I got the following request from Paul after we decided to move the logic
puzzles from the print magazine to the blog:
“Ben, I love your TSQL puzzles. They certainly help to keep me on my toes
and help make me a better SQL guy.
However I am disappointed not to see the familiar "Logical Puzzle" in this
month's paper copy of SQL Server Magazine. Also I can't find anywhere on
your blog a reference to the solution to last month's. Although I have it
figured
out, I miss the satisfaction of seeing it in print.
Where I work there are about 4-5 of us who LOVE the logical puzzles and
look forward to it each month. We do lots of TSQL and other programming
all day long, so we enjoy this different twist which still caters to our
penchant
for problem-solving. Last night I received my September issue. I purposely
didn't open it from the plastic wrapper until I was in front of my coworkers, so
as to build excitement. We quickly turned to the contents page, looking for
the Logical Puzzle. But we didn't find it! We shall miss gathering all around
the
whiteboard and sinking our teeth into your logical puzzles, and seeing which
of us will solve it first! We notice that even if we can come up with long a
elaborate solution, it means we need to keep pondering because your
solutions are always very basic and based on some sort of principle, not on
crunching.
Please consider restoring your logical puzzles to the paper mag, or at least to
your new blog - you would make at least 5 of us very happy!!
- Paul“
Response: Hi Paul,
How can I refuse to such a request? I got this request from other
readers as well, so we’ll restore the logic puzzles to the print magazine. :-)
Just to clarify the reasoning behind the original idea to move the logic puzzles
to the blog… The magazine has limited print space, and I always struggle to
limit the space for the T-SQL content. But if you like the logic puzzles so
much, I’ll just need to put more effort in using less space for the T-SQL
content and still cover what I intend to. Note that since the content for the
print magazine is prepared a few months before print, you will probably see
the logic puzzles restored in the November or December column.
As for the solution to the August puzzle, you can find it
here
along with a new
puzzle:
http://www.sqlmag.com/Article/ArticleID/92689/92689.html
:-)
Cheers,
--
BG
