- Added blog post by Roger Bell_West.

- Added solutions by Paulo Custodio.
- Added solutions by Simon Green.
- Added solutions by Matthias Muth.
- Added solutions by Athanasius.
- Added solutions by Ulrich Rieke.

23 files changed, 2584 insertions, 2442 deletions

diff --git a/challenge-288/ulrich-rieke/rust/ch-2.rs b/challenge-288/ulrich-rieke/rust/ch-2.rs
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..f3c6c893a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/challenge-288/ulrich-rieke/rust/ch-2.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+use std::{io , cmp} ;
+use std::io::BufRead ;
+
+//find positions of all given letter in a block
+fn find_positions( block : &Vec<&str> , letter : char) -> Vec<(usize , usize)> {
+   let mut all_positions : Vec<(usize , usize)> = Vec::new( ) ;
+   let len = block.len( ) ;
+   for n in 0..len {
+      let line : &str = &block[n] ;
+      line.chars( ).enumerate( ).map( |tup| (n , tup.0 , tup.1 ) ).filter(
+	    |&trip| trip.2 == letter ).map( |trip| (trip.0 , trip.1) ).for_each(
+	     |tup| all_positions.push( tup ) ) ;
+   }
+  all_positions.sort_by( |a , b| {
+	 if a.0 != b.0 {
+	    a.0.cmp( &b.0 ) 
+	 }
+	 else {
+	    a.1.cmp( &b.1 ) 
+	 }}) ;
+   all_positions 
+}
+
+
+//once we have created an ordered list of positions , we remove the first element
+//from the list of positions and store it in another vector. Then, we keep removing
+//all those elements from the ordered list of positions that are neighbouring
+//to any of the elements removed. If we don't find any such element, we store
+//the number of elements in a size vector and return, once all original elements
+//are used up, the maximum of this list
+fn find_contiguous_blocks( positions : &mut Vec<(usize , usize)> ) -> usize {
+   let mut contiguous_blocksizes : Vec<usize> = Vec::new( ) ;
+   let mut contiguous_blocks : Vec<(usize , usize)> = Vec::new( ) ;
+   let pair : (usize , usize) = positions.remove( 0 ) ;
+   contiguous_blocks.push( pair ) ;
+   while positions.len( ) > 0 {
+      while let Some( pos ) = positions.iter( ).position( |&p| {
+	    contiguous_blocks.iter( ).any( | pa | is_neighbouring( *pa , p ) )
+	    }) {
+	    let elt : (usize , usize) = positions.remove( pos ) ;
+	    contiguous_blocks.push( elt ) ;
+      }
+      contiguous_blocksizes.push( contiguous_blocks.len( ) ) ;
+      contiguous_blocks.clear( ) ;
+      if positions.len( ) > 0 {
+	 let elt : (usize , usize ) = positions.remove( 0 ) ;
+	 contiguous_blocks.push( elt ) ;
+      }
+   }
+   contiguous_blocksizes.into_iter( ).max( ).unwrap( ) 
+}
+
+fn is_neighbouring( first_pair : (usize, usize) , second_pair : (usize, usize) ) 
+   -> bool {
+      (((first_pair.0 as i32) - ( second_pair.0 as i32)).abs( ) == 1 && 
+	 first_pair.1 == second_pair.1) || ( first_pair.0 == second_pair.0 ) &&
+	 (((first_pair.1 as i32) - (second_pair.1 as i32)).abs( ) == 1)
+}
+
+fn main() -> io::Result<( )> {
+    println!("Enter some strings of equal length consisting of x and o!");
+    println!("Enter <return> to end!" ) ;
+    let mut all_input : String = String::new( ) ;
+    let mut lines = io::stdin( ).lock( ).lines( ) ;
+    while let Some( line ) = lines.next( ) {
+       let last_input = line.unwrap( ) ;
+       if last_input.len( ) == 0 {
+	  break ;
+       }
+       else {
+	  all_input.push_str( &last_input ) ;
+	  all_input.push_str( "\n" ) ;
+       }
+    }
+    let all_lines : &str = all_input.as_str( ).trim( ) ;
+    let rows : Vec<&str> = all_lines.split( "\n" ).collect( ) ;
+    let valid_rows : Vec<&str> = rows.into_iter( ).filter( | &s |
+     s.len( ) > 0 ).collect( ) ;
+    let mut x_blocks : Vec<(usize , usize)> = find_positions( &valid_rows , 'x' ) ;
+    let mut o_blocks : Vec<(usize , usize)> = find_positions( &valid_rows , 'o' ) ;
+    let x_maxfield : usize = find_contiguous_blocks( &mut x_blocks ) ;
+    let o_maxfield : usize = find_contiguous_blocks( &mut o_blocks ) ;
+    println!("{}" , cmp::max( x_maxfield , o_maxfield ) ) ;
+    Ok(()) 
+}
diff --git a/stats/pwc-current.json b/stats/pwc-current.json
index 1c23c3bd8c..68b0f46b0a 100644
--- a/stats/pwc-current.json
+++ b/stats/pwc-current.json
@@ -1,13 +1,28 @@
 {
+   "subtitle" : {
+      "text" : "[Champions: 24] Last updated at 2024-09-29 18:58:26 GMT"
+   },
+   "yAxis" : {
+      "title" : {
+         "text" : "Total Solutions"
+      }
+   },
+   "legend" : {
+      "enabled" : 0
+   },
+   "tooltip" : {
+      "headerFormat" : "<span style='font-size:11px'>{series.name}</span><br/>",
+      "followPointer" : 1,
+      "pointFormat" : "<span style='color:{point.color}'>{point.name}</span>: <b>{point.y:f}</b><br/>"
+   },
    "series" : [
       {
          "name" : "The Weekly Challenge - 288",
-         "colorByPoint" : 1,
          "data" : [
             {
                "y" : 3,
-               "name" : "Andre Ploger",
