Go over iterative development steps for Mastermind

write the code to generate a secret

write the code to compute exact matches (similar to prior homework)

write the code to loop until game over. Leave partial matches to last.

Partial Matches

Basic algorithm: Use a nested loop to compare each color in secret with each color in guess. Note that this will be 16 comparisons, which includes comparison of colors in same slot.

Demo of Nested Loop: write a program to print out all combinations of two dice.

Basic algorithm doesn't quite work, will count matches twice.

how many exacts/partials for the following:

guess="RBYY" secret="YOOO"

guess="YOOO" secret="RBYY"

guess="YOOO" secret = "YYBB"

One potential fully working algorithm (suggested):

as each match is made, cross out the matching colors in secret and guess so they don't match again.

String Manipulation

Strings are immutable, meaning you can't say:

guess[2]='x'

Lists are mutable, which you'll see later.

Problem: you have the string "RBYY" but want to change the 2nd item to "Z"

You can use range, e.g.,

string[:i] -- is the segment of string from 0 to i (not inclusive)

string[i:] -- is the segment of string from i to the end

string[1:3] -- is the segment from 1 to 2.

With such ranges and concatenation (+) you can create a string which is the existing string with a letter replaced.