C#•4w ago

My First Ever C-Sharp Mini Project!

Hey there! I've invested 6 hours in learning C# so far and cleared the basics overall/got a rough idea of the syntax. I'm a python programmer working with that language for over a year. After finishing the basics, I just made my first C# minigame, RPS nothing too crazy. The goal was to achieve a program with the properties: -> The program takes input from the user -> Until the input is rock, paper or scissor, the program asks the user to re-try because invalid input -> There are aliases for rock, paper and scissor such as r, p and s. So if a user types r the program should automatically understand that they are picking rock and continue from there. -> Making computer pick a random choice from RPS -> Declaring the win/loss with a custom message. I succeeded in achieving it without external help yippies and here's what the code looks like:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace ConsoleApp1
{
    internal class RPS
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            
            List<string>  PossibleChoices  = new List<string> {"rock", "paper", "scissor"};
                      
            // A dictionary that stores alternative names for RPS entires
            Dictionary<string, List<string> > ChoicesDictionary = new Dictionary<string, List<string>> 
            {
                { "rock" , new List<string> {"rock", "rocks", "r"} },
                { "paper" , new List<string> {"papers", "p", "paper"} },
                { "scissor" , new List<string> {"s", "scissors", "scissor"} },
            };

            
            // A dictionary that tells who wins against who
            Dictionary <string, string> WinsAgainst = new Dictionary<string, string> 
            {
                { "rock" , "scissor"},
                { "paper" , "rock"},
                { "scissor" , "paper"},
            };

            string MyChoice = "";
            do
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Welcome to the game of Rock Paper and Scissor!\nTo play, make a choice!\n");
                MyChoice = Console.ReadLine() ?? "";
                if (! PossibleChoices.Contains(MyChoice.ToLower())) 
                {
                    foreach (string key in ChoicesDictionary.Keys)             
                    {
                        if (ChoicesDictionary[key].Contains(MyChoice)) 
                        {
                            MyChoice = key;
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                    if (! PossibleChoices.Contains(MyChoice.ToLower())) 
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine($"{MyChoice} is not a valid choice try again\n");
                    }
                    
                };

            } while (! PossibleChoices.Contains(MyChoice.ToLower()));

            Random random = new Random();
            string computerChoice =  PossibleChoices[random.Next(PossibleChoices.Count)];

            
            string status = "";
            if (computerChoice == MyChoice) 
            {
                status = "The game resulted in a draw";
            }
            else if (WinsAgainst[MyChoice] == computerChoice) {
                status = "Congrats! You won the game!";
            }
            else status = "You lost, sadly. Better luck next time!";
            Console.WriteLine($"You chose {MyChoice} & Computer chose {computerChoice} " + status);
        }
    }
}

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace ConsoleApp1
{
    internal class RPS
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            
            List<string>  PossibleChoices  = new List<string> {"rock", "paper", "scissor"};
                      
            // A dictionary that stores alternative names for RPS entires
            Dictionary<string, List<string> > ChoicesDictionary = new Dictionary<string, List<string>> 
            {
                { "rock" , new List<string> {"rock", "rocks", "r"} },
                { "paper" , new List<string> {"papers", "p", "paper"} },
                { "scissor" , new List<string> {"s", "scissors", "scissor"} },
            };

            
            // A dictionary that tells who wins against who
            Dictionary <string, string> WinsAgainst = new Dictionary<string, string> 
            {
                { "rock" , "scissor"},
                { "paper" , "rock"},
                { "scissor" , "paper"},
            };

            string MyChoice = "";
            do
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Welcome to the game of Rock Paper and Scissor!\nTo play, make a choice!\n");
                MyChoice = Console.ReadLine() ?? "";
                if (! PossibleChoices.Contains(MyChoice.ToLower())) 
                {
                    foreach (string key in ChoicesDictionary.Keys)             
                    {
                        if (ChoicesDictionary[key].Contains(MyChoice)) 
                        {
                            MyChoice = key;
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                    if (! PossibleChoices.Contains(MyChoice.ToLower())) 
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine($"{MyChoice} is not a valid choice try again\n");
                    }
                    
