File handling

By the will of Cybersmith!
I have found a useful online resourse (who my internal commmentary will of course pay homage to) which will aid me in the creation of a file reading subroutine which will store each different person's saved game upon a different line of a text file, something like this,

<string>     <integer>     <integer>
name            money         current "streak" of wins or losses

and as long as it is specified that the mname may contain no spaces, by all that is rational, I SHALL TRIUMPH!
All hail Cybersmith!
[edit]

I decided to omit the section concerning win/loss streaks, in the complete file-handling code.

By the will of Cybersmith! I now have a functioning windows environment and VS 2010 express. NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I never was able to operate monodevelop)

Progress

By the will of Cybersmith! I have downloaded, into an ubuntu 12.04 environment, a program called MonoDevelop (webpage) which I hope will allow me to continue. It will necessitate the conversion of my VB 2008 code into VB.net code, but alas, such is life. So far I have been unable to remedy me windows problem.

Unfortunate delay

By the will of Cybersmith! All my code is safe, due to a combination of sensible backup strategy and an emergency Ubuntu OS on a memory stick (all hail the mighty penguin), but the large computer, which uses microsoft XP has developed a fault in it's operating system, and I cannot run visual studio 2008 on a linux device (to large a program for wine) so I may be delayed for some time.

NEW VIDEO!!!!!

By the will of Cybersmith!
yes, I have noticed that when the dealer revealed his hand, no change occured in my money. This has been corrected.

EXCELLENT

GREAT SUCCESS!!!!

 

Other than the option of having other players, the game is now ready for Gui design. I shall limit the number of additional players to two, but any number of decks can be used. Expect a video soon.

Progress update

The initial card drawing process irs a success, and I have once again managed to reduce the number of lines needed for the code to run. I shall next allow the program to continue after one game, and permit more than one deck and fellow player to be used. When this is done, it is GUI TIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!, finally, the file handling will be adressed. I doubt I will be able to create a perl version before the deadline time however.
P.S, I made this practice GUI design in VB 6. Does anyone have any suggestions? how would YOU like to play blackjack?

so far so good

It is done..... now the code will be further modified to allow for two initial cards to be drawn, and the first of the dealers cards to be shown, as with real Blackjack. Then I shall give the user the ability to summon other players and more decks. When this is done, I shall move onto the process of GUI refinement and finally file handling. expect a new video soon.

compromise

for the time being, my arrays shall remain global, however the next step is to make the Deck array dynamic by means of Array.Resize()

PROBLEM

I am attempting to alter the data flow of my program, eliminating global variables. I cannot seem to pass an entire array by reference. I have thus far been unable to find a VB 2008 solution.

GAME DEMONSTRATION

Regrettably I failed to upload this at the stated time.

The process by which the "dealer" estimates the value of the players hand is at follows:

X = the value of a card (ace = 1, all face cards = 10)

A = total number of with value X not in the dealer's hand

B = initial values for A OR int(20/X) (whichever is smallest)

N = number of cards in my hand

C = total number of cards not in dealers hand = (size of remaining deck + N)

Z = probability that I have a card of value X = (N*B)/C

                                                               X = 10
T = (estimated total value of my hand) = Σ(ZX)
                                                               X = 1

I may amend this so that the "dealer" assumes that I have a high value if I have not drawn a card for several turns.

here is the video:

watch this space:

By the end of today, I shall (all going according to plan) have a video walk-through of a single player blackjack game against the dealer, with one standard (no-joker) deck, and no additional players. Of course, there is still much to be done with regards to a graphical user interface, as the picture box feature can only (to the besticle of my knowledge) hold one picture at a time. Thus I face the dilemma: should the users "hand" be represented by a large number of picture boxes -most of which will not be used-, or is there a more innovative solution possible? if anyone knows (keep in mind I am using visual basic 2008 please use the commenty bit. also here is a cute thing:

code analysis!

this should clear some things up.......

dealer algorithm test

hopefully the .avi file I have made can be uploaded to blogspot.
the dealers algorithm for a draw is as follows:
1. generate random number from one to 21
2. add to this number the sum value of the cards in your hand (all face cards are equal to ten)
3. if the resulting number is less than 22 draw a new card.

(sorry about the sound, my voice is awful on microphone)

Important choice.

I have decided to focus primarily upon the Windows version of the program. If possible I will go on to adapt it for perl, but the visual basic version is the most logical choice for my focus. Not only will it be far easier to use (I have been using VB for the longest) but it is also ideally suited to the creation of a graphical user interface, which most people likley to use the program I intend to create would prefer.

new blog started

very well..... It has begun.