could use some help with this problem! I've been working on it for days but cant seem to get it right !

[Ben Bacarisse]

Marc Cohen <mcohenact at gmail.com> writes:

> USING PYTHON 2:

Why is that?

> Write a program to play this game. This may seem tricky, so break it
> down into parts. Like many programs, we have to use nested loops (one
> loop inside another). In the outermost loop, we want to keep playing
> until we are out of stones.

You almost never /have/ to use nested loops.  Has the course got this
far without introducing the idea of a function?

<snip>
> So, the basic outline of the program should be something like this:
>
> totalStones = 100
>
> maxStones = 5

maxTake or maxMove might be a more helpful name.

> pile = TOTAL # all stones are in the pile to start
>
> while [pile is not empty]:
>
> while [player 1's answer is not valid]:
>
> [ask player 1]
>
> [execute player1’s move]
>
> Do the same for player 2…. (this can be achieved by a for loop)

Is the idea for the program to play an optimal strategy for player 2, or
is the program simply doing the housekeeping -- verifying moves and
tracing the pile of stones?

<snip>
-- 
Ben.