-               "drilldown" : "Andre Ploger"
+               "drilldown" : "Andre Ploger",
+               "name" : "Andre Ploger"
             },
             {
                "y" : 3,
@@ -15,13 +30,18 @@
                "drilldown" : "Arne Sommer"
             },
             {
+               "name" : "Athanasius",
+               "drilldown" : "Athanasius",
+               "y" : 4
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
                "name" : "Dave Jacoby",
-               "drilldown" : "Dave Jacoby",
-               "y" : 2
+               "drilldown" : "Dave Jacoby"
             },
             {
-               "name" : "David Ferrone",
                "drilldown" : "David Ferrone",
+               "name" : "David Ferrone",
                "y" : 2
             },
             {
@@ -36,8 +56,8 @@
             },
             {
                "y" : 3,
-               "drilldown" : "Jorg Sommrey",
-               "name" : "Jorg Sommrey"
+               "name" : "Jorg Sommrey",
+               "drilldown" : "Jorg Sommrey"
             },
             {
                "y" : 2,
@@ -46,13 +66,13 @@
             },
             {
                "y" : 3,
-               "name" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
-               "drilldown" : "Laurent Rosenfeld"
+               "drilldown" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
+               "name" : "Laurent Rosenfeld"
             },
             {
-               "drilldown" : "Lubos Kolouch",
+               "y" : 2,
                "name" : "Lubos Kolouch",
-               "y" : 2
+               "drilldown" : "Lubos Kolouch"
             },
             {
                "y" : 5,
@@ -60,38 +80,48 @@
                "drilldown" : "Luca Ferrari"
             },
             {
+               "drilldown" : "Matthias Muth",
+               "name" : "Matthias Muth",
+               "y" : 3
+            },
+            {
                "y" : 5,
-               "drilldown" : "Packy Anderson",
-               "name" : "Packy Anderson"
+               "name" : "Packy Anderson",
+               "drilldown" : "Packy Anderson"
             },
             {
                "y" : 2,
-               "name" : "Paulo Custodio",
-               "drilldown" : "Paulo Custodio"
+               "drilldown" : "Paulo Custodio",
+               "name" : "Paulo Custodio"
             },
             {
-               "name" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
+               "y" : 3,
                "drilldown" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
-               "y" : 3
+               "name" : "Peter Campbell Smith"
             },
             {
-               "drilldown" : "Reinier Maliepaard",
+               "y" : 2,
                "name" : "Reinier Maliepaard",
-               "y" : 2
+               "drilldown" : "Reinier Maliepaard"
             },
             {
+               "y" : 3,
                "name" : "Robbie Hatley",
-               "drilldown" : "Robbie Hatley",
-               "y" : 3
+               "drilldown" : "Robbie Hatley"
             },
             {
+               "y" : 5,
                "name" : "Roger Bell_West",
-               "drilldown" : "Roger Bell_West",
-               "y" : 4
+               "drilldown" : "Roger Bell_West"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 2,
+               "name" : "Simon Green",
+               "drilldown" : "Simon Green"
             },
             {
-               "name" : "Torgny Lyon",
                "drilldown" : "Torgny Lyon",
+               "name" : "Torgny Lyon",
                "y" : 3
             },
             {
@@ -105,44 +135,23 @@
                "name" : "W. Luis Mochan"
             },
             {
-               "y" : 1,
                "drilldown" : "Wanderdoc",
-               "name" : "Wanderdoc"
+               "name" : "Wanderdoc",
+               "y" : 1
             }
-         ]
+         ],
+         "colorByPoint" : 1
       }
    ],
    "chart" : {
       "type" : "column"
    },
-   "yAxis" : {
-      "title" : {
-         "text" : "Total Solutions"
-      }
-   },
-   "legend" : {
-      "enabled" : 0
-   },
-   "tooltip" : {
-      "pointFormat" : "<span style='color:{point.color}'>{point.name}</span>: <b>{point.y:f}</b><br/>",
-      "headerFormat" : "<span style='font-size:11px'>{series.name}</span><br/>",
-      "followPointer" : 1
-   },
-   "subtitle" : {
-      "text" : "[Champions: 21] Last updated at 2024-09-28 09:51:24 GMT"
+   "xAxis" : {
+      "type" : "category"
    },
    "title" : {
       "text" : "The Weekly Challenge - 288"
    },
-   "plotOptions" : {
-      "series" : {
-         "dataLabels" : {
-            "format" : "{point.y}",
-            "enabled" : 1
-         },
-         "borderWidth" : 0
-      }
-   },
    "drilldown" : {
       "series" : [
          {
