Is it possible to decrement counter within a condition?

i am trying to detect a jokerStraightFlush when analysing a poker hand. I need to add a feature where this hand works 8S JK 6S JK 4S. The JK are jokers. I am using the exact same code logic as https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/38821/Make-a-poker-hand-evalutator-in-Java.

cardsTable represents the distribution of the Card ranks present in the hand. Each element of this array represents the amount of card of that rank(from 1 to 13, 1 being ace) present in the hand. So for 8S JK 6S JK 4S, the distribution would be

0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

note that the position 1 is for ace (because it’s simpler)

I need to find a way to detect if cardsTable[i] == 1 failed and decrement the amount of jokers used (numberOfJokers) to detect a jokerStraightFlush because in this incomplete piece of code, numberOfJokers dont decrement and i dont know how to write it in a nice way. What i do here is i check if the card at this rank exists cardsTable[i] == 1 or if its a joker… but i dont know how to check for a joker in the others consecutive rankings

I dont know if i’m clear, it’s a twisted situation.. if i’m not let me know.

straight = false; // assume no straight
int numberOfJokers = 2; //(the maximum number of jokers in a hand is 2)
for (int i = 1; i <= 9; i++) { // can't have straight with lowest value of more than 10
numberOfJokers = 2 //reset the number of jokers available after each loop
    if ((cardsTable[i] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0) &&
        (cardsTable[i + 1] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0) &&
        (cardsTable[i + 2] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0) &&
        (cardsTable[i + 3] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0) &&
        (cardsTable[i + 4] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0)) {
        straight = true;
        break;
    }
}

I also have this code but i don’t know how to detect if the first condition failed so i can decrement the number of jokers remaining.

for (int i = 1; i <= 9; i++) {
numberOfJokers = 2
if (cardsTable[i] == 1 || numberOfJokers>0) {
    if (cardsTable[i + 1] == 1 || numberOfJokers>0) {
        if (cardsTable[i + 2] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0) {
            if (cardsTable[i + 3] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0) {
                if (cardsTable[i + 4] == 1 || numberOfJokers > 0) {
                    straight = true;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
}

Answer

Due to “short-circuiting” behaviour, you don’t need to detect the left operand of a || resulted in true: the right operand gets evaluated if the left one was false, only.
(cardsTable[i + c] == 1 || numberOfJokers-- > 0) would work; note that (numberOfJokers-- > 0 || cardsTable[i + c] == 1) would not.

Whether or not such code is maintainable or readable is an independent consideration, as is the quality of the overall approach to problem and solution.

Advertisement

Answer