Thread: Hangman java question double letters

Originally Posted by sparky971

...hangman game...

Instead of using the indexOf function (that would require repeats each time you find a guessed character in the secret word), why not just step through the secret word, testing each character to see if it is in a hidden word that you use to maintain a record of correct guesses? Each guess is processed by a single loop that is traversed the number of times equal to the length of the secret word.

The concept is simple (seems simple to me). Everything else is a "simple" matter of bookkeeping: Keeping track of the characters that have not been guessed (to show the user) and keeping track of the characters that have been guessed (to compare with the secret word to determine when the game is over).

I think it's pretty important (no, scratch that---speaking for myself, I think it is vital) to have an idea of the exact program sequence before starting to write code. Pseudo-code is pretty much de rigueur these days for showing general code structure and sequencing.

Everyone has his/own style of writing pseudo-code. I'll show you mine. It doesn't have to be tied to any particular computer language, but since I know it's going to be a Java project, I'll sort of lean in that direction.


Consider, perhaps, something like the following program flow description and pseudo-code. Here is how I think the game is played:

//
// secretWord is selected from the array of Strings.  It
// is fixed for the duration of the game.
//
// There are two strings that are modified as the game progresses.
// These could be StringBuilder objects, but I'll show a way with
// Strings.  (StringBuilder objects are cleaner for this kind of
// thing, I'm thinking, but maybe you haven't had them yet.)
//
//   hiddenWord starts out equal to the secretWord.  As a user
//     guesses one of the characters in hiddenWord, the character
//     at that position is replaced by an asterisk.
//
//   displayWord is what the user sees when prompted for a guess.
//     displayWord starts with all asterisks. Each time the
//     user guesses a character in hiddenWord, the asterisk in
//     the corresponding position of displayWord is replaced
//     by the guess (the correct character). 
//  
//
//   
// If hiddenWord and displayWord are Strings rather than StringBuilder
// objects, then you will need a copy of each one that is built up a
// a character at a time for each user guess, as you did in your non-working
// example.  Then at the end of processing each guess, hiddenWord and
// displayWord are set equal to their respective copies.
//
// Suppose we are going to do it with Strings:
//
 
BEGIN GAME
 
    Set secretWord to be one of the words in the array of String.
    Set hiddenWord equal to secretWord
    Set displayWord equal to all asterisks (Same length as secretWord)
 
    WHILE secretWord is not equal hiddenWord Loop
    BEGIN LOOP // The big loop for the entire game
        Prompt user and get guessed character
        Set newHiddenWord to ""
        Set newDisplayWord to ""
        loop i over the length of secretWord:
        BEGIN LOOP
            Set testCharacter to the character at hiddenWord(i)
            IF testCharacter is equal to guess
            THEN
                // Good guess:
                //    Will replace the original character in hiddenWord
                //    with an asterisk
                //    and will put the correct character in displayWord
                newHiddenWord += '*'
                newDisplayWord += guess
            ELSE
                // Bad guess: hiddenWord and displayWord
                //            will not change 
                newHiddenWord += testCharacter
                newDisplayWord += character at displayWord(i) 
            END IF;
        END LOOP // The loop of i over the length of secretWord
 
        // Replace hiddenWord and displayWord with the ones
        // we just created
        Set hiddenWord equal to newHiddenWord
        Set displayWord equal to newDisplayWord
 
    END LOOP // The big WHILE Loop
    Print final message or whatever...
END GAME

[/begin edit]
Thanks to sparky971's keen analysis, I see an error in the loop condition. See if the following makes more sense:

.
.
.
    WHILE secretWord is not equal displayWord Loop
    BEGIN LOOP // The big loop for the entire game
.
.
.

Sorry.
[/end edit]


Cheers!

Z

Originally Posted by sparky971

hmm i think i get the logic but if you set hiddenWord equal to SecretWord then
while SecretWord!=hiddenWord wouldnt work no ?

You are, of course, correct.

If you "get" the logic, maybe you can "guess" that what I really had in mind was to make the loop condition (displayWord not equal to secretWord) since displayWord is built up a character at a time from correct guesses. Sorry.

Does that make more sense? Does the overall scheme make sense? Is it do-able? Can you think of a way to do it "better" or some way more suited to your logical thinking and program style?

My post was only a suggestion, and I think it's practical.

However...

The bottom line behind my post is this:

Once people see a way of doing things, sometimes it breaks the creative logjam, and they can come up with their own, improved, scheme. If nothing "better" occurs, then, at least it might serve as a starting point for their implementation.


Cheers!

Z