v1.00: Linux

Welcome to The Triangle Puzzle^TM! Click here for Terms of Use.

Please choose from the help topics below:

Thank you for choosing The Triangle Puzzle^TM, the fun, challenging animated puzzle game with hints! With versions available for Windows, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Linux, and PalmOS!

Be sure to visit http://www.thisiscool.com/ for tips, tricks and updates.

International users: for a translation of these instructions in your language, go to http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/ and enter the URL http://www.thisiscool.com/TPuzzleOSX.htm.

Usage of this program indicates your acceptance of the Terms of Use. If you do not agree with these terms, exit the program immediately and uninstall it.

The Rules

The "triangle puzzle"  is an inverted triangle with 15 holes. To play:

• remove a starting peg from any hole
• choose an arbitrary peg and the jump either horizontally or diagonally over an occupied hole into an empty hole. Here are examples of legal moves:

• remove the peg you jumped over. Repeat this process until there are no moves left. The object of the game is to end up with exactly one peg.

When the animated pegs blink, one of over seventy sound snippets is played using samples of various chimes, bells, instruments and other tones. See the Sound Credits for more details.

The Program

To play the game,

• single-click on the starting peg to remove
• for each move, single-click on the peg to move, then single-click on the hole to jump to
• click on the [Undo] and [Redo] buttons to undo/redo a move
• click on [Hint] to have the program suggest a move
• click on the Is there a solution from this position? checkbox to have the computer indicate whether a solution to the puzzle exists after each move you make
• click on the [New Game] button to start a new game
• click on the Sound? checkbox to turn sound on and off

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Installing/Uninstalling

To install, simply unzip the archive to the folder of your choice and run the executable.

To uninstall, delete the unarchived files.

The Triangle Puzzle^TM Copyright © 2000-2008 by Mohan Embar. All Rights Reserved.

The Triangle Puzzle is a trademark of Mohan Embar, Inc.

Usage of this program indicates your acceptance of the following license conditions. If you do not agree with these terms, exit the program immediately and uninstall it.

This program comes with no warranties, either express or implied. In no event will the copyright holder be liable from any damages resulting from the use of this software.

This program is PropagandaWare. If you continue using this program seven days after the first use, you agree to visit the following websites:

• http://www.thisiscool.com/mohan/ardiscus.html
• http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/
• http://www.peta-online.org/
• http://www.veganvillage.co.uk/vegfam/
• http://www.veganpeace.com/
• http://www.earthsave.org/newsletters/chocolate.htm
• http://www.earthsave.org/news/whatdary.htm
• http://www.earthsave.org/news/chicken.htm
• http://www.animalsong.org/
• http://www.mcspotlight.org/

You are exempt from this agreement if you do not have Internet access.

Permission is granted to any individual or institution to copy or redistribute this software provided that:

• it is not altered in any way
• it is not sold for profit
• this copyright notice is displayed
• if made available for download on a non-FTP web page, that a link be made to www.thisiscool.com whenever possible

Developed using gcc.

Dedicated to:

• my wife Wanda, for putting up with me, and
• to my father, grandfather and grandmother and their memories

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Technical Reasons

I wrote the Triangle Puzzle to illustrate several programming techniques (although most play the game for its own sake and couldn't care less about these techniques):

• Applications can be written in such a way that they survive ports across languages and operating systems with a minimum of change (current supported languages: (Objective) C++, C#, Java, Delphi; operating systems:  Win32, OS X, Linux, Windows CE, Palm OS, and any OS with a decent Java implementation.
• Java isn't the only way to achieve cross-platform results, even with a non-trivial user interface. The native C++ executables share the same, sizeable codebase with only a slight amount of operating-system-specific code. What's more, the resultant executables are small and fast.

Personal Reasons

I wrote the first incarnation of the Triangle Puzzle on a TRS-80 Model III when I was 14 years old. That summer, we had gone on a family vacation to Door County, Wisconsin and I found and bought the puzzle at a gift shop. I spent that entire vacation unsuccessfully trying to solve the puzzle myself. When I got home, I typed in the BASIC version (here's the listing!) and started it running. It was churning away when my mom called out "Mohan, the pancakes are ready!" and I had to tear myself away.

When I came back upstairs, I saw SOLUTION FOUND: on my screen with a bunch of moves. My first reaction was: "Yeah right," and half-heartedly started making the moves. To my shock, the program had found a solution!

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Mohan Embar is one of those rare finds that has both outstanding technical and communications skills. Both an excellent mentor and developer, he has worked in a wide variety of projects, such as object-oriented billing systems, servlet frameworks and low-level UNIX printer drivers. He has both domestic and international experience with companies such as Nortwestern Mutual Life, Deluxe Data Systems, France Telecom, Société Générale, Cyco Software, and Kraft, Inc. He is fluent in English, French and Dutch and has a working knowledge of German, Spanish and Italian.

Mohan is also bilingual in C++ and Java and loves switching back and forth between the two languages, while making full use of the idioms of both. Visit the Cool Demos section at http://www.thisiscool.com/coolprogs.htm to see more cool programs written in C++, Java and other languages like Delphi and JavaScript.

Mohan Embar singlehandedly:

• wrote the Java and native C++ versions of The Triangle Puzzle
• authored the accompanying documentation and online help.

Is it creative and well-programmed? Is the documentation nicely written? Check out his other demos, download the source code and scrutinize it. If you like his work, you can try to hire his services if he's available. Send inquiries via the thisiscool.com Contact Page. (Contract positions only: no full-time positions, headhunters or consulting firms, please.)

This application uses the following sound files from Freesound http://freesound.iua.upf.edu:

By Tristan

tg_xylophone 3.wav
tg_xylophone 1.wav

By Stickinthemud

chimes 6sec gliss up.wav

By Freed

VARIA91.mp3
L37-16-.mp3

By cfork

cf_FX_batch_jingle_glock_N.aif

By psakion

chimes06_01_20b_dpa.mp3

By jppi_Stu

bamboo_wind_chimes_1.wav

By memigh1

Our Chimes.wav

By acclivity

JamesportWindChimes.wav
GobletPing2LHR.wav
IndianElephantBell1.wav

By niyambhushan

OshoNisargaChimes.mp3

By monterey2000

R09_0032-Garden Chimes -2.mp3

By milo

metal_chime_streams1.mp3

By reinsamba

crystal_glass.wav

By morgantj

windchimes.wav

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