[mm] / mm.6

.TH mm 6 "Mark Wooding"
.SH NAME
mm \- simple Mastermind game
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B mm
.RB [ \-CHSa ]
.RI [ holes " " colours ]
.RI [ code ...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B mm
program plays the game of Mastermind.
.SS "About the game"
In the original game,
there are a collection of coloured code pegs,
and a board.
The board has a number of rows of holes.
There are two players.
One player
\(en the code setter \(en
chooses a
.I code
\en a sequence of coloured pegs \(en and
enters it at their end of the board,
concealed by a small screen from the other player.
The other player
\(en the code guesser \(en
attempts to guess the code.
.PP
In each turn,
the guesser makes a guess
by filling in a row of holes with coloured pegs.
The setter then
.I scores
the guess.
They award a black scoring peg
for each peg in the guess which matches
the corresponding peg in the code,
i.e., the right colour in the right place.
They award a white scoring peg
for each guess peg which matches a code peg in colour
but not in position,
i.e., the right colour in the wrong place.
Each guess peg can be scored at most once.
Only the number of black or white scoring pegs matters;
the order in which they're placed on the board is irrelevant.
.PP
The game ends either if the guesser guesses the code correctly,
or if they run out of guessing rows on the board.
.SS "User interface"
Since this is a computer game,
there is no physical board on which to run out of space.
The game can therefore continue until either
the guesser successfully guesses the code,
or they give up.
.PP
Since this is a very simple program,
intended mostly to be a substrate for the computer player,
it doesn't have coloured pegs.
Instead, it uses numbers,
between zero and some upper limit specified on the command line
(see later).
The default number of `colours' is 6,
and so the numbers should be between 0 and 5 inclusive.
.PP
When a human is expected to
.I guess
a code,
they should type in a sequence of numbers
representing the desired colours, separated by whitespace,
and followed by a newline.
.PP
When a human is expected to
.I rate
a guess,
they should type the number of black scoring pegs awarded
(correct colour, correct place)
and by the number of white scoring pegs awarded
(correct colour, but wrong place),
separated by whitespace and followed by a newline.
.SS "Command-line options"
The following command-line options are recognized.
.TP
.B "\-C"
Computer guesser.
A human chooses the code,
and the computer attempts to guess.
This is the default mode.
If a code is provided on the command line,
then the computer will automatically rate its own guesses against it
(but promises not to cheat);
otherwise the human user is expected to rate the guesses.
.TP
.B "\-H"
Human guesser.
The computer chooses the code
unless one was provided on the command line
(presumably by a
.I different
human),
and the human tries to guess it.
.TP
.B "\-S"
Solver mode.
This mode can be used to cheat at some other Mastermind-ish game.
Initially, the user is expected to enter
their guesses in that other game,
and the ratings which their guesses received.
After the user has finished entering their guesses,
they should type
.RB ` . '\&
followed by a newline in place of the guess,
and the computer will start offering its own sensible guesses.
The human should relay these to the other game,
and enter the rating.
.TP
.B "\-a"
Tournament mode.
This mode simply runs the computer guesser
against every possible input code
and (eventually) reports some statistics about how well it did.
This is used to compare computer-guesser algorithms.
.SS "Command-line arguments"
Following the options, if any,
game parameters may be specified,
as a pair of numbers
.I holes
and
.IR colours .
The
.I holes
is the number of pegs in a code, and defaults to 4;
the
.I colours
is the number of differently coloured pegs, and defaults to 6.
.PP
Following the parameters, a code may be given,
as a sequence of small integers.
This is ignored in tournament and solver modes;
in the computer and human guesser modes,
it gets the computer to rate guesses against the provided code,
rather than asking the human to rate (which is surprisingly error-prone)
or getting the computer to rate against a secret, random code.
.SH BUGS
The user interface is terrible.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR guess (6)
(in Simon Tatham's portable puzzle collection).
.SH AUTHOR
Mark Wooding,
<mdw@distorted.org.uk>
Commit	Line	Data
57ecfc46 MW	1	.TH mm 6 "Mark Wooding"
	2	.SH NAME
	3	mm \- simple Mastermind game
	4	.SH SYNOPSIS
	5	.B mm
39aedf80	6	.RB [ \-CHSa ]
57ecfc46 MW	7	.RI [ holes " " colours ]
	8	.RI [ code ...]
	9	.SH DESCRIPTION
	10	The
	11	.B mm
	12	program plays the game of Mastermind.
	13	.SS "About the game"
39aedf80 MW	14	In the original game,
	15	there are a collection of coloured code pegs,
	16	and a board.