                };

            } while (! PossibleChoices.Contains(MyChoice.ToLower()));

            Random random = new Random();
            string computerChoice =  PossibleChoices[random.Next(PossibleChoices.Count)];

            
            string status = "";
            if (computerChoice == MyChoice) 
            {
                status = "The game resulted in a draw";
            }
            else if (WinsAgainst[MyChoice] == computerChoice) {
                status = "Congrats! You won the game!";
            }
            else status = "You lost, sadly. Better luck next time!";
            Console.WriteLine($"You chose {MyChoice} & Computer chose {computerChoice} " + status);
        }
    }
}

It's working as intended but no doubt that I could make improvements in the code. Anyone whos more experienced with the lang please tell me how would you approach it/what changes would you make to achieve the same thing in much easier/better way or simply put, how can I improve the program

7 Replies

Zeksy•4w ago

It was also my first Python project when I was learning it a year ago, pretty glad of where I stand in terms of py now so I thought I'd recreate the same thing in c# to progress further. Here's what the py code looked like if anyone is interested xD

import random
choices = ["rock", "paper", "scizor"]

choicesDictionary = {

    "rock": {
        "alias": ["r", "rocks", "1"],
        "win": "scizor",
        "lose": "paper",
    },

    "paper": {
        "alias": ["p", "papers", "2"],
        "win": "rock",
        "lose": "scizor",
    },
    
    "scizor": {
        "alias": ["s", "scizors", "3"],
        "win": "paper",
        "lose": "rock",
    },


}

playerChoice = input("Make your choice:\n")

if playerChoice not in choices:
    for choice in choicesDictionary.keys():
        if playerChoice in choicesDictionary[choice]["alias"]:
            playerChoice = choice
            break
    
    while playerChoice not in choices:
        playerChoice = input("Make your choice:\n")
        if playerChoice not in choices:
            for choice in choicesDictionary.keys():
                if playerChoice in choicesDictionary[choice]["alias"]:
                    playerChoice = choice

computer = random.choice(choices)

if choicesDictionary[playerChoice]["win"] == computer: status = "You won the game!"
if choicesDictionary[playerChoice]["lose"] == computer: status = "You lost the game!"
if playerChoice == computer: status = "The game resulted in a draw!"


print(f"The game started! You chose {playerChoice}")
print(f"Computer chose {computer}! {status}")

import random
choices = ["rock", "paper", "scizor"]

choicesDictionary = {

    "rock": {
        "alias": ["r", "rocks", "1"],
        "win": "scizor",
        "lose": "paper",
    },

    "paper": {
        "alias": ["p", "papers", "2"],
        "win": "rock",
        "lose": "scizor",
    },
    
    "scizor": {
        "alias": ["s", "scizors", "3"],
        "win": "paper",
        "lose": "rock",
    },


}

playerChoice = input("Make your choice:\n")

if playerChoice not in choices:
    for choice in choicesDictionary.keys():
        if playerChoice in choicesDictionary[choice]["alias"]:
            playerChoice = choice
            break
    
    while playerChoice not in choices:
        playerChoice = input("Make your choice:\n")
        if playerChoice not in choices:
            for choice in choicesDictionary.keys():
                if playerChoice in choicesDictionary[choice]["alias"]:
                    playerChoice = choice

computer = random.choice(choices)

if choicesDictionary[playerChoice]["win"] == computer: status = "You won the game!"
if choicesDictionary[playerChoice]["lose"] == computer: status = "You lost the game!"
if playerChoice == computer: status = "The game resulted in a draw!"


print(f"The game started! You chose {playerChoice}")
print(f"Computer chose {computer}! {status}")

I just re-created it in c# and guess it wasn't bad even tho this one has a lot better readablity

Keswiik•4w ago

More of a fit for #code-review

Pobiega•4w ago

Suffers a bit from primitive obsession. C# has a rich type system, use it instead of just having string everywhere. I'd create an enum for choices instead of using a string and create methods to break up the long block of code.

