Homework # 4 Solution

In this homework, you will re-write your game of Connect Four program in C++ using dynamic memory techniques. You will not use any vectors or constant sized arrays.




Your main class for this homework will be named ConnectFour. This class will have a private inner class named Cell to represent a Connect Four cell. The class Cell will hold the position of the cell (A, B, C, etc) and the row number (1, 2, 3, etc). This class will also include all necessary setters/getters, constructors etc. Remember a cell can be empty, user (user1, user2) or computer. You will overload the following operators for the class cell.




Operator== to compare two cells



Pre and post increment/decrement operators for cell. The ++ operator changes the cell state from empty to user1, from user1 to user2, from user2 to computer, from computer back to empty.



Stream insertion and extraction operators for cell.



Next, write a class named ConnectFour to represent and play the game. The class




ConnectFour will hold a Cell ** gameBoard data member to represent the game board as a two dimensional dynamic array.




The class ConnectFour will also have the following features and functions




There is no limit for the board. Your game will resize according to the parameter for the constructor.
There should be at least 3 constructors.
The no parameter constructor creates a 5x5 game
Another contructor takes number of rows and columns as parameters



Another constructor takes a text file as a parameter. This text file will contain the board shape marked with * characters. For example, the following is a board configuration: it has 7 rows and 17 columns. Some of the columns are shorter than the others.



***

*****

*******

*********




***********

**************

*****************




The class will have functions to read and write from files. You will decide on the file format.
The class will have functions to print the current configuration of the board to the screen.



The class will have two functions named play that plays the game for a single time step. First function does not take a parameter and it plays the computer. The second function takes a cell position and it plays the user.
The class should have a function that returns if the game ended.



The class should have a function named playGame. This function plays the game by asking the user the board file name first then asks the user to play and the computer plays, etc.



The class will overload operator== and operator !=
Any other functions (public or private) needed.



Write your main function to test both classes. Make at least 5 objects of class ConnectFour and play the games at the same time.




You will use all the object oriented techniques that we learned in the class including const, static, inline keywords.




Notes:




Do not use any functions from the standard C library (like printf)



Read the chapter about file input output for reading and writing text files using streams.



Do not use anything that we did not learn in the lectures.



Do not forget to indent your code and provide comments.



Check the validity of the user input.



Test your programs very carefully several different runs. Submit at least two saved files with your HW.



Submit at least 3 sample board configuration files.



You should submit your work to the moodle page.