Programming

In my last blog post we developed an MCP server which could solve the Number Round segments from the popular UK gameshow Countdown . The implementation used an uninformed search algorithm called Breadth First Search. During that implementation, I mentioned that while breadth first search will find the optimal solution, it does so at a potentially significant cost. In search spaces where there are many possible next states from an initial state the breadth first search algorithm will fully expand each level of the search space. Using a number round example of 1, 4, 4, 5, 6, 50 and a target of 350 let’s explore how big a problem this could be. ...

In the UK, there is a popular gameshow called Countdown . The main thrust of the programme is to try to create the longest word from a randomly set of vowels and consonants pulled from two stacks of jumbled letters. Contestants get points for the length of the validated words and the individual with the most points - wins. For some light relief, there is a “Numbers Round”. In this round the contestants are presented with six initial numbers and are given a target to reach. The six initial numbers are split into two groups; small numbers, between 1 and 10; large numbers, 25, 50, 75, or 100. Instead of pulling from stack, there is a board containing 20 small numbers (2 of each option) and one of each of the large numbers. The contestant driving the round requests, for example, 2 large and 4 small and are presented with a legal combination based on the rules above. A random number is then generated between 1 and 999, which may or may not be possible, and the contestants are given 30 seconds to attempt to solve the problem. The contestants can only use the basic mathematical operations of (+, -, ×, and ÷) and the result of any individual operation must be a positive integer e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. When a number has been used it cannot be reused, unless another copy of that number is still available. ...

Another November is almost upon us, and that means we get a new release of .NET! This year is an odd year, that is to say DateTime.UtcNow.Year % 2 == 1, so we know it’s a Long Term Support (LTS) release. That means three years of support giving organisations more confidence in shifting to it. On the flip side, we have one year to get off .NET 8 (the previous LTS release) and only six months to get off .NET 9 (the previous Standard Term Support or STS release). ...