Computers that work to our strengths?

An important thing about computer programs is the way that they present information to the people using them. In the early days of computing, people interacted with computers by typing commands and getting written results. Nowadays computers use "GUIs" (Graphical User Interfaces) to represent information with graphics. Used well, this makes a big difference to the ease of a particular job.

Here's a neat trick of how to win at a game called Spit-Not-So that shows how much difference it makes if information is organised and presented well.

First the rules. Write down the words:

SPIT, NOT, SO, AS, IF, IN, PAN, FAT, FOP.

The game is played as follows:

1. The first player chooses a word that is on the list, crosses it out and writes it in front of them.
2. The second player then does the same thing with a word not crossed out.
3. The players take turns to do this until one person wins.

The winner is the first player to hold three words containing the same letter.

An example game might go:

1. Player 1 takes NOT
2. Player 2 takes SPIT
3. Player 1 takes FAT
4. Player 2 takes PAN
5. Player 1 takes FOP
6. Player 2 takes IF
7. Player 1 takes SO

...and wins holding NOT, FOP and SO - 3 words containing the letter O.

Play a few games to get the idea before reading on to find out the sneaky way to win and finding out what it has to do with GUIs... or maybe you can work it out yourself first. Think about how you might arrange the words in a square to make it easier to spot winning sets of words. It's actually the same game as one you already know.