CPSC 120 Project #3: Design Specifications

NimBoard Class

Instance Data: Three integers representing the number of sticks in each row of the board.

Methods:

• A constructor that takes three integer parameters representing the initial number of sticks in each row of the board.
• A method named remove that takes two integer parameters, the first representing a row number and the second representing a number of sticks to remove from that row. The method should remove the given number of sticks from the given row if possible (if the numbers are valid) and return true . Otherwise it should return false, leaving the board unchanged.
• A method named toString that converts the current board as a string in the format specified in the project description. The method has no parameters.
• A method named gameOver that returns true if there are no sticks remaining on the board and false otherwise. The method takes no parameters.
• Accessor methods for each of the instance variables.

Player Class

Instance Data:

• The player's name (a String)
• The player's type - "C" means computer and "H" means human (String)
• The total number of sticks the player has removed in the current game (an int)
• The total number of games won (int)

Methods:

• A constructor that takes two String parameters. The first is the name of the player and the second represents the type (either a C/c or P/p is expected). The constructor should set the type to upper case and check to make sure it is valid. If it isn't a message should be printed and the type for the player should be set to "C".
• A method named takeTurn that has one parameter, a NimBoard object. The method will simulate the player taking a turn removing sticks from this NimBoard. The method must check to see whether the player is a human or a computer. If the player is a human if will ask the player to enter its move(row number followed by number of sticks); if it is a computer the method will generate a valid random move. If an invalid move is attempted (by either player), the method should allow the player to retry until a valid move is made. This method also needs to update the total number of sticks removed by the player.
• A method named incrementWins that adds one to the number of wins. The method takes no parameters and returns nothing.
• A method reset that sets the total number of sticks removed back to 0.
• Accessor methods for the instance data.

Nim Game

The Nim game will be played in the main method of a Nim class. Here you will need to use the NimBoard and Player classes to play the game as described on the handout.

Working Time Line

Phase I Due Tuesday, November 15 by 3:00pm - emailed tar file Note: 3:00pm is so that you don't interfere with the other section's lab

For Phase I, have the following completed:

• The NimBoard class
• A main program that tests this class. It should read in the board size and instantiate a NimBoard. It should have a loop that continues until the game is over (call your method) - in the loop just read in row number and number of sticks and remove the sticks from the board. (it doesn't distinguish who is making the moves)
• A skeleton of the Player class that contains:
  • The constructor and accessor methods
  • The method headers for takeTurns, incrementWins and reset.
  • Comments (in your own words) describing how each of these methods will be used.

Phase II (Completed Project) After getting the basics correct, you need to add the code to the Player class for the player taking a turn and you need to write the program to play the game. A suggested order of doing this:

• Write the takeTurn method for the Player class. (This includes writing any private helper methods you want to use.) Note that your test program is basically a human taking a turn so some of that code can be re-used in your player class.
• Modify the test program to play the game once now using the player objects instead (which get the moves for the player) instead of reading in the moves. Make sure this works correctly.
• Add the outer loop to the main program to let the user play multiple times and keep track of statistics.

Extra Credit: Add an "intelligent" strategy for the computer. To do this add a third type of the player - something to represent an intelligent computer (type = "I"). Then, add code for the computer making a choice using some intelligent algorithm. This should not alter computer (type = "C") player. Hint - for intelligent strategies, search for "NIM" on the web.