Mastermind java game (non object-oriented version)

[teoaudrey]

The isColourInCode() method doesn't need to set a variable to true, it can just return true the first time the if statement is true.

The way to handle your problem is to make a copy of the secret code, find all matching pegs first and remove them from the copy (or set them to a special value denoting matched). Then look for incorrect values by checking against the copy.

Thank you!!!
I took your advice and made amendments to my code. After playing with it for hours I've finally gotten it right. The results seem alright after 50 guesses/tries by far!

Here is my updated code:

	// generates the secret code
	public static void genSecretCode() {
		String[] colours = { "RED", "ORANGE", "YELLOW", "GREEN", "BLUE",
				"PURPLE" };

		for (int index = 0; index < SIZE; index++) {
			secretCode[index] = pickRand.get(colours);
			System.out.print(secretCode[index] + " ");
		}
		
		System.out.println();

	}
	
	// duplicates the secret code
	public static void duplicateSecretCode() {
		for (int index = 0; index < SIZE; index ++) {
			dupSecretCode[index] = secretCode[index];
		}
	}



// checking for pegs of the right colour but at the incorrect position
	public static int incorrectPosition(int row) {
		int incorrectCount = 0;

		for (int col = 0; col < SIZE; col++) {

			if (isCorrectPosition(col, board[row][col])) {
				subtractFromDuplicate(col); // eg. if the dupSecretCode is RED X
											// X X X
											// and player's guess is RED RED RED RED,
											// dupSecretCode will be changed
											// to MATCHED X X X after
											// comparing the first RED.
											// Hence, the other 3 reds in RED RED RED RED will
											// not be matched against dupSecretCode's "RED" to cause a
											// repeated result
			}
		}

		for (int col = 0; col < SIZE; col++) {

			if (isColourInCode(col, board[row][col])
					&& (!isCorrectPosition(col, board[row][col]))) {
				incorrectCount++;

			}

		}
		
		duplicateSecretCode(); // duplicate the secret code again for the next iteration
		
		return incorrectCount;

	}

	// if the guessed colour and Secret Code colour at the given position is the
	// same, it is 'subtracted' and assigned a special value here
	public static void subtractFromDuplicate(int index) {
		dupSecretCode[index] = "MATCHED";

	}

	// checking if any of the colours guessed are that in the Secret Code
	public static boolean isColourInCode(int col, String board) {
		Boolean done = false;
		for (int index = 0; index < SIZE; index++) {
			if (col != index && board.equalsIgnoreCase(dupSecretCode[index]) && (!isCorrectPosition(col, board))) {
				done = true;

				subtractFromDuplicate(index); 	// eg. if the dupSecretCode is RED X X X X
												// and player's guess is RED RED RED RED,
												// dupSecretCode will be changed
												// to MATCHED X X X after
												// comparing the first RED.
												// Hence, the other 3 reds in RED RED RED RED will
												// not be matched against dupSecretCode's "RED" to cause a
												// repeated result
				break;

			}
		}
		return done;
	}

	// checking if the guessed colour in the given column tallies with the
	// Secret Code at the given column
	public static boolean isCorrectPosition(int col, String board) {
		Boolean done = false;
		if (board.equalsIgnoreCase(secretCode[col])) {
			done = true;
		}
		return done;
	}

Thank you so much!