The weakest aspect of this software is its I/O. As colors are entered, one must constantly maintain a frame of reference, as determined by the immovable center squares. When the computer asks: "Enter back face, top row first," one can easily get lost. "Now which was the back face again, and where was the top row?" This problem is compounded when you try to apply the computer's solution. A stream of 60 letters fills the screen, each indicating a 90 degree twist. If you lose your place, or turn a face the wrong way, or apply a move twice, or lose your frame of reference, you find a scrambled cube at the end, whence you must start all over again.
There is a better way, thanks to Java, but I don't have time to implement it. Suppose a Java applet presents a completely white cube. Using your mouse and a 6-color pallet, spin the cube and color each square appropriately, until it looks just like the one in your hand. Then the software solves the cube, and slowly twists each face, one at a time, as you do the same to the cube in your hand. This graphical interface is somewhat slower, but much less susceptible to errors.
Click here if you are interested in the software, or if you'd like to merge it with a Java front end, as described above.
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