Classic Thinking Games with Java

George Bell said
This book contains some interesting puzzles and games, with lessons and exercises for students to solve them using java programming. A section on solving various forms of peg solitaire forms over half the book, and the author goes through several iterations of solving programs, addressing problems that occur as the board becomes larger and larger.

The author then tackles several two-person games, such as connect four, qubic, and score four. The programming exercises here stress creating the infrastructure for playing the game on the computer. The author doesn't discuss pretty user interfaces, a good thing as this diversionary topic could fill volumes. There is also not much on game strategies.

This book is primarily intended for learning programming in a fun way. More mathematical content could have been included, but the author ususally stresses the programming challenges present in the problems and how to solve them. There is one exception to this at the very end of the peg solitaire section. After working through solving English Peg Solitaire by computer, the author points out that a computer is not needed at all to solve it. This is a refreshing perspective from a programming book, and what follows is an excellent introduction to solving the game without a computer.

There is also an extensive section of "teaching notes" with detailed discussions of the exercises for the teacher.

Unlike most programming books, this one does not come with a CD containing all the programs inside. This reflects the author's "do it yourself" attitude, and forces you to come up with your own solutions to the problems.