Original Blog Entry: Pick N column sorting planned for Friday morning

hypersoniq — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 02:26:54 GMT

The process of implementing a new feature like this...

1. Have the idea

2. Look at the code so far and figure out where it is best implemented... for this script, the column is generated, then written to a buffer list while the rest of the columns are processed. The obvious best choice is in that spot where the list is calculated already, but right before the column is stored...

3. Plan how to implement the feature... this is going to be attempted with the simplicity of 2 calls to the sorted() function... no extraneous function calls, no Lambda functions.

4. Plan how to test it... this is also known, I always increment the version number before making changes, so run the data for the last version, save it, and compare it to the new version output... making sure all data is the same for each digit. Only the order will change, but it will change per column, making it necessary to have a copy of the same data ran through analysis before sorting is implemented.

5. Figure out how to use the new feature... so this will happen after 10/8, when the 2 weeks are up for the paper play test. Run the function WITHOUT updating the draw history, and display the 14 latest draws on screen with the output to help figure out where a win might have come from.

This will make that last week of the Match 6 go a bit quicker as there are things that will be learned on the pick 3 that could be applied to that Match 6 script in the 2 week down time while the pick 3 goes live next.

I have to figure out what is important on my own before I can even begin planning an AI agent to follow a Markov Decision Process... even AI only follows the framework you give it, and let's face it... I am simply not there yet (if ever).

This is not my first time feeling like I was on the verge of some discovery, only to have it evaporate before my eyes, but failure is where we learn the most, where we learn to build the work ethic to keep trying.... [ More ]