Thread: beginner tic-tac-toe problems

  1. #1
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    Aug 2015
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    beginner tic-tac-toe problems

    (I've looked around on the internet for several hours now and was unable to come up with a solution)
    So I've been messing around with some examples from the book I'm reading, and I've just finished reading a section that had a nice little tic-tac-toe example, but it was only two-player, so I looked around and found this (single player tic-tac-toe with a minimax algorithm) and thought I'd try and put the two together using the example from the book as the base. But I've run in to some trouble (which I expected since I'm a complete noob).

    Firstly, the win() function is not working and the game will always end up being a draw. These exact expressions were working before I put them into their own function.

    Secondly, the bolded printf("Y") doesn't print, I know that since I haven't filled the second do-while statement with any expressions it'll get stuck but I can't figure out why

    Lastly, I haven't been able to figure out how I would implement a minimax algorithm similar to the one described here.


    sorry if this is a lot of code, wasn't sure what I could cut that would still give a good overview of everything it's doing.
    Code:
    /* Tic-Tac-Toe */
    #include <stdio.h>
    
    void win(char board[3][3], int winner, int player, int line)
    {
        /* Check for a winning line - diagonals first */
        if((board[0][0]==board[1][1] && board[0][0]==board[2][2])||(board[0][2]==board[1][1] && board[0][2]==board[2][0]))
        {
            winner = player;
        }
        else
        {    /* Check rows and columns for a winning line */    
            for(line = 0; line <= 2; line++)
            {
                if((board[line][0]==board[line][1] && board[line][0]==board[line][2])||(board[0][line]==board[1][line] && board[0][line]==board[2][line]))
                {
                winner = player;                
                }
            }    
        }
    }
    
    
    
    
    int main(void)
    {
        int player = 0;                      /* Player number - 1 or 2               */
        int winner = 0;                      /* The winning player                   */
        int choice = 0;                      /* Square selection number for turn     */
        int computer_choice = 0;
        int row = 0;                         /* Row index for a square               */
        int column = 0;                      /* Column index for a square            */
        int line=0;                          /* Row or column index in checking loop */
        int player_count=0;
    
    
        char board[3][3] = {                 /* The board */
                {'1','2','3'},           /* Initial values are reference numbers */
                {'4','5','6'},           /* used to select a vacant square for   */
                {'7','8','9'}            /* a turn.                              */
                };
    
    
        printf("How many players are going to play?\n"); /*select amount of players between 1 and 2*/
        scanf(" %d", &player_count);
        if(player_count < 1 || player_count > 2)
        {
            printf("invalid selection, choose between 1 or 2 players!\n");
            return 0;
        }    
        if(player_count == 1)
        {
            printf("The computer will be Player 2\n");
        }
        /* The main game loop. The game continues for up to 9 turns */
        /* As long as there is no winner                            */    
        for(int i = 0; i<9 && winner==0; i++)
        {
            /* Display the board */
            printf("\n\n");
            printf(" %c | %c | %c\n", board[0][0], board[0][1], board[0][2]);
            printf("---+---+---\n");
            printf(" %c | %c | %c\n", board[1][0], board[1][1], board[1][2]);
            printf("---+---+---\n");
            printf(" %c | %c | %c\n", board[2][0], board[2][1], board[2][2]);
            player = i%2 + 1;                 /* Select player */
            
