Re: Shuffled Poker Deck

From:
"Daniel Dyer" <"You don't need it">
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.java.programmer
Date:
Tue, 23 Jan 2007 20:54:42 -0000
Message-ID:
<op.tmmkdgy58kxvgr@jack.local>
On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:12:39 -0000, Martin Krainer =

<NOSPAMmartin.krainer@inode.at> wrote:

Hi all,
Im new to Java, and as Training for me I tried to build an Application=

,

which returns a shuffled Pokerdeck. (Random from 1 to 52)
Maybe you will laugh, but i needed a whole day to solve it, and I thin=

k =

its
even not good solution.
Well, at least it works, but please could you give me a hint, how to =

solve
this problem easier.
Heres the code:
/**
 * @(#)Poker.java
 *
 *
 * @author Martin Krainer
 * @version 1.00 2007/1/22
 */

public class Poker {

    static int[] deck = new int[52];

    void buildDeck() { // builds a deck with 52
(hopefully) different Integers
     for (int i=0; i<52; i++) {
      deck[i] = (int)(Math.random()*10E7);
     }
    }

    void shuffledDeck(int[] a) { // now here I tried hard=

  =

and
long to get a field with numbers from 1 to 52
     long[] zahl= new long[52];
     for (int i=0; i<10E7; i++) {
      for (int j=0; j<52; j++) {
       if (i == deck[j]) {
        zahl[j] = j;
        System.out.print( " " + (zahl[j]+1) );
       }
      }
     }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Poker p = new Poker();
        p.buildDeck();
        p.shuffledDeck(deck); //well, it works, but.=

...

what do you think?
    }
}


You only need to initialise your deck with the numbers between 0 and 51,=
  =

you can do this without random numbers. Another option is to use an =

enumerated type to model the playing cards. Either way, all your =

buildDeck method needs to do is to ensure that each card is different, i=
t =

doesn't matter if they are all in order at this point, you will shuffle =
 =

them later.

Don't use Math.random to generate random integers, use java.util.Random =
 =

instead. Roedy Green has a decent discussion of generating random numbe=
rs =

in Java (here http://mindprod.com/jgloss/pseudorandom.html).

Which is more important to you here, the means or the end? If you just =
 =

want to shuffle a deck as easily as possible, take a look at the shuffle=
  =

method in the java.util.Collections class. If you want to write the =

shuffling routine yourself, search for the Fisher-Yates algorithm and tr=
y =

implementing that (I believe that the java.util.Collections shuffle meth=
od =

is an implementation of this algorithm). Alternatively, try the trivial=
  =

algorithm used by PokerStars and described on their site =

(http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/features/security/).

Dan.

-- =

Daniel Dyer
https://watchmaker.dev.java.net - Evolutionary Algorithm Framework for J=
ava

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