CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#console-application
The Emerald King
The Emerald King

Reputation: 1

Horse Racing Console App. Simulation - C#

I have a project which involves simulating a horse race and reporting who comes first, second and third. I have gone all of the way up to making a random number for each measure of distance and whichever horse has the highest total number wins. I am having trouble putting the first, second and third place down right. I have the total in an array and I'm not quite sure where to go with it now.

Console.Write ("Type 'Begin' to start the race. ");
string startRace = Console.ReadLine ();
if (startRace == "Begin")
{
    Console.Clear ();
    Console.WriteLine ("You may now begin the race.");
    Console.Clear ();
    int[] tot = new int[numberOfHorses];
    for (int i = 0; i < numberOfHorses; i++)
    {

        Console.Write (string.Format("{0, 10}: ", horseName[i]));
        int total = 0;
        for (int n = 1; n <= furlongs; n++)
        {
            int randomNum = rnd.Next (0, 10);
            Console.Write (" " + randomNum + " ");
            total = total + randomNum;
        }
        tot[i] = total;
        Console.Write (" |  " + total);
        Console.WriteLine (" ");
    }  //This is where I start to get unsure of myself.
    int firstPlace = Int32.MinValue
    for (int place = 0; place < numberOfHorses; place++) 
    {
        if (tot[place] > firstPlace)
            {
                firstPlace = tot[place];
            }

    }
}

'numberOfHorses' is how many horses the user has decided to race and 'horseName' is what the user has named each horse. Thanks. :)

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1879

Answers (2)

Peejay
Peejay

Reputation: 1

Emerald King should already know how to find the highest number in a list. Take the top number out (set it to 0) then repeat the process to find second, and again to find third.

Upvotes: 0

Alastair Brown
Alastair Brown

Reputation: 1616

You need a sorting function. Instead of:

 int firstPlace = Int32.MinValue
 for (int place = 0; place < numberOfHorses; place++) 
 {
     if (tot[place] > firstPlace)
         {
             firstPlace = tot[place];
         }
 }

try this:

 int[] horseIndexes = new int[numberOfHorses];
 for (int place = 0; place < numberOfHorses; place++) 
 {
     horseIndexes[place] = place ;
 }

 // this is the sorting function here 
 // (a,b) => tot[b] - tot[a]
 // it will sort in descending order
 Array.Sort(horseIndexes, (a,b) => tot[b] - tot[a]);

 for (int place = 0; place < horseIndexes.Length && place < 3; place++) 
 {
     Console.WriteLine("place: " + (place+1));
     Console.WriteLine("horse: " + horseName[horseIndexes[place]);
     Console.WriteLine("total: " + tot[horseIndexes[place]);
 }

There are better ways of doing this using LINQ expressions, but hopefully this example is the most understandable.

Upvotes: 1

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