CS173: Intro to Computer Science - Words with Classmates (100 Points)

Assignment Goals

The goals of this assignment are:
  1. To manipulate String variables

Background Reading and References

Please refer to the following readings and examples offering templates to help get you started:

The Assignment

In this lab, you will manipulate Strings by playing a game we will call “Words with Classmates” based on the Wordle game.

Part 1: The Program

Step 1: Choosing a Secret 5-Letter Word from a Dictionary

We provide a dictionary file that you can download into your project and read into a series of String variables, one line at a time. Read the dictionary file, one line at a time, and, for each word, if it is exactly 5 letters in length, use a random number generator to flip a coin and randomly select it with some probability. If you get to the end of the file and haven’t returned a word yet, return any 5 letter word that you found. Let’s call this word your secret word. You may wish to convert this String to an upper-case String to facilitate our comparisons later.

Adding a File to your Project

When you save the dictionary file to your computer, you can go to NetBeans and choose the File -> Open File menu. Choose the dictionary file. If you then go to the File -> Save As menu, you can navigate to and double click on your project directory (this directory might be in your user home directory under a directory called NetBeansProjects). After double clicking on your project directory, save your file under your project directory. You can then open your file using the code below, and read the file as you normally would.

File f = new File("words_alpha.txt");

Step 2: Comparing a User-Entered Guess to the Secret Word

Print out five asterisk (“*”) characters to the screen to represent that the word has not yet been solved. Give the player an opportunity to type in a 5-letter word as their guess. For each letter in your guess, if the corresponding letter in the secret word is the correct letter and in the correct position in the secret word, print that correct letter to the screen in upper-case. If the letter is in the secret word but not in the correct position as given in the guess, print this letter in lower-case. If the letter is not in the secret word at all, print an asterisk.

Thus, if the secret word is SAUCE, and the user guesses SIREN, you would print S**e*, because the S in SIREN is in the correct position in the secret word SAUCE, but there is no I, R, or N in SAUCE, so asterisks would be printed in those positions, and the lower-case e gets printed in its position in the word SIREN, but in lower-case to indicate that it belongs somewhere else in the secret word.

Return true if the user has won the game by guessing all 5 letters in the correct position, and false otherwise.

Hints about the Approach

Consider writing a function checkGuess that accepts a String parameter representing your guess, and a String parameter representing the secret word. For each character, if they match, you can append that uppercase character to your result String. If they don’t match, check if secret.contains(guess.substring(i, i+1)), which will tell you if the current guess letter exists within the secret word. Since you have already checked whether they match in the current position, you now know that the character is osmewhere in the secret word, but not in the correct position! Output a lowercase character here. Otherwise, you can putput an asterisk to indicate that the current guess letter isn’t in the secret word.

Step 3: Implementing the Program to Call these Functions

In main, allow the user to guess up to 5 times, and let the user know if they’ve won the game by guessing all the letters (if they win prior to making 5 guesses, you can exit the loop and the program early!).

It is a good idea to make the number of guesses (and even the number of letters in the word) customizable in case you change your mind later. Make sure that your parameter values (for example, 5 guesses, 5 letter words, and the probability of selecting a word from the dictionary file) are all variables or function parameters so that they can be customized easily.

Part 2: Unit Tests

Add appropriate unit tests for all non-main functions that you write, and ensure that they pass!

Extra Credit (10%): Color Coding the Output

Feel free to look up how to print in color - correct positions in green, incorrect positions in yellow, and missing letters in any color you’d like!

Finishing Touches and Writeup

Don’t forget to test your program with several different inputs to help verify that things work the way you expect! Think in terms of trying to break your program; if it’s really hard to “trick” your program into getting the wrong answer, you’ve probably done a good job making your code robust.

Also, check the Style Guide to make sure that you’ve written high quality code; make sure your code is “readable,” well indented, uses good variable names, and includes good comments throughout the program.

When you’re done, write a README for your project, and save all your files, before exporting your project to ZIP. In your README, answer any bolded questions presented on this page. In addition, write a few paragraphs describing what you did, how you did it, and how to use your program. If your program requires the user to type something in, describe that here. If you wrote functions to help solve your problem, what are they, and what do they do? Imagine that you are giving your program to another student in the class, and you want to explain to them how to use it. What would you tell them? Imagine also that another student had given you the functions that you wrote for your program: what would you have wished that you knew about how to call those functions?

