Ternary

A dynamic connect-3 AI developed in McGill's ECSE 526 (Artificial Intelligence) class.

Run Instructions

First, compile the program by running

./build.sh

Then, start the program by running

java torgeros.connect3.Ternary <gamename> <b|w> <human|ai|eval> [large-grid]

<b|w> selects playing WHITE or BLACK.

The eval mode returns stats after each move. In the backend, eval itself starts an ai agent.

As a human agent you must not enter an invalid move, they are only checked for syntax, not for correctness!

In human mode moves can be entered as "23e" or "23E".

The optional large-grid-flag enableds the 7x6 board (default 4x5).

Code Modularity, Classes

Sorted by filename in src/torgeros/connect3. The main game AI logic is in src/torgeros/connect3/agent/Ai.java.

agent/Agent.java

Common Interface for Human and AI players.

agent/Human.java

Agent that asks for user input for each move, so one can play manually with organized game state output. This is easier than using netcat, because the game state (board) is visualized before and after each move.

agent/Ai.java

Contains the complete game playing agent-logic

agent/EvaluatableAi.java

Wrapper around the Ai class that adds some extra evaluative (one might say debug) println statements.

Board.java

Represents a game state, mostly used for visualization.

Contains an enum Field, that itself holds the three values a field can take and the chars used for visualization.

enum Field {
    WHITE ('•'),
    BLACK ('◦'),
    EMPTY (' ');
}

Board can be seen as a wrapper around a Field[][] with some utilitary functions like printing and accessing by the server index that starts at 1,1.

ConnectThree.java

Represents the game itself, holding an instance of one Board, one Agent and one GameClient

Contains an enum PlayerColor, used to make the code easier to read. Every PlayerColor holds the representation the server communication reserves for that player and the associated Field color.

enum PlayerColor {
    WHITE_PLAYER (Field.WHITE, "white"),
    BLACK_PLAYER (Field.BLACK, "black");
}

GameClient

Handles communication with the game server. Checks for successful transmission of each command and halts the game in unexpected states (e.g. server timeouts)

Ternary.java

Main class. Handles command line arguments and initiates the game.

util.java

Contains some auxiliary code, more specifically a function that creates a deep-copy of a Field[][] and one for printing a Field[][] with borders around it.

License

You are obviously not allowed to use this code while you are taking McGill's ECSE 526 (AI).

For every other use case, the GPLv3 applies.