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