Homework 3

Introduction

Consider the following variation to tic-tac-toe

Players alternate taking turns placing a piece on a standard tic-tac-toe board
When it is their turn, players may place either an X or an O.
First player to cause the board to get three of any single pieces in a row, wins.

Thus, in theory, the shortest game is 3 moves since both players could place Xs (although that would mean that player two played very foolishly).

Instructions

For this homework you should write a Java program (other language POSSIBLE upon pre-approval) that fits the following requirements

Your code must provide an easy way for me to indicate the current state of the board.
You must devise a solution which uses minimax to search for the optimal move for the current player. The definition of optimal here is a little squishy. The base definition is first, a move which makes the win if possible, second, a move which avoids losing if possible, and finally, a move which keeps the game going. The more advanced definition of optimal states that when there are multiple ways to keep the game going, you pick the move which keeps the game going the longest.
When an optimal move is found your code needs to print out the specific move to take ("X in cell 9") and an indication of whether this move will eventually lead to a win, a lose, or a draw..

You must also produce a short "read me" file (readme.txt) which explains to me, the tester, how to use your program. This includes:

How do I provide the input? (command line during execution, command line on invocation, hardcoded in the code, etc)
How do I indicate the pieces (X and O, 1 and 0, 1 and -1, etc)
How are you numbering the board? (0-8, 1-9, a-i, etc).
How are you "scoring" the outcomes (1/0/-1, -100 to +100, etc)

Submitting Your Work

Prior to the deadline, use the homework submission system (http://math-cs.cns.uni.edu/~schafer/submit/which_course.cgi) to upload any files you have produced. Make sure you submit all of the files needed to use your code.

In addition to online copies, please submit hard copies of this lab at the start of class on the day this lab is due.