Fall Semester 2004

Lecture Notes Fifteen: If we were to write the Hangman game using PHP
Let's solve to more problems, like the one the exam is asking for.

Let's implement:

Let's first implement the programs in Perl, as standalone entities.

Then we can start thinking what it takes to turn them into CGI or PHP scripts.

Here's The Simple Quiz. 

#!/usr/bin/perl

$count = 1; 
$correct = 0; 

print "Welcome to the Addition Quiz. \n"; 

while ($count <= 10) {
  $one = int(rand(100) - 50); 
  $two = int(rand(100) - 50); 
  print "Question $count: What is $one + $two?\n"; 
  print "    Answer: "; 
  $answer = <STDIN>; 
  if ($answer == $one + $two) {
    $correct += 1; 
    print "Very good, that was the answer.\n"; 
  } else {
    print "Sorry. The right answer was: ", 
          ($one + $two) , "\n"; 
  }
  $count += 1; 
}

print "End of quiz. Thanks for your interest.\n"; 

print "Your score is: $correct out of ", 
      ($count - 1), "\n";
Here's the program running: 

frilled.cs.indiana.edu%./quiz
Welcome to the Addition Quiz. 
Question 1: What is -26 + -25?
    Answer: -51
Very good, that was the answer.
Question 2: What is -41 + 20?
    Answer: -21
Very good, that was the answer.
Question 3: What is 38 + 26?
    Answer: 64
Very good, that was the answer.
Question 4: What is 22 + 15?
    Answer: 37
Very good, that was the answer.
Question 5: What is -27 + 29?
    Answer: -2
Sorry. The right answer was: 2
Question 6: What is 0 + -11?
    Answer: -11
Very good, that was the answer.
Question 7: What is -4 + -20?
    Answer: -24
Very good, that was the answer.
Question 8: What is 11 + 33?
    Answer: 44
Very good, that was the answer.
Question 9: What is 30 + 25?
    Answer: 65
Sorry. The right answer was: 55
Question 10: What is -27 + 46?
    Answer: 19
Very good, that was the answer.
End of quiz. Thanks for your interest.
Your score is: 8 out of 10
frilled.cs.indiana.edu%
All right, so this is almost exactly as Lab Seven.

You can (and should implement it) in three ways:

Now let's look at the more complicated problem.

Here's A Simple Hangman.

Our first question is: where do we get the words?

The answer is: 

/usr/share/lib/dict/words
Here's the solution.

Note how it uses a technique developed in Lecture Notes Nine. 

#!/usr/bin/perl

open (AB, "/usr/share/lib/dict/words"); 
@words = <AB>; 
close(AB); 

print "Welcome to Hangman!\n\n"; 

print "Hmm..., ", $#words, " words to choose from. \n"; 

$index = int(rand($#words + 1)); 

$masked = $word = $words[$index]; chop($word); 

print "I'll pick: $word (and you don't know it).\n\n"; 

$masked =~ s/./-/g; 

print "You have 7 attempts to guess it. \n", 
      "I will provide feedback. \n", 
      "Let's start, here's the word: ", $masked , "\n";  

$count = 7; 

while ($masked ne $word && $count > 0) {
  print "***(Guesses available: $count)*** \nPlease guess a character: "; 
  $char = <STDIN>; chop($char); 
  if ($guesses =~ /$char/) { 
    print "You aready picked $char.\n"; 
    next; 
  } 
  $guesses .= $char; 
  print "So far you have entered [$guesses].\n"; 
  $masked = $word; 
  $masked =~ s/(.)/&fun($1)/ge; 
  print $masked, "\n"; 
  $count -= 1 unless $word =~ /$char/; 
}

if ($count <= 0) {
  print "You lost. The word was: $word\n"; 
} else { 
  print "Congratulations, you won.\n"; 
}

sub fun {
  local ($c) = @_; 
  if ($guesses =~ /$c/) { return $c; } 
  else { return "-"; } 
}
Here's a sample run (actually two) with the program. 

frilled.cs.indiana.edu%./hangman
Welcome to Hangman!

Hmm..., 25142 words to choose from. 
I'll pick: obduracy (and you don't know it).