static class Program
{
    private static readonly Dictionary<Choice, Choice> WinsAgainst =
        new() { [Choice.Rock] = Choice.Scissors, [Choice.Paper] = Choice.Rock, [Choice.Scissors] = Choice.Paper, };

    static void Main()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Rock, Paper, Scissors! Enter your choice: ");
        Choice playerChoice;
        while (true)
        {
            var choice = ParseChoice(Console.ReadLine());
            if (choice != null)
            {
                playerChoice = choice.Value;
                break;
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Invalid choice. Try again.");
        }

        // we don't need to declare a new random instance every time, just use Random.Shared
        var computerChoice = (Choice)Random.Shared.Next(0, 3);

        Console.WriteLine($"Computer chose {computerChoice}");

        if (playerChoice == computerChoice)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("It's a tie!");
        }
        else if (WinsAgainst[playerChoice] == computerChoice)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("You win!");
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("You lose!");
        }
    }

    static Choice? ParseChoice(string? input) =>
        input?.ToLowerInvariant() switch
        {
            "1" => Choice.Rock,
            "r" => Choice.Rock,
            "rock" => Choice.Rock,
            "2" => Choice.Paper,
            "p" => Choice.Paper,
            "paper" => Choice.Paper,
            "3" => Choice.Scissors,
            "s" => Choice.Scissors,
            "scissors" => Choice.Scissors,
            _ => null
        };
}

enum Choice
{
    Rock,
    Paper,
    Scissors
}

static class Program
{
    private static readonly Dictionary<Choice, Choice> WinsAgainst =
        new() { [Choice.Rock] = Choice.Scissors, [Choice.Paper] = Choice.Rock, [Choice.Scissors] = Choice.Paper, };

    static void Main()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Rock, Paper, Scissors! Enter your choice: ");
        Choice playerChoice;
        while (true)
        {
            var choice = ParseChoice(Console.ReadLine());
            if (choice != null)
            {
                playerChoice = choice.Value;
                break;
            }

            Console.WriteLine("Invalid choice. Try again.");
        }

        // we don't need to declare a new random instance every time, just use Random.Shared
        var computerChoice = (Choice)Random.Shared.Next(0, 3);

        Console.WriteLine($"Computer chose {computerChoice}");

        if (playerChoice == computerChoice)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("It's a tie!");
        }
        else if (WinsAgainst[playerChoice] == computerChoice)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("You win!");
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine("You lose!");
        }
    }

    static Choice? ParseChoice(string? input) =>
        input?.ToLowerInvariant() switch
        {
            "1" => Choice.Rock,
            "r" => Choice.Rock,
            "rock" => Choice.Rock,
            "2" => Choice.Paper,
            "p" => Choice.Paper,
            "paper" => Choice.Paper,
            "3" => Choice.Scissors,
            "s" => Choice.Scissors,
            "scissors" => Choice.Scissors,
            _ => null
        };
}

enum Choice
{
    Rock,
    Paper,
    Scissors
}

Zeksy•4w ago

I see, I don't get most of this code maybe because I just started but will dive deep into it shortly :salute:

Pobiega•4w ago

yeah thats fine, just wanted to show a less string-focused solution would look like

leowest•4w ago

static Choice? ParseChoice(string? input) =>
    input?.ToLowerInvariant() switch
    {
        "1" or "r" or "rock" => Choice.Rock,
        "2" or "p" or "paper" => Choice.Paper,
        "3" or "s" or "scissors" => Choice.Scissors,
        _ => null
    };

static Choice? ParseChoice(string? input) =>
    input?.ToLowerInvariant() switch
    {
        "1" or "r" or "rock" => Choice.Rock,
        "2" or "p" or "paper" => Choice.Paper,
        "3" or "s" or "scissors" => Choice.Scissors,
        _ => null
    };

Pobiega•4w ago

oh yeah 😄

Gaming

Programming

My First Ever C-Sharp Mini Project!