Great tutorial, David. One suggestion, though, this code:

 public static MarkovModel createCasino() {
   Symbol[] rolls=new Symbol[6];

   //set up the dice alphabet
   SimpleAlphabet diceAlphabet=new SimpleAlphabet();
   diceAlphabet.setName("DiceAlphabet");

   for(int i=1;i<7;i++) {
     try {
       rolls[i-1]= AlphabetManager.createSymbol((char)('0'+i),""+i,Annotation.EMPTY_ANNOTATION);
       diceAlphabet.addSymbol(rolls[i-1]);
     } catch (Exception e) {
       throw new NestedError(
         e, "Can't create symbols to represent dice rolls"
       );
     }
   }

Is the beginning of the method you are developing here, however, the last brace should be omitted since the method spans multiple code blocks. Suggest deleting final brace and adding ellipsis comments for clarity (//…) I can do this, just didn’t want to trample all over your nice tutorial without your consent. –James.swetnam 15:40, 6 April 2010 (UTC)