You have 7 attempts to guess it. 
I will provide feedback. 
Let's start, here's the word: --------

***(Guesses available: 7)*** 
Please guess a character: a
So far you have entered [a].
-----a--
***(Guesses available: 7)*** 
Please guess a character: e
So far you have entered [ae].
-----a--
***(Guesses available: 6)*** 
Please guess a character: i
So far you have entered [aei].
-----a--
***(Guesses available: 5)*** 
Please guess a character: o
So far you have entered [aeio].
o----a--
***(Guesses available: 5)*** 
Please guess a character: u
So far you have entered [aeiou].
o--u-a--
***(Guesses available: 5)*** 
Please guess a character: y
So far you have entered [aeiouy].
o--u-a-y
***(Guesses available: 5)*** 
Please guess a character: h
So far you have entered [aeiouyh].
o--u-a-y
***(Guesses available: 4)*** 
Please guess a character: c
So far you have entered [aeiouyhc].
o--u-acy
***(Guesses available: 4)*** 
Please guess a character: r
So far you have entered [aeiouyhcr].
o--uracy
***(Guesses available: 4)*** 
Please guess a character: t
So far you have entered [aeiouyhcrt].
o--uracy
***(Guesses available: 3)*** 
Please guess a character: c
You aready picked c.
***(Guesses available: 3)*** 
Please guess a character: b
So far you have entered [aeiouyhcrtb].
ob-uracy
***(Guesses available: 3)*** 
Please guess a character: t
You aready picked t.
***(Guesses available: 3)*** 
Please guess a character: d
So far you have entered [aeiouyhcrtbd].
obduracy
Congratulations, you won.
frilled.cs.indiana.edu%
When we don't get the word we simply lose points. 

frilled.cs.indiana.edu%./hangman
Welcome to Hangman!

Hmm..., 25142 words to choose from. 
I'll pick: soldier (and you don't know it).

You have 7 attempts to guess it. 
I will provide feedback. 
Let's start, here's the word: -------

***(Guesses available: 7)*** 
Please guess a character: a
So far you have entered [a].
-------
***(Guesses available: 6)*** 
Please guess a character: b
So far you have entered [ab].
-------
***(Guesses available: 5)*** 
Please guess a character: c
So far you have entered [abc].
-------
***(Guesses available: 4)*** 
Please guess a character: f
So far you have entered [abcf].
-------
***(Guesses available: 3)*** 
Please guess a character: g
So far you have entered [abcfg].
-------
***(Guesses available: 2)*** 
Please guess a character: h
So far you have entered [abcfgh].
-------
***(Guesses available: 1)*** 
Please guess a character: j
So far you have entered [abcfghj].
-------
You lost. The word was: soldier
frilled.cs.indiana.edu%
Let's implement this one as a PHP script, on-line.

The question is: what do we need?

We need a way to:

So that's what we will study now. 

<? session_start(); 

   if (session_is_registered("word")) {

   } else { 
     session_register("word"); 
     $word = "ludicrous"; 
   }

   if (session_is_registered("guesses")) {

   } else { 
     session_register("guesses"); 
   }

   # instead of using ereg, and ereg_replace, use explode, and join.

   if ($reset) { $guesses = ""; } 

   $masked = ""; 

   if (!$guesses || !ereg($char, $guesses)) { 
     $guesses .= $char; 
   } 

   $chars = preg_split('//',  $word, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY); // see php.net

   for ($i = 0; $i < sizeof($chars); $i++) {
     if (ereg($chars[$i], $guesses)) {
       $masked .= $chars[$i]; 
     } else {
       $masked .= "-"; 
     }
   }

 ?>

<html><head><title>That's funny.</title></head><body bgcolor=white>

<table>

<tr> <td> The word is: <td> <font color="brown"><?=$word?></font> 

<tr> <td> Your guesses thus far: <td> <?=$guesses?> 

<tr> <td> The word for you at this stage: <td> <?=$masked?>  

</table> 

<form method="POST" action=<?=$SCRIPT_NAME?>> 

Please enter a character: <input type="text" name="char"
                                 size=1      maxsize=1> <p> 

Then push <input type="submit" value="Proceed"> 

To reset please press <input type="submit" name="reset" value="Reset"> <p> 

</form>

</body></html>
We'll develop this together, in class.

Here's a working version of this particular program (limited scope, remember).

You can finish it, and add pictures to show the current stage in the game:

And the last stage 

http://burrowww.cs.indiana.edu:10400/h6.gif
already shown above, at the beginning of the section.

Now let's clarify how we can randomly generate a random word from the file. 

<? 

   $words = file('/usr/share/lib/dict/words'); 

   echo sizeof($words), " words to choose from... <p>"; 

   $index = rand(0, sizeof($words)); 

   $word = $words[$index]; 

 ?>

<html><head><title>That's funnier.</title></head><body bgcolor=white>

I think I will choose: <font color="#0066cc"><?=$word?></font> <p> 

</body></html>
Here's my version, working.

Last updated: Oct 13, 2004 by Adrian German for A348/A548