Recursive Method

[emschorsch]

I am getting a stack overflow error when I run the driver window for my tic tac toe ai.

public int comp(String[] board, int[] moves, int x, int index){
    if(index==9)
      return 50;
    if(humanWin(board))
      return 100;
    if(compWin(board))
      return moves[x];
    moves=posMoves(board);
    if(index%2==0)
    {
      board[moves[x]]="x";
    comp(board, moves, x++, index++);
    }
    else
    {
      board[moves[x]]="o";
    comp(board, moves, x++, index++);
    }
    return 100;
  }

The method posMoves returns an array of integers with all the possible moves given the current board. compWin and humanWin clearly test for whether the computer or the player won both those methods are good and work I'm sure of it. If you would like me to post any other methods please tell me. I would just like someone to give me an idea of what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying to learn to write ai and on that note if anyone has any tips for how to go about doing that or whether I should start by learning something else first please let me know.
Many thanks,
Emschorsch

[Fubarable]

If you're getting a stackoverflow for a recursive methods, there's a good chance that your method's stop condition is never satisfied and so the method never ends until it runs out of memory. The location of the error may help you as would println statements.

[emschorsch]

it says it comes from line 13 which is where I call compWin. But I thought it must be a mistake because that doesnt make any sense. After that it says 1000 times it comes from line 21 which is the comp(board...) line of the following
if(index%2==0)
{
board[moves[x]]="x";
comp(board, moves, x++, index++);
}

[Fubarable]

Aha,... You have a big problem passing index++ as a parameter. Do you understand what this does? It's always smart to do your increment on a separate line as the extra file real estate is minimal and the code clarity and reduced bugs are well worth it.

If you are not clear what I mean, do a println of your index variable and tell me if it changes like you expect it to.

[emschorsch]

Wow thank you, you were right on the money. Why does that happen it seems to me like they are identical expressions. Now I'm running into the issue of an out of bound error because I return 100 in the case of a tie. But I won't bother you with giving away how to solve that. Do you have any advice for my second question regarding ai though?

[Junky]

Or change it to a preincrement. Then again both options might be wrong and this is might be what you want:

comp(board, moves, (x+1), (index+1));

[Fubarable]

index++ pass the original index to the new method and then increments the index variable whereas ++index increments the variable and then passes it to the method.

For example swap the comments in this code to see this in action:

public class RecursiveFoo {
   private static final int INDEX_MAX = 100;

   public static void recurse(int index) {
      if (index > INDEX_MAX) {
         return;
      } else {
         System.out.println("index is: " + index);

         // recurse(index++);
         recurse(++index);
      }
   }
   
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      recurse(1);
   }
}

But for my money, if you want to increment the variable then use it, do the incrementation on its own line; that way there's no ambiguity. Note you have the same problem with other variables.

[emschorsch]

Ya I changed all of them to increment on the line before. But more importantly thanks for the explanation. I never knew that there was a difference where the + is placed and now I know, thank you. Also can you just tell me what in your mind are prerequisites to trying to program say a chess ai. Meaning in terms of specific expertise in Java should I work on just learning more about java first? Again thank you, you've been immensely helpful.

[Fubarable]

First learn basic Java before even considering any aspect of AI.

[Junky]

Just to illustrate my point above:

class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        countDownFromTwentyWrong(7);
        System.out.println();
        countDownFromTwentyCorrect(7);
    }
    
    public static void countDownFromTwentyWrong(int num) {
        if(num < 20) {
            countDownFromTwentyWrong(++num);
        }
        System.out.println(num);
    }
    
    public static void countDownFromTwentyCorrect(int num) {
        if(num < 20) {
            countDownFromTwentyCorrect(num+1);
        }
        System.out.println(num);
    }    
}

[emschorsch]

First learn basic Java before even considering any aspect of AI.

I felt like I kindof understood basic java but maybe I'm wrong. So what reveals my ignorance or is it just kindof a general feel?

Also thank you Junky that gave me a better idea of what exactly happens.

[Fubarable]

I felt like I kindof understood basic java but maybe I'm wrong. So what reveals my ignorance or is it just kindof a general feel?

Also thank you Junky that gave me a better idea of what exactly happens.

I just kind of figured you were newbie as you didn't know the difference between ++i and i++.