Wed, 20 Nov 2013, 01:16

A student writes:

 
> Dear Professor Patt,
> 
> I was wondering if you could answer a simple question about program 4. For
> the game Nim, can we assume that the user types an uppercase letter and
> then a number when writing in the console? Let me know, thanks!
> 
> Sincerely,
> ************* (or you can call me: name withheld to protect the student)


Two things come to my mind.  First, I thought, "Of course not.  We can not 
assume anything about what the user would type.  The user may type A2 or 
he/she may type &$."  What should your program do if the user typed "&$"?

But then I thought, perhaps the student wanted to know if the user had to 
type a capital A, B, or C followed by an appropriate number to be a legitimate 
turn.  

That suggested that perhaps I should call you <<name withheld to protect 
the student who would rather ask than read the assignment carefully>>.

Ouch!  There I go, being mean again, expecting you to read the problem.

I am sharing this with the class (while still keeping your identity secret)
because I want to encourage everyone to read the problem statement carefully
first.  I think the answer is clearly spelled out in the statement of the
problem.

Good luck getting this done before Thanksgiving.

Yale Patt