Thread: The hare and the tortoise

Hi all,

I wrote a program for the "tortoise and hare race". I need some help with it. The program works without a problem but it runs step by step with me having to press enter for each step. I want it to run automatically by just pressing enter once at the start. Could you guys help me out?

Here is the code:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>

int random_1( void );
int move_tortoise( int );
int move_hare( int );
int end_condition( int, int );

int main( void )
{
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
char play_again = '\n';

printf( "BANG !!!!!\n" );
printf( "AND THEY'RE OFF !!!!!\n" );

while ( play_again == '\n' )
{
while ( i <= 69 && j <= 69 )
{
char line[ 71 ] =
"----------------------------------------------------------------------";

i = move_tortoise( i );
j = move_hare( j );

if ( i == j )
{

line[ i + 0 ] = 'O';
line[ i + 1 ] = 'U';
line[ i + 2 ] = 'C';
line[ i + 3 ] = 'H';
}
else
{

line[ i ] = 'T';
line[ j ] = 'H';
}

printf( "%s\n\n", line );

break;
}

if ( end_condition( i, j ) )
break;

printf( "Press enter" );
scanf( "%c", &play_again );
}
return 0;
}

int random_1( void )
{

srand( time( NULL ) );
return ( 1 + rand() % 10 );
}

int move_tortoise( int i )
{
int check = random_1();

if ( check == 1 || check == 2 || check == 3 || check == 4 || check
== 5 )
i += 3;

if ( check == 6 || check == 7 )
i -= 6;

if ( check == 8 || check == 9 || check == 10 )
i += 1;

if ( i < 0 )
{
i = 0;
}
return i;
}

int move_hare( int j )
{
int check = random_1();

if ( check == 3 || check == 4 )
j += 9;

if ( check == 5 )
j += 12;

if ( check == 6 || check == 7 || check == 8 )
j++;

if ( check == 9 || check == 10 )
j -= 2;

if ( j < 0 )
{
j = 0;
}
return j;
}

int end_condition( int i, int j )
{
if ( j >= 69 && i >= 69 )
{
printf( "IT'S A TIE\n" );
return 1;
}
else if ( i >= 69 )
{
printf( "TORTOISE WINS!!! YAY!!!\n" );
return 1;
}
else if ( j >= 69 )
{
printf( "HARE WINS. YUCH.\n" );
return 1;
}
return 0;
}

Heed the advice of std10093. The only reason I went through your code is because I'm feeling generous this morning.

Code:

srand( time( NULL) );

This should only be called once, at the start of your program (near the top of "main()").

Code:

while ( i <= 69 && j <= 69 )
{
    // ....

    break;
}

The unconditional "break" at the end of this "while()" loop body ensures that the loop is breaking every time - hence, it's not really acting like a loop. Comment out this "break" for now.

Code:

printf( "Press enter" );
scanf( "%c", &play_again );

As c99tutorial pointed out, this is where you're looking for user input, so this is where a change is needed. Try commenting these out as an experiment.

Try the program again after making these modifications and let us know what happens.