i also thought of smth like annuca said, but i was too lazy to explain it in english...)

imho this screams 4 javascript...
will u allow it?

No javascript allowed. Sorry...

It would make a lot more sense to define a fixed output format that can easily be parsed by a computer.

Matt could then pipe the output thru to his own test script that will make sure all moves are allowed and calculate a total score.

As an output I suggest using a line with letters:
U - move empty field up
D - move empty field down
L - move empty field left
R - move empty field right
E.g. UDRLRUD would mean:
up->down->right->left->right->up->down

Of course one can use other, nicer output methods.
And of course that is only a suggestion
for participants,
it is not the proposed rule unless otherwise stated by Matt.

i suggest use the number of tile, since only one tile should move in one step.
e.g. 5->9->1->7->5....

Well... it seems that there are no ideal solutions

My arguments for UDRL:

a) in my program in some situations
I just swap tiles, and the program even not know
what is the second, non empty tile.

b) in general there could be any numbers
and letters used in the puzzle, and there is
always only one empty tile. (I know,
I know ... here are only numbers used).

c) If I write UUDD - you know what it would mean,
but if I write 1231213 it is not clear.
Then UUDD notation is shorter and clearer, IMHO.