Exporting your Project for Submission

Here is a video tutorial describing how to write a README for your project, and how to export it. Be sure to save your README file before exporting the project, so that your work is included in the submission!

For Fun: Choosing the Most Informative Wordle Guess

Here is an interesting video from 3Blue1Brown describing the process by which one might select a Wordle guess that optimizes your chances of winning. He talks about some background in Information Theory, which is a mechanism by which we can quantify how much information we get – in other words, by how much we narrow down the possible answers given a guess.

Design Questions to Help You Begin

Please answer the following questions in your README file before you begin writing your program.
  1. What functions do you need to write to solve this problem? Before you begin, sketch them out first on paper or in a text file, and describe which functions you would call from main and in what order.
  2. What String functions can you use to help you solve this problem more easily?

Submission

In your submission, please include answers to any questions asked on the assignment page in your README file. If you wrote code as part of this assignment, please describe your design, approach, and implementation in your README file as well. Finally, include answers to the following questions:
  • Describe what you did, how you did it, what challenges you encountered, and how you solved them.
  • Please answer any questions found throughout the narrative of this assignment.
  • If collaboration with a buddy was permitted, did you work with a buddy on this assignment? If so, who? If not, do you certify that this submission represents your own original work?
  • Please identify any and all portions of your submission that were not originally written by you (for example, code originally written by your buddy, or anything taken or adapted from a non-classroom resource). It is always OK to use your textbook and instructor notes; however, you are certifying that any portions not designated as coming from an outside person or source are your own original work.
  • Approximately how many hours it took you to finish this assignment (I will not judge you for this at all...I am simply using it to gauge if the assignments are too easy or hard)?
  • Your overall impression of the assignment. Did you love it, hate it, or were you neutral? One word answers are fine, but if you have any suggestions for the future let me know.
  • Any other concerns that you have. For instance, if you have a bug that you were unable to solve but you made progress, write that here. The more you articulate the problem the more partial credit you will receive (it is fine to leave this blank).

Assignment Rubric

Description Pre-Emerging (< 50%) Beginning (50%) Progressing (85%) Proficient (100%)
Algorithm Implementation (40%) The algorithm fails on the test inputs due to major issues, or the program fails to compile and/or run The algorithm fails on the test inputs due to one or more minor issues The algorithm is implemented to solve the problem correctly according to given test inputs, but would fail if executed in a general case due to a minor issue or omission in the algorithm design or implementation A reasonable algorithm is implemented to solve the problem which correctly solves the problem according to the given test inputs, and would be reasonably expected to solve the problem in the general case
Test Cases (20%) Testing was performed outside of the unit test framework, or not performed at all Trivial test cases are provided in a unit test framework Test cases that cover some, but not all, boundary cases and branches of the program are provided Test cases that cover all boundary cases and branches of the program are provided
Code Indentation and Spacing (10%) Code indentation and spacing are generally inappropriate or inconsistent Code indentation or spacing are generally appropriate but inconsistent in a few isolated instances Code indentation or spacing are appropriate or consistent, with minor adjustments needed Code indentation and spacing are appropriate and consistent
Code Quality (10%) Prior code quality feedback and style guide standards are not reflected in the submitted code to a great extent Code quality conforms to several standards in the course Style Guide, and progress is demonstrated in improving code quality from prior feedback Code quality conforms to the standards in the course Style Guide to a great extent, with a few identified areas of improvement Code quality substantially conforms to the standards in the course Style Guide
Code Documentation (10%) Code commenting and structure are absent, or code structure departs significantly from best practice Code commenting and structure is limited in ways that reduce the readability of the program; specifically, javadoc style comments are present for some functions Code documentation is present that re-states the explicit code definitions Code is documented at non-trivial points in a manner that enhances the readability of the program; specifically, javadoc style comments are present for all functions
Writeup and Submission (10%) An incomplete submission is provided, or the README file submitted is blank The program is submitted, but not according to the directions in one or more ways (for example, because it is lacking a readme writeup or missing answers to written questions) The program is submitted according to the directions with a minor omission or correction needed, including a readme writeup describing the solution and answering nearly all questions posed in the instructions The program is submitted according to the directions, including a readme writeup describing the solution and answering all questions posed in the instructions

Please refer to the Style Guide for code quality examples and guidelines.