Computer Programming Concepts and Visual Basic David I. Schneider

Section 6 Programming Projects 213
(b) An individual dies if he has more than three individuals or less than two in
neighboring squares.
(c) A new individual is born into each empty square with exactly three individuals
as neighbors.
Figure 6-16(b) shows the status after one generation. Write a program to do the
following:
(a) Dimension an n-by-n array, where n is input by the user, to hold the status
of each square in the current generation. To specify the initial configuration,
have the user input each row as a string of length n, and break the row into
1’s or dashes with Mid.
(b) Dimension an n-by-n array to hold the status of each square in the next generation.
Compute the status for each square and produce the display in
Figure 6-16(b). Note: The generation changes all at once. Only current cells
are used to determine which cells will contain individuals in the next
generation.
(c) Assign the next-generation values to the current generation and repeat as
often as desired.
(d) Display the number of individuals in each generation.
Hint: The hardest part of the program is determining the number of neighbors a cell has. In
general, you must check a 3-by-3 square around the cell in question. Exceptions must be made
when the cell is on the edge of the array. Don’t forget that a cell is not a neighbor of itself.
(Test the program with the initial configuration shown in Figure 6-17. It is known as the figure-eight
configuration and repeats after eight generations.)
FIGURE 6-16 Two Generations FIGURE 6-17 The Figure Eight
9. Simulate the game Concentration. The Form_Load routine should create an
array of 20 command buttons placed vertically on a form. A list of 10 words
should be randomly assigned as potential captions for the buttons, with each
word assigned to two command buttons. Initially, none of the buttons should
show their words. However, when a button is clicked on, its word is revealed as
its caption. After two words have been revealed, either both of the command
buttons should become invisible (if their words match) or their captions should
again become blank (if the two words do not match). When all matches have
been found, a message box should display the number of tries (pairs of words
exposed) and an appropriate remark about the user’s concentration ability. Possible
remarks might be, “You must have ESP” (less than 14 tries), “Amazing
concentration” (14 to 20 tries), “Can’t hide anything from you” (21 to 28 tries),
“Perhaps a nap would recharge your concentration” (29 to 37 tries), and “Better
find a designated driver” (more than 37 tries).