This is very helpful. To me the most important thing to understand is the function of track sections that Flippy flips when it goes through the junction, as opposed to those where Flippy follows the direction of the switch (track splits vs. track merges). Also, it's useful to note that merges don't have to be connected to an input.
One other question / thought: I'm not sure the input/output labeling is useful to me. I think I understand the difference: One is a switch where Flippy goes in and the other is a switch where Flippy goes out, but what if they were just all switches connected to result thingies (A,B,X,Dongle,Bird,Flubber, whatever)? Aren't we really just trying to get thingie Bird to be in state 0 if thingie Dongle is in state 1 and thingie Flubber is in state 0? Then they could have their own little graphics, too.
Of course, I've only been successful with two levels so far, so I'll probably understand this a little better after I do some more goofing off during work.
One other question / thought: I'm not sure the input/output labeling is useful to me. I think I understand the difference: One is a switch where Flippy goes in and the other is a switch where Flippy goes out, but what if they were just all switches connected to result thingies (A,B,X,Dongle,Bird,Flubber, whatever)? Aren't we really just trying to get thingie Bird to be in state 0 if thingie Dongle is in state 1 and thingie Flubber is in state 0? Then they could have their own little graphics, too.
Of course, I've only been successful with two levels so far, so I'll probably understand this a little better after I do some more goofing off during work.