@@ -170,10 +179,26 @@
                   1
                ]
             ],
-            "id" : "Arne Sommer",
-            "name" : "Arne Sommer"
+            "name" : "Arne Sommer",
+            "id" : "Arne Sommer"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Athanasius",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Raku",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Athanasius"
          },
          {
+            "id" : "Dave Jacoby",
+            "name" : "Dave Jacoby",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -183,23 +208,21 @@
                   "Blog",
                   1
                ]
-            ],
-            "id" : "Dave Jacoby",
-            "name" : "Dave Jacoby"
+            ]
          },
          {
+            "id" : "David Ferrone",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
                   2
                ]
             ],
-            "id" : "David Ferrone",
             "name" : "David Ferrone"
          },
          {
-            "name" : "E. Choroba",
             "id" : "E. Choroba",
+            "name" : "E. Choroba",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -214,11 +237,10 @@
                   2
                ]
             ],
-            "id" : "Feng Chang",
-            "name" : "Feng Chang"
+            "name" : "Feng Chang",
+            "id" : "Feng Chang"
          },
          {
-            "id" : "Jorg Sommrey",
             "name" : "Jorg Sommrey",
             "data" : [
                [
@@ -229,7 +251,8 @@
                   "Blog",
                   1
                ]
-            ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Jorg Sommrey"
          },
          {
             "id" : "Kjetil Skotheim",
@@ -242,8 +265,6 @@
             ]
          },
          {
-            "id" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
-            "name" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -257,21 +278,21 @@
                   "Blog",
                   1
                ]
-            ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Laurent Rosenfeld",
+            "id" : "Laurent Rosenfeld"
          },
          {
+            "id" : "Lubos Kolouch",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
                   2
                ]
             ],
-            "id" : "Lubos Kolouch",
             "name" : "Lubos Kolouch"
          },
          {
-            "name" : "Luca Ferrari",
-            "id" : "Luca Ferrari",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Raku",
@@ -281,11 +302,27 @@
                   "Blog",
                   3
                ]
-            ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Luca Ferrari",
+            "id" : "Luca Ferrari"
+         },
+         {
+            "id" : "Matthias Muth",
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Matthias Muth"
          },
          {
-            "name" : "Packy Anderson",
             "id" : "Packy Anderson",
+            "name" : "Packy Anderson",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -302,16 +339,18 @@
             ]
          },
          {
+            "id" : "Paulo Custodio",
+            "name" : "Paulo Custodio",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
                   2
                ]
-            ],
-            "name" : "Paulo Custodio",
-            "id" : "Paulo Custodio"
+            ]
          },
          {
+            "id" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
+            "name" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -321,12 +360,9 @@
                   "Blog",
                   1
                ]
-            ],
-            "id" : "Peter Campbell Smith",
-            "name" : "Peter Campbell Smith"
+            ]
          },
          {
-            "id" : "Reinier Maliepaard",
             "name" : "Reinier Maliepaard",
             "data" : [
                [
@@ -337,10 +373,10 @@
                   "Blog",
                   1
                ]
-            ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Reinier Maliepaard"
          },
          {
-            "id" : "Robbie Hatley",
             "name" : "Robbie Hatley",
             "data" : [
                [
@@ -351,11 +387,10 @@
                   "Blog",
                   1
                ]
-            ]
+            ],
+            "id" : "Robbie Hatley"
          },
          {
-            "id" : "Roger Bell_West",
-            "name" : "Roger Bell_West",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -364,12 +399,28 @@
                [
                   "Raku",
                   2
+               ],
+               [
+                  "Blog",
+                  1
                ]
-            ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Roger Bell_West",
+            "id" : "Roger Bell_West"
