CS 117: Final Project

Overview

This is your chance to choose one of two projects, each described below.

Design document (due Monday, 11/12/01)

As with the longer project earlier in the term, submit a design document indicating which option you choose, and the following information:

Headers for each of the methods that you will need, and in which classes they belong
Descriptions of the data values you'll need within each of the classes
Pseudocode for each of the methods
Estimates of how long it will take you to write each of these methods. Consider how long it will take to translate the pseudocode into actual Java code, then remember to leave lots of time for debugging and testing.
Your test plan: how will you test each of these methods individually to make sure they work?

The final submission (due Monday, 11/19/01 - no grace period!)

In addition to submitting your java files, you should submit the following items of documentation in the README.TXT file that is part of your BlueJ project. You may be brief.

A description of your program and its features.
A description and justification of the main data structures your program uses.
A discussion of the current status of your program, what works and what doesn't, etc.

You may handle input/output via javabook classes, or via the terminal window. Choose whichever you prefer.

Thoughts on grading

I will grade the projects based on the following factors:

How cleanly the program runs... is it bug free? Does it crash?
Complexity... a chess program that will beat Garry Kasparov is clearly cooler than a program that flips a coin.
Style.

The first factor above is most important. A program that runs correctly, error-free, and achieves what it says it will do will receive better grades than an incredibly smart chess program that crashes and provides unreadable output. Of course, given two programs side-by-side that run perfectly, the one that accomplishes more will receive the better grade.

To reiterate: It is most important to submit something that works.

Project Choices

I: A Game

Write a game program. You can approach this with the goal of making the game fun to play, making the computer play well (even if it's not much fun for the user), or both.

Good games to implement include Bagels (see description at the bottom of this document for details), 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, Blackjack, Cribbage, Dots and Boxes, Battleship,....

Let me know if you have questions about the rules or suitability of a particular game.

II: Poker Hand Probabilities

Many decks of poker cards include a card showing the probabilities of being dealt various types of 5-card hands. For example, the probability of being dealt a royal flush (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten, all the same suit) is 1 chance in 649740, or approximately .000001539. If you select this project, your job will be to write a program that approximates the probabilities listed on such a card.

To do this, your program will generate a large number (many millions) of poker hands, and count the number of royal flushes, flushes, straights, full houses, etc. included among those hands. This means that you will need to figure out how to generate a random poker hand, and then how to determine what type of hand it is.

Your program should report probabilities for each of the following types of hands. The term "rank" refers to the card's numerical or letter value.

Royal Flush: A, K, Q, J, 10, all the same suit.
Straight Flush: five cards in a row (Aces are high), all of the same suit, but not including Royal Flushes.
Four of a kind: any four cards with the same rank, plus any fifth card.
Full House: three of the cards of the same rank, and two cards of the same rank. That is, three of a kind and a pair in the same hand.
Flush: any five cards of the same suit.
Straight: five cards in a row (not all of the same suit, since that would be a straight flush).
Three of a kind: three cards of the same rank, plus two other unmatched cards.
Two pair: two cards of any one rank, two cards of any other rank, plus one unmatched card.
One pair: two cards of the same rank, plus three unmatched card.
Other: any hand that doesn't fall into one of the above categories.

This sorting program contains a function (C++ method) called "Shuffle" that you might be able to adapt for your poker hand generation. Even though it is written in C++, you shouldn't have any trouble reading most of it. It's close to Java.

Rules for Bagels

Bagels is a two person paper-and-pencil game that is similar to but simpler than Mastermind. One person thinks of a 3-digit number, and the other person tries to guess it. The 3-digit number may have no repeated digits, but it may begin with a zero (so 012, 987, and 361 are legal, but 112 and 303 are not).

The Guesser makes a 3-digit guess. The Responder compares the guess to the actual mystery number, and responds to the guess by some combination of the words "Pico," "Fermi," and "Bagels." The Guesser keeps guessing until the guess is the mystery number. Here are the response rules:

If the guess has no digits in common with the mystery number, the answer is "Bagels" or "B."
If the guess has a digit in common with the mystery number, and the common digit is in the same position in both numbers, the responder says "Fermi" or "F."
If the guess has a digit in common with the mystery number, but the common digit is not in the same position in both numbers, the responder says "Pico" or "P".

For example, suppose the mystery number is 395. Here are a few guesses and responses:

Note that if there are Picos and Fermis in the same response, all the Picos should be reported first. That is, you'd never say "PFP," thus suggesting that maybe the middle digit of the guess was the one in the correct position. Instead, you'd say "PPF," regardless of which digit was the Fermi, and which two were the Picos.

If you want more clarification of the rules of Bagels, let me know.

If you choose this project, you should write a program that will play Bagels with you, both as the Guesser and the Responder. Having the computer act as Responder is fairly straight-forward. Having it act as Guesser is trickier, but fun.