Unfortunately the virtual machine that the code is supposed to run on has a very old version of g++ installed that doesn't fully support C++17.

In particular the standard library header <charconv> which we use for portable best-practice reading of numbers in strings, does not seem to be present on the WPU.

We may need to place some sort of workaround in place or force ourselves to use inferior code from older standards.

While we have a rough goal ahead of us - the creation of a terminal-based implementation of Battleships (apparently the english name of "Schiffe versenken"), we have yet to divide the project into concrete requirements and neither made any issues to reflect open questions and pending work items.

Hopefully, the process of formulating and discussing on issues will allow us to anticipate possible problems and agree on APIs between different parts of the code so we can more easily work in parallel.

I intend to use this issue as a meta-workitem for this process of splitting the project into actionable issues and a place for general architectural discussion.

Followup of #8

This project still uses version 4.4.1, even though 4.5.0 has been out for some time.

Since I'm the one who configured this job and knows the most about CI in our group, I'll handle this task.

This could make the game prettier and easier to understand/parse.

Both generating a random but sensical board with no overlapping ships and writing the function(s) needed to output it (collaboration with GUI)

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 A|   |   |   |   |   | X |   | X |   | X |   |   |   |   |   |A
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 B|   |   |   | X |   | X |   | X |   | X |   | X |   |   |   |B
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 C|   |   |   | X |   | X |   | X |   | X |   | X |   |   |   |C
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 D|   |   |   | X |   | X |   |   |   | X |   | X |   |   |   |D
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 E|   |   |   | X |   | X |   |   |   | X |   | X |   |   |   |E
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 F|   |   |   |   |   | X |   |   |   | X |   |   |   |   |   |F
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 G|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | X | X | X |   |G
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 H| X | X | X |   |   |   |   | X |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |H
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 I|   |   |   |   |   |   |   | X |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |I
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 J| X | X | X | X | X |   |   | X |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |J
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 K|   |   |   |   |   |   |   | X |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |K
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 L|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |L
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 M|   |   |   |   | X | X | X | X |   |   | X | X | X | X | X |M
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 N|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |N
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 O|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |O
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The code works but the constraints placed on it are too tight (maybe impossible).
I can only get it to work if one of the following is done:

1. Increase grid (board) size
2. Reduce number and/or sizes of ships
3. Drop requirement that two ships must not touch each other

Originally posted by @jotoho in #18 (comment)

When testing PR #15, I discovered a previously-unknown issue with src/output.cpp.

While it hasn't caused any visible defects until now, this should still be fixed since it may cause hard-to-debug issues in the future.

The exact output of the AddressSanitizer can be found in my original comment on PR #15

There should be two functions.

• clearScreen(): Reset the screen (by invoking system executable "clear")
• printGameBoard(gamegrid): Output the field in coordinate grid to STDOUT

Update README with new instructions on usage and compilation.

Since the README was originally authored, lots of things about the project were decided and changed. This means the README can finally be finished.

I suspect that the current AI code may have trouble if the rand call were to decide on stepping in a direction that would make it leave the board. This special case probably needs to be specially considered.

Ping: @Pfege

This project should get a README with (at least):

• a description of the project
• how to use
• build requirements / run requirements (if any)
• supported systems
• compilation instructions
• (copyright information?)

The README should also be in markdown format (README.md) and placed in the root directory of the project repository.

Currently the only way for players to know how many ships of each size are on the field for themselves and their opponent is to either look it up in the source code or to painstakingly count the amount and sizes of the enemies ships when they are shown.

This is obviously rather user unfriendly, which I wish that the game shows which ships sizes there are and their population on the tutorial screen. The required information can be read from the ShipDistribution configuration.

All the code necessary for the computer to make a somewhat reasonable shot and apply it to the board.

The code files in tests/ are not proper unit-tests, already partially broken and are no longer necessary. They served as a way to work with parts of the programs logic before the main game logic and main function were in place but serve no purpose now.

I propose to delete the tests/ directory and all files within. If we ever need them again, they are preserved in git history.

Once the project is nearing finalization, I should write a Makefile to enable easy and quick compilation on virtually all unix-based Operating Systems.

The struct BoardPoint is quite large and doesn't fully fit into the purpose of fieldinfo.hpp and both it and connected util functions would be better located in their own part of the code.

• Extract BoardPoint from fieldinfo.hpp into a dedicated cpp file.
• Create header file and split struct definition from method implementations
• Move util functions from board-generator.cpp into those files

During the early phases of development we have focused on functionality at the expense of readability. This should be addressed before delivery.

We intend to add comments while doing a group review of the full project close to the deadline.