On my very first attempt at a Web site, I had hacked together a pretty lousy Othello applet based on an example provided by Sun. At the time, I was just learning Java myself as a freshman in college. I don't know how I had the free time for writing code...oh wait, maybe it was because I didn't do any of the projects for my CS211 class. That actually wouldn't have been a problem if my professor hadn't cancelled the final - I scored more than three standard deviations above the mean on my second prelim, and the only reason I didn't ace that exam is because I accidentally put a one where I should have had an 'h'. One little curve, and I would have even further wrecked the curve.

But I digress. I never bothered to finish that applet, probably because it was so ugly I couldn't stare at it anymore and maybe because I didn't know how to write a good algorithm for the computer player. Here it is in all its horrible colored glory.

Legal notice: according to the Mattel Corporation, Othello is now a registered trademark of the Anjar Corporation.

boardwindow.java othello.java othellodata.java
piecewindow.java scorewindow.java

othello

As ugly as it is, it actually fit the theme of my first site, which looked like I made a collection of the ugliest graphics I could find and put them all together in one place. However, once I updated the site over spring break sophomore year, I needed a new version with not so much color. I also needed to actually write an algorithm for the computer, too.

Instead of updating my Java applet code, which was a horrible mess, I decided to just write it in JavaScript. This had the additional advantage of teaching me something I needed to know for site development. I actually put this together in about two eight-hour shifts, which isn't too bad for starting from scratch, but the algorithm is pretty retarded. Don't play against this one too much - it will teach you bad strategy.

javathello