Case Studies in Algorithms and Programming
Student Samples
Peter R. Whitehouse
Subject Coordinator, Information Technology Education
St. Joseph's College,
Gregory Terrace, Brisbane
p.whitehouse@mailbox.uq.edu.au
Copyright
The student work that follows was completed as part of their assessment programme. The versions you see here are 'owned' by the respective authors, but controlled by our college. It is suggested that you seek permission from either the original author or the school before making multiple copies of these works, and at NO time can they be part of a work that is later SOLD.
Disclaimer
The vast majority of these systems are written to PROTOTYPE standard by students - that is, they have been through at least one round of error detection. NO GUARANTEE is provided that these systems are bug-proof and NO LIABILITY is accepted for damage or loss of data that occurs should the systems not like your hardware.
Every effort has been taken to include only those systems stable enough to demonstrate the abilities of our students.
EXAMPLE 1: Poker
File To Run: poker.exe
B. Venn, 1991.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: A basic 'Text Based' game of poker with user playing the computer.
Screen shot
NOTES: The author has used extended ASCII to simulate card faces and this game is quite well structured and playable. Some of the rules governing the game have not been implemented.
EXAMPLE 2: Calculator
File To Run: calclatr.exe
B. Wong, 1991.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This program simulates a Calculator, with a number of additional functions offered over the standard operations. The author requested to build this as opposed to a game - his solution was elegant yet simple to use, and considering he used Extended ASCII to simulate the look of a calculator also, this system is noteworthy.
Screen shot
NOTES: The operation appears quite simple, the underlying 'circular queue' data structure necessary to store and later process the sum is sophisticated and elegantly coded.
EXAMPLE 3: Black Jack
File To Run: blakjak2.exe
P. Leighton and M. Waden, 1992.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This is a standard game of '21' with the user playing the computer. The interface is clearly thought out and card faces are composed of extended ASCII.
Screen shot
NOTES: This game plays very well, has help and a well developed interface. Cards are stored (underneath) using sets, with calculations greatly simplified because of this.
EXAMPLE 4: Draughts
File To Run: draughts.exe
J. Dunne, 1993.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This elegant game plays intelligently against you, has a well enforced set of rules and has an intuitive interface and help system.
Screen shot
NOTES: The structure of the underlying system is superb - each procedure and function is at most 10 lines long, well documented and very efficient. The author decided to construct the entire system out of 'small building blocks' - in doing so, he has created a really good game.
EXAMPLE 5: 3-d Battleships
File To Run: batship3.exe
M. O'Loan and J. Barker, 1993.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This is a 3-d version of 'Battleships', where users can drop depth charges down, shoot torpedoes across and generally get lost in the interface. A challenging alternative to the conventional 2-d game.
Screen shot
NOTES: Representing a 3-d space on a 2-d screen is solved by presenting the playing space in slices - each slice has it's own coordinate system. This game uses a complex array for the playing space, and has good error trapping (these characteristics outweigh the slightly 'klunky' interface).
EXAMPLE 6: Pool
File To Run: pool.exe
D. Finn, K. Hoeft and D. Prosser, 1994.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This superb MSDOS MODE VGA game employs graphics to represent pool table, cue and play. The cue ball collides, rebounds and 'pots' the other balls depending on your accuracy with the cue.
Screen shot
NOTES: There is much about this assignment that is extraordinary. The complex mathematics governing 2 and 3 ball collisions came from their Maths 2 teacher, interface graphics and controls came out of a developmental collaboration between group and myself - the result is great!
EXAMPLE 7: Star Trek: The Confrontation
File To Run: stconf.exe
B. Brown, 1994.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: An extraordinary program offering 'arcade' quality VGA graphics in a rapid chase zap-n-splat format with a 'Star Trek' flavour.
Screen shot
NOTES: Positions of enemies and pursuit ship are held in complex arrays - these arrays form the control basis of the full screen display and the small screen 'radar' screen. Many graphics strategies were explored to make this game playable and entertaining, with levels of complexity rapidly ensuring you need to be quick to survive. The author included assembler routines (self generated) to handle subtle fades and other on screen effects.
EXAMPLE 8: Battleships
File To Run: batlship.exe
N. Coghlan, 1994.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: A VGA graphics version of 2-d battleships. The sophisticate interface combine with a cunning computer opponent to provide an entertaining game.
Screen shot
NOTES: This game looks good, and plays well with controls and on screen display being sophisticated and intuitive. The author included assembler routines (self generated) to handle subtle fades and other on screen devices.
EXAMPLE 9: Wild Trax
File To Run: wildtrax.exe
B. Williams and G. Littleton, 1994.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This 2-Player VGA graphics game allows participants to chase each other around the screen in tanks, blowing each other up - heaps of fun for the whole family.
Screen shot
NOTES: The interface allows 2 players to simultaneously drive and shoot at each other using one keyboard. This game was inspired by a similar ride at the 'Ekka'. It is fast and furious - only the well coordinated will survive.
EXAMPLE 10: Hangman
File To Run: hangman1.exe
N. Williams, M. Jones and F. Currie, 1995.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This is a text version of the popular word guessing game. Pit your skills at the included word library, or define your own.
Screen shot
NOTES: This is one of many versions of Hangman done by students over the years - this one uses sets to store letters, employs colour to enhance the 'hanging' process and allows you to redefine the word collection to suit yourself.
EXAMPLE 11: Parallel Realities
File To Run: parreal\parareal.exe
C. Guiffre and B. Whiteman, 1996.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: Fly your yellow spaceship through the galaxy, meet interesting life forms and blast them out of the air. This graphics rich variation on a 'zap'n'splat' game has a lush interface, exciting sound effects and has excellent documentation.
Screen shot
NOTES: This system was developed in Delphi v1 and harnesses graphics and sound to great effect. The ship is maneuverable and the enemies come thick and fast. The excellent HTML ON LINE MANUAL is also included
EXAMPLE 12: Alone in a Crowd
File To Run: alone\alone.exe
C. Nolan, 1996.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION: This media rich zap'n'splat game features a huge range of dangerous opponents, heat seeking missiles and loads of spine chilling sound effects.
Screen shot
NOTES: This Delphi v1 program has many efficient features and is exciting to play on a MPC. The action is fast, the ammunition is limited and you will perish unless you can dodge the opponents and 'radar controlled' missiles. Part of the manual is a Windows Help file (available from within the system).
