The Wisdom of the Cube

Oct 20, 2010

When given the 3x3 multi-colored cube (you know the one which is supposed to be one color on one face but never was) as a kid way back in the early 1990s, I simply classified the cube after many futile attempts as a way to teach a child that most of us just dont have it. Grown up and the 'Pursuit of Happyness' didnt help either, how many people it said were able to solve it?

Anyhow after discussing the relative merits of 6N136 over 6N135 (higher CTR) and HCPL 2530 over 6N136 (dual channel) and discussing the possible uses of ATTINY25V-10PU, the Director Tech Affairs placed a sheet with strange codes in front of me FT-R to UBL = UFR- FUB etc etc and asked 'Understand?'. Now I am no stranger to codes and coding but this was simply too much, I had never seen such meaningless code and turned over the sheet to get more meaning. Alas! it empty. Dumbfounded I looked up with an asinine expression shook my head in denial.

Then he placed the cube on the paper and uttered 'Rubik Cube'. Not knowing my childhood bane had a name I nodded and smiled: a name to the enemy. He then proceeded to tell me what the code was; steps to solve the cube. The trick was, he said, to think and solve in layers. First the bottom / top layer, then the middle and then the last one. After doing one layer one essentially disturbs and re-disturbs the done layer(s in such a way that they come back to the 'ideal' state. Until all is done.

The wisdom of the Cube?

It is not whether one is able to solve the problem but whether one is able to think up of a strategy to attempt to solve the problem.

This is why one should never be taught to code; only taught algorithms. And thinking up of algorithms. Sadly this is never done. We are a nation of rote learners be it C, Java, ASM or OOP we are made to learn coding. Fortunately some people are born programmers, like yours truly and thus Pakistan manages to keep its name high. Of course then there too are the tortoises those who win the other way (and IMHO the only way) by hard work. Another lesson which needs to be taught, but in another entry.

P.S: Even with those steps the director couldnt solve the cube (one was still out of place).
P.P.S: Rubik Cube Champions do not do steps, they do it intuitively.
P.P.P.S: I find coding child's play and have almost given it up.