Actually I was working on a program to test the so-called 196-algorithm
as an extracurricular activity. MRAB was most helpful with pointing out
what I should have already thought of. My previous attempts were
hampered by my limited knowledge of python, and I had already mentally
committed to my complex and inefficient method of solving the problem
(big mistake, I know). My final solution, with suitable adjustments for
proper ways of doing things :-), was just 20 lines of code.
By the way, I don't get much time for python since I'm a freshman
computer engineering student taking 17 credits. My Intro to Programming
class uses C++ (yuck) instead of python, so I have to devote most of my
programming time to that. However, I figured python would be a better
choice for trying this algorithm out.
Thanks for all the help. As a beginning programmer, I'm really
appreciating it.
Benjamin
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list