Reasons for clean code from personal experience.
Today was all about minimax. I can write about that later but I wanted to mention a misstep I took today.
I have been training on Clean Code principles and TDD.
Here are a few bullet points regarding Clean code:
# Readable and Understandable:
#
# Consistent Formatting:
#
# Descriptive Naming:
#
# Modular and Small Functions:
#
# Avoid Code Duplication:
#
# Refactor as Needed:
#
# Keep It Simple:
I missed the last bullet point. In my infinite wisdom I knew an outcome of the function would be a string. There were 3 possible strings the function would return and a None as well. These strings were long.
The strings were similar but had small differences. As I was making it a thought occurred which was to make another function in order to make things simpler. I continued.
When it came to test the function,I copied the 3 long whole strings as the answer. When it came to combining all of the functions into an Unbeatable AI there were 2 errors.
Errors
The first which was not mentioned was a python specific problem.
I copied a list of lists(matrix) using copy() however that is only a shallow copy, this caused problems while using minimax. I had to use deepcopy() in order to make minmax work. This was a learning opportunity and not really a mistake. Here is a brief description below.
“A shallow copy constructs a new compound object and then (to the extent possible) inserts references into it to the objects found in the original. A deep copy constructs a new compound object and then, recursively, inserts copies into it of the objects found in the original.”
The second error was my fault because I did not keep things simple and add more functions when they should have been. Minimax was looking for the ending of the game to be signaled by this string, and I copy and pasted this string.
#first equation signaling either X or O wrong
def check_if_game_over(board):
row_winner = row_win(board) #row_win(board) return X or O
if row_winner:
return f"Congrats {row_win(board)} wins!"
#below is what was used in minimax to check if O won, Notice the difference?
def O_wins(gamestate):
if cg.check_if_game_over(gamestate) == "Congrats O wins":
return True
return False
#it's the exclamation mark.
I can’t believe an exclamation mark would cause so much trouble. In the sensitive world of programming, that can make all the difference.
Now I realize I need to check if row_win(board) == 'O' This would make it much simpler to check if O wins or not. Rather than the long string which increases the changes to make a mistake.
So although I have been mostly adhering to the Clean Coders principles, I need to make sure I stay disciplined all of the time. It’s when you cut corners when you make mistakes.
Merl