Elf Help

How to use Elf

Elf is an online composing engine designed to help you find touches and quarter-peals of half-lead spliced. You enter the number of leads in the part, the number of parts (any number between 1 and 7), and select the methods that you want to splice. Then, press the Compose! button and Elf begins to search for compositions. It displays the best compositions found so far in the box on the bottom right of the main composing page.

More Information

Some Examples		Some examples of the type of compositions that Elf can produce.
Adding Methods		How to specify the methods you want to splice, and how to add new methods to Elf 's library.
Music and Scoring		How Elf scores the compositions that it finds, and how to configure the types of music Elf checks for.
Composing Options		Detailed help on the checkboxes which configure the pruning options of your search.
Making it Go Faster		How to make your search go faster - information about search speed and pruning.
Under the Hood		How it works - the theory behind computer composition.
Open Source		Elf is Free Software released under the terms of the GNU General Public Licence. You can download, examine and reuse the source code.
Version History		A history of Elf 's development and list of released versions.

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to stay connected to the internet? No. Once you have downloaded the main Elf page, and the "Elf loading - please wait" message has disappeared, you can disconnect. Elf will continue to run in your browser without needing to connect to the internet.
Elf doesn't seem to work; I get an error. You will need to make sure you are running a supported browser, and have a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed in the browser. Supported browsers include IE 5.0 up, Netscape 7.0 up, and Mozilla Firefox. The "old" Microsoft JVM is no longer supported, so you should instead make sure you have the Sun Plugin JVM installed. For more information about Java problems, click here.
How does Elf work? Elf is written in Pure Java so runs in your browser without any installation or plugins other than the JVM. You control Elf through a web page written in DHTML. Click here for more information.
Does Elf prove the compositions it produces? Yes, but you should not rely on Elf's proof-checking algorithm. Always verify your composition is true using an independent proving program.
Can Elf produce ordinary (lead-end) spliced touches? Yes. If you tick the "LH spliced only" option, no half-lead changes will be allowed. This option also automatically enables bobs.
Can I add new methods? Yes. Elf contains a small library of standard methods, but you can add new ones using the Library page. See here for more information.
Can I save out the compositions Elf finds? Yes - you can click the "show top ten" link at any time after a search has started to open a separate text window containing the best ten compositions found so far. Use the File->Save menu in this window, or cut-and-paste the contents, to save the compositions to your computer. Note that unlike the best composition shown on the main composer page, the top ten list does not update dynamically, but you can click the "show" link again to update it. Remember you can only guarantee that the best compositions have been found if you wait for the search to complete.
The estimated time left says "forever". What can I do? This means that you have started a very big search indeed! It is worth waiting a few minutes to see if the time comes down to something sensible - this is because Elf uses a heuristic pruning algorithm which actually gets quicker as the search proceeds. However, it's likely that you will need to reduce your search by decreasing the number of leads or using one of the pruning options - see Making it Go Faster.

Finally, if you have any questions or suggestions about Elf, send email to Elf Support.