Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ernie.Berkeley.EDU!marie
From: marie@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Marie desJardins)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Computer implementation of card games
Message-ID: <31682@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 3 Oct 89 22:58:44 GMT
References: <2512DF6F.19668@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> <58134@aerospace.AERO.ORG>  <1570@bruce.OZ>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: marie@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Marie desJardins)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 32

In article <1570@bruce.OZ> khsoh@bruce.OZ (Kam Hung Soh) writes:
>Blackjack would be the easiest to implement.  The computer player
>can be pretty dumb, the user interface rudimentary and it would
>teach students how to handle data structures that include records
>and arrays - if that is what you are looking for.  You have to be
>careful that students don't get caught up trying to come up with
>a super computer player or pretty graphics, though.

I agree that blackjack is a good game to have beginning
programming students write, for the reasons Kam gives.

But I would amend the last sentence to say "you have to
be careful that students don't *think they have to* get
caught up trying to come up with a super computer player
or pretty graphics."  The students who implement the game
correctly and completely should get full credit.  But those
who want to spend time trying to build a clever player 
(e.g. one that figures out its opponent's strategies and 
modifies its play based on that) or nice graphics shouldn't
be discouraged (as long as you have enough computing power
that it isn't slowing down the system for everybody else,
and as long as they implement the core of the program in
an elegant fashion).  Playing around with extensions to
programs can, for many students, be the most useful 
learning experience in an introductory programming class.

Teachers should always encourage creativity in their 
students' work as long as the material being taught is
understood first (or, simultaneously).

Marie desJardins
marie@ernie.berkeley.edu