README
1
2Xblackjack is a MOTIF/OLIT based tool constructed to get you ready for the
3casino. It was inspired by a book called "Beat the Dealer" by Edward O.
4Thorp, Ph.D. of UCLA. A number of important statistics are maintained for
5display, and used by the program to implement Thorp's "Complete Point System"
6(high-low system).
7
8Beginners can learn a basic strategy which doesn't require counting. The
9best strategy employs a simple card counting technique which can be used to
10distinguish favorable situations. Avid players can learn to compute Thorp's
11high-low index, which takes the number of unseen cards into account.
12
13The index is used by the program to suggest a bet, indicate when you should
14buy insurance, and whether you should stand or hit, etc. You can test the
15strategy using a slider to control "autoplay mode". Pressing the message
16button below the playing area provides hints; the current count, index
17and strategy table are revealed.
18
19To build and run:
20
21 vi Imakefile
22 <indicate you want OLIT, if you don't want Motif>
23 <identify non-standard install targets, if any>
24 xmkmf
25 make World
26 xrdb -merge XBlackjack.ad
27 xblackjack
28
29to install:
30
31 make install install.man
32
33Please direct comments, suggestions, and patches to kirke@sgi.com.
34
35Note, if you attempt the build under OPENWIN with X11R5 and get:
36
37 ld.so: Undefined symbol: _XtQString
38or
39 ld: Undefined symbol
40 _XtQString
41 _XtQFontStruct
42 _XtQFont
43 _XtQInt
44 _XtQBoolean
45 _XrmCompileResourceList
46 Compilation failed
47
48This is a release version problem. These functions have had their names
49changed from R4 to R5. If you see this error, you are probably using
50R5 for everything but Xol because the OLIT routines call these Xt
51routines. You need to compile under R4 or wait untill Xol catches up
52to R5.
53
54In addition to incorporating the patches that appeared on export:
55
56 xblackjack-2.0.patch1
57 xblackjack-2.0.patch2
58
59this version includes some OLIT specific changes contributed by Guy
60Renard (grenard@elrond.stg.trw.com), which make the bet scale easier to
61use: "Now a person can see what they are about to bet before releasing
62the select button. I think the deal button is still useful since There
63is still no way to simply click on the slider and get the default bet"
64(introduced in patch2).
65
66Most lint errors and warnings generated compiling under IRIX have been
67fixed in this version.
68
69Alain Brossard (brossard@siisun.epfl.ch) caught an XtAddCallback in
70AddCallbacks() that needed an additional NULL argument (client_data) to
71compile using gcc on a sun4.
72