
Simulating Chutes and Ladders in Python - wyldfire
https://jakevdp.github.io/blog/2017/12/18/simulating-chutes-and-ladders/
======
taftster
From the article:

> "Think of this as a blog post version of a dad joke: my primary goal is not
> originality, but self-entertainment, and if anyone else finds it
> entertaining that's just an added bonus."

We need more of this. Exploration just for the sake of exploration. I love to
hear and read about these types of feats.

It takes many iterations of doing the repetitive and boring in order to
finally stumble upon novelty. The canvas of life has to be explored and re-
explored, the dirt tilled over every season, before something new pops up from
the ground.

[edit] spelling

~~~
applecrazy
I think you may find my blog[1] interesting. It only has two posts, but my
intention is to capture that spirit into exploratory technical writing.

[1]: [https://applecrazy.github.io/blog/](https://applecrazy.github.io/blog/)

~~~
PaulHoule
It is why I love Jupyter!

------
rhn_mk1
This is fascinating.

> _And then, at some point, it clicked: Chutes and Ladders_ [...] _can be
> modeled as a Markov process!_

I know some basics about Markov processes, and after reading that and watching
the visualization, I thought _Yes, what 's so special about it?_

Well, the author uses this property to decompose the complicated and chaotic
system into a set of understandable characteristics. Every once in a while,
I'm astonished about how some complex system can be reasoned about in sn
organized way, and that is one such example.

I also didn't realize how useful Markov processes were in terms of allowing
things to be analyzed. The interesting things start at the Shannon entropy
section and continue to the end. Especially impressive is how elegantly
stationary states can be found.

------
antman
An old similar approach:
[http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/november12011/](http://www.datagenetics.com/blog/november12011/)

------
moonbug22
'snakes', goddamnit.

~~~
yesenadam
Hehe I know! Calling it "chutes" is so weird. The wikipedia page is
fascinating. I had no idea it's so ancient, or Indian. "The historic version
had root in morality lessons, where a player's progression up the board
represented a life journey complicated by virtues (ladders) and vices
(snakes). ... The most widely known edition of Snakes and Ladders in the
United States is Chutes and Ladders released by Milton Bradley in 1943. The
playground setting replaced the snakes, which were received negatively by
children at the time." (!)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders)

~~~
gumby
American kids were (are?) such wimps. Australia has actual dangerous snakes
(ones you're likely to encounter in fact) and we legitimately react negatively
to them, but still, our game is called "snakes and ladders."

~~~
Cyberdog
That's not fair. America has dangerous snakes too; I grew up in a place where
rattlesnake (and scorpion) encounters were not uncommon. And water moccasins
are common in other parts of the country.

~~~
gumby
Take a look at the venomous snakes page on wikipedia and North America barely
shows up while Australia is at the top of the leaderboard. And that's not even
getting into spiders, platypus, jellies, -- even venomous seashells! And of
course drop bears, scourge of unwitting tourists.

Now it's true that I'm in the US at the moment and I did vaccinate my dog
against rattlesnake. But the US has about 15X the population of AUS -- we like
to have _something_ to crow about. So please don't rain on our parade, even on
legitimate grounds.

~~~
yesenadam
Well.. 1/2 the famous actors in Hollywood since the 90s seem to be Australian.
(I could name dozens.) Which is something.. My gripe is that not only Aussies
have to put up with hearing them do fake US accents in movies close to 100% of
the time, but whenever there's an Australian in a US movie, _they get someone
from the US to play them_. Arghh. As if there's no Aussie actors there! ha.
Maybe they're all too famous. I guess it sounds convincing to a US audience.
It must do. But _OMG_ it sounds so fake to Australians. It just sounds like
someone from the US trying and failing to do an Aussie accent. e.g. there was
one in _Fargo_ series, and it was about the only bad thing about _Tropic
Thunder_. Please don't do this. At this rate, soon there'll be a movie with
Australians doing US accents in the starring roles, with supporting cast of US
actors trying to sound Australian.. Mark my words.

p.s. Is that the first mention of drop bears on HN? Well done :-)

[https://australianmuseum.net.au/drop-
bear](https://australianmuseum.net.au/drop-bear)

~~~
mmjaa
Australians are just wanna-be Americans with a serious case of British-cringe
mixed in. Don't take it too seriously mate, we're all part of the same 5-eyes
New World Order now, anyway.