+         },
+         {
+            "data" : [
+               [
+                  "Perl",
+                  2
+               ]
+            ],
+            "name" : "Simon Green",
+            "id" : "Simon Green"
          },
          {
-            "name" : "Torgny Lyon",
             "id" : "Torgny Lyon",
+            "name" : "Torgny Lyon",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -382,6 +433,8 @@
             ]
          },
          {
+            "id" : "Ulrich Rieke",
+            "name" : "Ulrich Rieke",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -391,11 +444,10 @@
                   "Raku",
                   1
                ]
-            ],
-            "id" : "Ulrich Rieke",
-            "name" : "Ulrich Rieke"
+            ]
          },
          {
+            "id" : "W. Luis Mochan",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -406,22 +458,27 @@
                   1
                ]
             ],
-            "id" : "W. Luis Mochan",
             "name" : "W. Luis Mochan"
          },
          {
+            "id" : "Wanderdoc",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
                   1
                ]
             ],
-            "name" : "Wanderdoc",
-            "id" : "Wanderdoc"
+            "name" : "Wanderdoc"
          }
       ]
    },
-   "xAxis" : {
-      "type" : "category"
+   "plotOptions" : {
+      "series" : {
+         "dataLabels" : {
+            "enabled" : 1,
+            "format" : "{point.y}"
+         },
+         "borderWidth" : 0
+      }
    }
 }
diff --git a/stats/pwc-language-breakdown-2019.json b/stats/pwc-language-breakdown-2019.json
index fb0e41ebb8..1d95077552 100644
--- a/stats/pwc-language-breakdown-2019.json
+++ b/stats/pwc-language-breakdown-2019.json
@@ -1,17 +1,236 @@
 {
-   "tooltip" : {
-      "pointFormat" : "<span style=\"color:{point.color}\">Challenge {point.name}</span>: <b>{point.y:f}</b><br/>",
-      "headerFormat" : "<span style=\"font-size:11px\"></span>",
-      "followPointer" : "true"
+   "xAxis" : {
+      "type" : "category"
    },
-   "legend" : {
-      "enabled" : "false"
+   "chart" : {
+      "type" : "column"
    },
-   "title" : {
-      "text" : "The Weekly Challenge Language"
+   "series" : [
+      {
+         "name" : "The Weekly Challenge Languages",
+         "data" : [
+            {
+               "name" : "041",
+               "drilldown" : "041",
+               "y" : 80
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "040",
+               "drilldown" : "040",
+               "y" : 77
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 68,
+               "drilldown" : "039",
+               "name" : "039"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 74,
+               "name" : "038",
+               "drilldown" : "038"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 70,
+               "drilldown" : "037",
+               "name" : "037"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 70,
+               "drilldown" : "036",
+               "name" : "036"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "035",
+               "drilldown" : "035",
+               "y" : 68
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "034",
+               "drilldown" : "034",
+               "y" : 70
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 113,
+               "drilldown" : "033",
+               "name" : "033"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 97,
+               "drilldown" : "032",
+               "name" : "032"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "031",
+               "drilldown" : "031",
+               "y" : 93
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "030",
+               "drilldown" : "030",
+               "y" : 120
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 83,
+               "name" : "029",
+               "drilldown" : "029"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 82,
+               "name" : "028",
+               "drilldown" : "028"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "027",
+               "name" : "027",
+               "y" : 64
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 75,
+               "name" : "026",
+               "drilldown" : "026"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 62,
+               "drilldown" : "025",
+               "name" : "025"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "024",
+               "drilldown" : "024",
+               "y" : 77
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "023",
+               "name" : "023",
+               "y" : 88
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "022",
+               "drilldown" : "022",
+               "y" : 72
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "021",
+               "drilldown" : "021",
