Beginner - Help with my code.

Basically, I have a program that simulates a game of Kalah, I have an AI player that evaluates each mvoe possible to see if it is a good move.

Here is the code for this:

Code :

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package kalah;
 
public class IntelligentPlayer extends KalaPlayer {
 
    public IntelligentPlayer() {
    }
 
    public int chooseMove(KalaGameState gs) throws NoMoveAvailableException {
 
        for (int move = 1; move < 7; move++) {
            int evalValue[] = new int[7];
            int maxEval = 0;
            int maxEvalMove = 0;
 
 
            KalaGameState clone = (KalaGameState) gs.clone();
            if (clone.getNumStones(move - 1) > 0) {
                clone.getTurn();
                try {
                    clone.makeMove(move);
                } catch (IllegalMoveException ex) {
                }
                int firstScore = clone.getScore(0);
                int secondScore = clone.getScore(1);
                if (clone.playerTurn == 0) {
                    evalValue[move] = firstScore - secondScore;
                } else {
                    evalValue[move] = secondScore - firstScore;
                }
 
                if (evalValue[move] > evalValue[move - 1]) {
                    maxEval = evalValue[move];
                    maxEvalMove = move;
                }
 
            }}
 
        return maxEvalMove;}

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This is probably a retarded question, but like I said I am a beginner.

It doesn't seem to be able to find the maxEvalMove variable even though it is defined in the for loop. Any quick solutions, I tried to move the declaration of the variables outside the for loop, but the computer just plays move 0 every time.

Thanks for your help!

Local variables only exist in the block they are declared in (including any sub-blocks of that block). So declaring the variable in the for-loop block means that once you exit the for-loop, that variable will cease to exist. Note: Declaring != initializing.

Try moving the declaration of maxEvalMove outside the for loop into the main method block.

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I have done that. It seems to remove the error but it returns an incorrect value, I belive it is 0 from when it is initialised.

I think my code is wrong to calculate the correct move. Would you suggest any changes to my code?