	17	The board has a number of rows of holes.
	18	There are two players.
	19	One player
	20	\(en the code setter \(en
	21	chooses a
	22	.I code
	23	\en a sequence of coloured pegs \(en and
	24	enters it at their end of the board,
	25	concealed by a small screen from the other player.
	26	The other player
	27	\(en the code guesser \(en
	28	attempts to guess the code.
57ecfc46	29	.PP
39aedf80 MW	30	In each turn,
	31	the guesser makes a guess
	32	by filling in a row of holes with coloured pegs.
	33	The setter then
57ecfc46	34	.I scores
39aedf80 MW	35	the guess.
	36	They award a black scoring peg
	37	for each peg in the guess which matches
	38	the corresponding peg in the code,
	39	i.e., the right colour in the right place.
	40	They award a white scoring peg
	41	for each guess peg which matches a code peg in colour
	42	but not in position,
	43	i.e., the right colour in the wrong place.
	44	Each guess peg can be scored at most once.
	45	Only the number of black or white scoring pegs matters;
	46	the order in which they're placed on the board is irrelevant.
57ecfc46	47	.PP
39aedf80 MW	48	The game ends either if the guesser guesses the code correctly,
	49	or if they run out of guessing rows on the board.
	50	.SS "User interface"
	51	Since this is a computer game,
	52	there is no physical board on which to run out of space.
	53	The game can therefore continue until either
	54	the guesser successfully guesses the code,
	55	or they give up.
	56	.PP
	57	Since this is a very simple program,
	58	intended mostly to be a substrate for the computer player,
	59	it doesn't have coloured pegs.
	60	Instead, it uses numbers,
	61	between zero and some upper limit specified on the command line
	62	(see later).
	63	The default number of `colours' is 6,
	64	and so the numbers should be between 0 and 5 inclusive.
	65	.PP
	66	When a human is expected to
	67	.I guess
	68	a code,
	69	they should type in a sequence of numbers
	70	representing the desired colours, separated by whitespace,
	71	and followed by a newline.
	72	.PP
	73	When a human is expected to
	74	.I rate
	75	a guess,
	76	they should type the number of black scoring pegs awarded
	77	(correct colour, correct place)
	78	and by the number of white scoring pegs awarded
	79	(correct colour, but wrong place),
	80	separated by whitespace and followed by a newline.
	81	.SS "Command-line options"
	82	The following command-line options are recognized.
	83	.TP
	84	.B "\-C"
	85	Computer guesser.
	86	A human chooses the code,
	87	and the computer attempts to guess.
	88	This is the default mode.
	89	If a code is provided on the command line,
	90	then the computer will automatically rate its own guesses against it
	91	(but promises not to cheat);
	92	otherwise the human user is expected to rate the guesses.
	93	.TP
	94	.B "\-H"
	95	Human guesser.
	96	The computer chooses the code
	97	unless one was provided on the command line
	98	(presumably by a
	99	.I different
	100	human),
	101	and the human tries to guess it.
	102	.TP
	103	.B "\-S"
	104	Solver mode.
	105	This mode can be used to cheat at some other Mastermind-ish game.
	106	Initially, the user is expected to enter
	107	their guesses in that other game,
	108	and the ratings which their guesses received.
	109	After the user has finished entering their guesses,
	110	they should type
	111	.RB ` . '\&
112	followed by a newline in place of the guess,
113	and the computer will start offering its own sensible guesses.
114	The human should relay these to the other game,
115	and enter the rating.
116	.TP
117	.B "\-a"
118	Tournament mode.
119	This mode simply runs the computer guesser
120	against every possible input code
121	and (eventually) reports some statistics about how well it did.
122	This is used to compare computer-guesser algorithms.
123	.SS "Command-line arguments"
124	Following the options, if any,
125	game parameters may be specified,
126	as a pair of numbers
127	.I holes
128	and
129	.IR colours .
130	The
131	.I holes
132	is the number of pegs in a code, and defaults to 4;
133	the
134	.I colours
135	is the number of differently coloured pegs, and defaults to 6.
136	.PP
137	Following the parameters, a code may be given,
138	as a sequence of small integers.
139	This is ignored in tournament and solver modes;
140	in the computer and human guesser modes,
141	it gets the computer to rate guesses against the provided code,
142	rather than asking the human to rate (which is surprisingly error-prone)
143	or getting the computer to rate against a secret, random code.
144	.SH BUGS
145	The user interface is terrible.
146	.SH SEE ALSO
147	.BR guess (6)
148	(in Simon Tatham's portable puzzle collection).
149	.SH AUTHOR
150	Mark Wooding,
151	<mdw@distorted.org.uk>