Is there an easy way to "encode" problems, so that the become a unique string?
An attempt:
Two characters, indicating size of the problem 0-9A-Z (1-36 in both directions, smallest first)
One character indicating type:
Remaining characters encode board.
- = EEE A = EEB B = EEW C = EBE D = EBB E = EBW F = EWE G = EWB H = EWW I = BEE J = BEB K = BEW L = BBE M = BBB N = BBW O = BWE P = BWB Q = BWW R = WEE S = WEB T = WEW U = WBE V = WBB W = WBE X = WWE Y = WWB Z = WWW
Example:
Which is:
E W B E E B E E E W W B W W W B B B B B B B E E
Encoded:
G A - Y Z M M I
So, adding sizes (4x6) and type (corner), we get:
461GA-YZMMI
The first three characters are alwas there, and after that, there's one character per 3 points on the board. So for a 9x9 corner problem (81 intersections) it is 30 characters long
For 19x19 = 361 intersection it is 124 chanacters long Max is 36*36 = 1296 / 3 + 3= 435 characters for 36x36 problems :)