+               "y" : 72
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 100,
+               "name" : "020",
+               "drilldown" : "020"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 101,
+               "name" : "019",
+               "drilldown" : "019"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 82,
+               "drilldown" : "018",
+               "name" : "018"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "017",
+               "drilldown" : "017",
+               "y" : 83
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 75,
+               "name" : "016",
+               "drilldown" : "016"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 95,
+               "name" : "015",
+               "drilldown" : "015"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 98,
+               "drilldown" : "014",
+               "name" : "014"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "013",
+               "drilldown" : "013",
+               "y" : 85
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 90,
+               "drilldown" : "012",
+               "name" : "012"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "011",
+               "drilldown" : "011",
+               "y" : 86
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 69,
+               "drilldown" : "010",
+               "name" : "010"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 79,
+               "name" : "009",
+               "drilldown" : "009"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 82,
+               "name" : "008",
+               "drilldown" : "008"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 71,
+               "name" : "007",
+               "drilldown" : "007"
+            },
+            {
+               "drilldown" : "006",
+               "name" : "006",
+               "y" : 63
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 82,
+               "name" : "005",
+               "drilldown" : "005"
+            },
+            {
+               "name" : "004",
+               "drilldown" : "004",
+               "y" : 106
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 91,
+               "name" : "003",
+               "drilldown" : "003"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 133,
+               "name" : "002",
+               "drilldown" : "002"
+            },
+            {
+               "y" : 165,
+               "name" : "001",
+               "drilldown" : "001"
+            }
+         ],
+         "colorByPoint" : "true"
+      }
+   ],
+   "tooltip" : {
+      "followPointer" : "true",
+      "pointFormat" : "<span style=\"color:{point.color}\">Challenge {point.name}</span>: <b>{point.y:f}</b><br/>",
+      "headerFormat" : "<span style=\"font-size:11px\"></span>"
    },
-   "subtitle" : {
-      "text" : "Click the columns to drilldown the language breakdown. Last updated at 2024-09-28 09:51:24 GMT"
+   "plotOptions" : {
+      "series" : {
+         "borderWidth" : 0,
+         "dataLabels" : {
+            "format" : "{point.y}",
+            "enabled" : 1
+         }
+      }
    },
    "drilldown" : {
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@@ -30,8 +249,8 @@
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                ]
             ],
-            "id" : "041",
-            "name" : "041"
+            "name" : "041",
+            "id" : "041"
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@@ -71,7 +290,6 @@
          },
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-            "id" : "038",
             "data" : [
                [
                   "Perl",
@@ -85,7 +303,8 @@
                   "Blog",
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                ]
-            ]
+            ],
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@@ -106,6 +325,7 @@
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@@ -120,11 +340,9 @@
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@@ -139,9 +357,12 @@
                   "Blog",
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@@ -155,11 +376,11 @@
                   "Blog",
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-            "id" : "034"
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@@ -173,11 +394,10 @@
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-            "id" : "033"
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@@ -192,12 +412,10 @@
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                   "Perl",
@@ -211,7 +429,8 @@
                   "Blog",
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@@ -232,6 +451,7 @@
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@@ -246,10 +466,10 @@
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@@ -264,12 +484,10 @@
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