Cody Boone Ferguson
265733ac88
A number of question answers have been merged and shortened somewhat. Fix link in the menu of all html pages and the inc/ files that was broken due to renaming an anchor. The guidelines and rules have had a link fix (to the FAQ) as well as some additional points added about the mkiocccentry toolkit. More work in the FAQ needs to be done, including with the how to enter the IOCCC, but as so much work has been done already I have decided to make the commit to get these many important changes out of the way.
To build:
make all
To use:
To have the computer guess:
./leo [colors]
To guess the computer's number:
./mind [colors]
where:
[colors] is the number of possible colors (1 to 15) (default: 6)
Judges' remarks:
By default, the number of colors is 6. You may specify a value of between 1 and 15 colors. See the author's notes for instructions of how to play.
We look forward to more entries from the newer members of the International Internet community.
Author's remarks:
This program plays
Mastermind, if you call
it by a name ending by d, otherwise it solves Mastermind. Call it without
parameters to use 6 digits (colors), or indicate the number of possible digits
(you cannot change the number of positions so easily).
The number in parentheses is the number of possible combinations, based on previous questions and answers. If you solve the puzzle, "(1)" indicates that your previous moves are enough to give correct answer. If the program acts as solver and terminates prematurely, it means that you're mistaken in your answers to its question(s). Question marks indicate the number of digits you have to enter (either 4 when you guess or 2 when computer guesses).
Note that the program uses the same code for both player and
solver, and the only place where it makes a difference is the
interactive part. Many obfuscations have been made to achieve
this. An expression giving (bulls * 16 + cows) from two numbers
is, however, quite straightforward :-) , as well as the arithmetic
of binary coded colors-base numbers is.
Limitations: maximum number of digits (colors) is 14 (1..F).
Suggestions: Use terminal (or emulator) with non-destructive backspaces. Do "disable scrolling" on cmdtool or similar emulators.
Bugs
Please don't type ^D at the prompt!!
EXAMPLE: Suppose we think of 1234
$ ./leo
(1296): 6433
?? 12 # one 3 is a bull, another is a cow, and 4 is a cow
(160): 5363
?? 02 # both 3's are cows
(21): 4231
?? 22 # 2 and 3 are bulls, 4 and 1 are cows
(2): 4132
?? 13 # 3 is a bull; 1, 2 and 4 are cows
(1): 1234
?? 40 # you may enter everything there
EXAMPLE: Guess the computer's number
$ ./mind
(1296): ???? 1122 # my strategy isn't the best, just as example
00
(256): ???? 3344
20
(18): ???? 5566
02
(6): ???? 3654
11
(2): ???? 3355
00
(1): ???? 6444
40 # we have guessed the number