            if(player_count == 2)
            {
                /* Get valid player square selection */
                do
                {
                    printf("\nPlayer %d, please enter the number of the square where you want to place your %c: ", player, (player==1)?'X':'O');
                    scanf(" %d", &choice);    
                    row = --choice/3;                /* Get row index of square    */
                    column = choice%3;               /* Get column index of square */
                }while(choice<0 || choice>9 || board[row][column]>'9');
                /* Insert player symbol */
                board[row][column] = (player == 1) ? 'X' : 'O';
            }
            if(player_count == 1)
            {
                player = 1;
                do /*player's turn*/
                {                
                    printf("\nPlayer %d, please enter the number of the square where you want to place your %c: ", player, (player==1)?'X':'O');
                    scanf("%d", &choice);    
                    row = --choice/3;                /* Get row index of square    */
                    column = choice%3;               /* Get column index of square */            
                }while(choice<0 || choice>9 || board[row][column]>'9');
                /* Insert player symbol */
                board[row][column] = (player == 1) ? 'X' : 'O';
                printf("Y"); /*temporary printf to ensure that we don't get stuck in an infinity loop*/            
                do /*computer turn*/
                {
                    /*minimax algorithm.... hopefully*/
                }while(choice<0 || choice>9 || board[row][column]>'9');
            }
            win(board, winner, player, line); /*check if the game is won*/
        }
        /* Game is over so display the final board */
        printf("\n\n");
        printf(" %c | %c | %c\n", board[0][0], board[0][1], board[0][2]);
        printf("---+---+---\n");
        printf(" %c | %c | %c\n", board[1][0], board[1][1], board[1][2]);
        printf("---+---+---\n");
        printf(" %c | %c | %c\n", board[2][0], board[2][1], board[2][2]);
    
    
        /* Display result message */
        if(winner == 0)
        printf("\nHow boring, it is a draw\n");
        else
        printf("\nCongratulations, player %d, YOU ARE THE WINNER!\n",
                                                               winner);
    return 0;
    }
    Last edited by YayIguess; 08-28-2015 at 11:30 PM. Reason: fixed formatting issue with one of the lines of code

  2. #2
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    Join Date
    May 2013
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    228
    win() never changes the value of 'winner', since win() takes its 'winner' argument by value.

    Try:

    Code:
    void win(char board[3][3], int* winner, int player, int line) {
        /* Check for a winning line - diagonals first */
        if ((board[0][0] == board[1][1] && board[0][0] == board[2][2])
                || (board[0][2] == board[1][1] && board[0][2] == board[2][0])) {
            *winner = player;
        } else { /* Check rows and columns for a winning line */
            for (line = 0; line <= 2; line++) {
                if ((board[line][0] == board[line][1]
                        && board[line][0] == board[line][2])
                        || (board[0][line] == board[1][line]
                                && board[0][line] == board[2][line])) {
                    *winner = player;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    And when you call win() from main, it should be:

    Code:
    win(board, &winner, player, line);

  3. #3
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    Aug 2015
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    26
    Quote Originally Posted by Absurd View Post
    -snip-
    Ok, that fixed the win() issue, I get what I was doing wrong there thanks. Any suggestions for the other two problems I have?
    Last edited by YayIguess; 08-29-2015 at 11:12 AM.

  4. #4
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    Aug 2015
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    So, I decided to try and just implement this version of minimax straight into my modified program, while I've dramatically cut down the compiler warnings (GCC), I still have one that happens several times throughout the file, as I am no where near close to somewhat understanding how pointers fully work I haven't been able to solve them.
    Code:
    program5_08.c: In function ‘minimax’:program5_08.c:27:27: warning: passing argument 2 of ‘win’ from incompatible pointer type [-Wincompatible-pointer-types]
      int winning = win(board, &winner, player);
                               ^
    program5_08.c:5:5: note: expected ‘int *’ but argument is of type ‘int **’
     int win(char board[3][3], int* winner, int player)
         ^
    program5_08.c:40:40: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘minimax’ from incompatible pointer type [-Wincompatible-pointer-types]
         int thisScore = -minimax(board, 2, &winner);
                                            ^
    program5_08.c:24:5: note: expected ‘int *’ but argument is of type ‘int **’
     int minimax(char board[3][3], int player, int* winner)
         ^
    program5_08.c: In function ‘computer_move’:
    program5_08.c:69:40: warning: passing argument 3 of ‘minimax’ from incompatible pointer type [-Wincompatible-pointer-types]
         int tempScore = -minimax(board, 2, &winner);
                                            ^
    program5_08.c:24:5: note: expected ‘int *’ but argument is of type ‘int **’
     int minimax(char board[3][3], int player, int* winner)
         ^
    I've included the C file as an attachment as I don't want to keep posting large amounts of code straight onto the post.
    Attached Files Attached Files

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