Implementation of Heuristic Algorithms for Board Games

Implementation of Heuristic Algorithms for Board Games

Practical Software Course, Summer Semester 2015

News

  • 25:02 – Dates for the plenary meetings have been set

Plenary meetings

Date Time Location
09.04 11:00-12:00 5055
20.04 15:00-16:00 9U10 (E3)
04.05 15:00-16:00 9U10 (E3)
18.05 15:00-16:00 9U10 (E3)
08.06 15:00-16:00 9U10 (E3)
29.06 15:00-16:00 9U10 (E3)
TBA TBA TBA (E3)

Group meetings

Location: Room 4201b (2nd floor E1, i2 Seminar room)

Group Day Time

1

Thursday

10:00

2

Wednesday

13:00

3

Thursday

10:20

4

Wednesday

13:20

5

Monday 27.04
Friday (rest)

11:40
10:00

6

Thursday

9:40
7 Thursday 10:40
8 Wednesday 13:40

Discussion Group

Use the mailinglist swp-i2-2015-pm AT lab9.sselab.de for general and technical questions and discussions among students. Students are urged to answer other student’s questions.

Topics and Goals

The aim of the course is the implementation of a strong computer player for an extended version of Reversi. At the end of the course, a competition will be held between the developed computer players and a ranking is set up. The top of the ranking is the winner of the competition, and additional points to the final grade will be awarded to the winner.
During the course, techniques and concepts for creating stronger computer players are introduced incrementally which are expected to be studied and understood by the student. The course covers the following topics:

  • Client network socket programming
  • Mini-max and paranoid search
  • Alpha-beta pruning
  • Iterative deepening
  • Move sorting
  • Aspiration windows
  • Game state rating heuristics
  • Empirical algorithmic efficiency analysis
  • Performance and memory profiling
  • Technical writing and reporting

Lab organisers are Harold Bruintjes

References

Remarks

  • The language for this course will be English.
  • The implementation is expected to be in Java or C++.
  • Reports have to handled in a clearly defined location in your Git repository.
  • Attendance of every meeting is mandatory.
  • Students are expected to form and work in groups of 3 students.
  • Grades are based on the quality of the written reports, the quality of the source code, the strength of the AI, team play and work attitude.