Need Help With The Code Background Stepwise Refinement
Need Help With The Codebackgroundstepwise Refinement Is A Low Level D
Background: Stepwise refinement is a low level design technique in which the programmer writes pseudo-code for what the program is supposed to do in steps, expanding non-obvious steps at each iteration of the process. Eventually, the stepwise refinement will be an almost step by step guideline to the implementation of the program. Objective: The main objective of this assignment is to assess students’ ability to apply the stepwise refinement process to develop a new algorithm and carry that through to the implementation of the program. Implementation must follow the top-down design approach, where the solution starts by describing the general functionality of a program. Next, more details are provided in successive steps to refine the implementation.
Problem Description: You are to implement a variant of the Hangman game, where a player must find a hidden, knowing only the first letter and number of letters in the word. The player selects a letter. If the letter is part of the word, the hidden word is updated with all occurrences of the letter. All used letters must be displayed to the player. In this variant, the player has 5 lives. Every time a letter is guessed correctly the player gains a life. If a letter is guessed wrong, a life is removed. The game terminates if all lives are lost. If a player guesses a word correctly, another word is displayed, and game continues until the player chooses all words correctly or loses all lives. There is a total of 15 words which are read from a file.
Task: Your task is to apply the technique of stepwise refinement to design an algorithm for the Hangman game. You are provided with a function to read the words and store in a string array. Hint : A string’s individual characters can be accessed as if it was an array of characters. string x = “hello”; char y = x[1] //stores character ‘e’ in y How to Write Step-Wise Refinement Use a text editor ( e.g. , the Code::Blocks editor or Notepad) to write the first pseudo-code statement of the problem. Next, add more statements that support the implementation of that first pseudo-code statement. Each time you refine a step, copy and paste the current version of the program design to the end of the text file, then make the change within that pasted version. Stick to the instructor's convention of using a different number of *s to indicate the level of expansion applicable to each statement (see example below). When the design is complete, the text file will contain a complete record of the design process used to reach the final design. The text file you submit may be quite lengthy and should show the entire process. Do not remove anything and do not just submit the final iteration. Below is a partial example of stepwise refinement (Note it is only a partial example and has nothing to do with the program for this assignment.): main.cpp #include #include #include #include #include using namespace std; void ReadWords(string words[], int numWords); int main() { int numWords = 15; string words[numWords]; return 0; } void Play(string words[], int numWords){ } void ReadWords(string words[], int numWords){ ifstream infile; infile.open("words.txt"); if(!infile) cout>words[i]; } infile.close(); } void PressKeyToContinue(){ string x; cout>x; }
Paper For Above instruction
The development of a Hangman game through stepwise refinement involves systematic decoupling of the problem into manageable subproblems, allowing incremental development and testing. This process begins with a high-level description of the game, which is then progressively detailed to include specific functionalities such as word selection, user input handling, game state management, and display updates. This essay documents the stepwise refinement process applied to designing a C++ implementation of the Hangman game, emphasizing the top-down approach as instructed.
Step 1: Define the Main Program Flow
At the highest level, the main function initializes the game, loads the list of words, and controls the game loop. The abstraction suggests that the main should do the following: read words from a file, initialize the game state, and repeatedly play rounds until the player chooses to stop or loses all lives. Pseudo-code:
main() {
Load words from file
continuePlaying = true
while (continuePlaying) {
Initialize game variables (lives, selected word)
Play one round of Hangman
Ask user if they want to continue
}
}
Step 2: Implement Word Loading Function
The program must read 15 words from a text file into an array. This is achieved through a dedicated function, ReadWords. The function opens the file, reads each word into the array, then closes the file. Refinement:
void ReadWords(string words[], int numWords) {
open file "words.txt"
for (i=0; i
read word into words[i]
}
close file
}
Step 3: Define the Structure of a Single Game Round
A game round involves initializing the game state, then repeatedly prompting the player for a guess, updating the display, and checking game conditions. The high-level PlayRound function encapsulates this logic:
Pseudo-code:
PlayRound(words[], numWords) {
select a random word from words
initialize hidden word with first letter revealed, others hidden
set lives to 5
initialize usedLetters set
repeat {
display current state (hidden word, used letters, remaining lives)
prompt user for a letter
if letter in word and not used before:
reveal all occurrences in hidden word
gain a life
else if letter not in word:
deduct a life
add letter to usedLetters
check if word is completely revealed or lives == 0
}
if all words guessed:
end game
else:
ask if continue or not
}
Step 4: Refine the Guess Handling Logic
Handling player's input involves checking whether the guessed letter is in the word, updating the display, and managing lives accordingly. To facilitate this, auxiliary functions are employed:
- UpdateHiddenWord: reveals all instances of the guessed letter.
- DisplayGameState: shows current progress, used letters, lives left.
- GetPlayerGuess: accepts and validates input from user.
- AskContinue: prompts for continuation decision.
Step 5: Integrate All Components
The final step combines all the refined functions into the main program. Adopting a top-down approach, main() calls ReadWords to load the data, then executes the game loop involving selecting a new word, playing a round, and checking conditions. Implementation details such as random selection (using rand()) and data structures for used letters and word display status are also specified.
Conclusion
Applying stepwise refinement in designing the Hangman game ensures a clear structure and manageable development process. Each refinement stage adds detail, progressively transforming a broad description into concrete, testable functions. The top-down approach facilitates logical decomposition, which is fundamental in software engineering. Through careful planning and systematic detailing, the final implementation aligns with the problem specifications, providing a robust and interactive Hangman game consistent with academic standards and best practices.
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