Assignment 4 Web Graders/Oracles

Both graders and the oracles are up now.

Errors? Questions? Comments?

send email to Adam Goode (goodea@rpi.edu) for technical problems with the graders or oracles
send email to Prof. Huang (whuang@cs.rpi.edu) regarding the policies below or regarding possible errors in the grading performed by the Web grader.

whuang@cs.rpi.edu; email
Last updates: October 13; Octobor 10; October 8, 2000

The Web Grader policies

October 13: We've increased the number of attempts allowed to 4. The 4th attempt is discounted 5%, just like the third attempt. We'll still take the maximum of your four attempts (after the discount for attepmts 3 and 4). The two parts (problem 1&2 and problem 3) will have separate treatment.
You have 3 chances to upload your test your code. (This could change for future assignments.)
For this assignment, there is no "discounting" on your second attempt. There is a 5% discount on your third attempt. The underlying philosophy is that it's better if you get it on your first attempt rather than on the third. Since this is our first time with the web grader, the second attempt is not discounted.
The tester does not apply this discount! We will deduct it manually after the fact.
For this assignment, we'll take the maximum score of all your attempts.
You must submit your code to the web grader before the assignment is due. Late submissions will be penalized according to the standard late policy. The tester does not apply these penalties; we will deduct them after the fact.
The web graders will perform a basic test to make sure that your file will load and all the required functions are defined before it does an actual test of your code. It will ask you if you want to continue. If you then choose not to continue the submission, then it will not count as one of your attempts.

The Web Graders

You will have to accept the site certificate from cgi2.cs.rpi.edu to use the web graders. This is set up as a secure web server so that your Kerberos password is not transmitted in the clear.

PLEASE NOTE the change in the eval-fn function announced on the Assignment 4 tips page. The Problem 3 grader will take a little while to run several games against your evaluation function (using my alpha-beta minimax algorithm), so it will email you the results. Here are a few relevant notes:

My alpha-beta minimax search takes the first "best" move that it finds. It is therefore biased towards playing on the left side of the board.
The games will be played using your evaluation function with my alpha-beta minimax search with a depth cutoff of 4.
Your first game will be against the random player. Then, you will have two game matches against each of my two players. You go first for one of the games, my player goes first for the other.
My second player is not nearly as invincible as I would have liked...

The Oracle

In order to assist with testing your own code, I am providing an "Oracle" to which you can submit test inputs; my solutions will provide the correct answers (and perhaps more importantly, in the correct format). You can type several different inputs, and the oracle will do each one in turn.

Visit the Oracle