Blackjack CodingBat

Introduction

Welcome to the Blackjack CodingBat! In this coding exercise, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate your programming skills by implementing a simplified version of the popular card game Blackjack. The objective of this exercise is to practice your problem-solving abilities and improve your understanding of programming concepts like loops, conditionals, and functions.

Getting Started

To get started, make sure you have a basic understanding of the rules of Blackjack. The goal of the game is to have a hand with a total value as close to 21 as possible without exceeding it. The game is played with one or more decks of standard playing cards, and each card is assigned a numerical value.

Requirements

You are required to implement the following functions:

deal_card()

This function should return a randomly chosen card from a deck of cards. Each card can be represented by a string containing its rank (e.g., "2", "10", "King") and suit (e.g., "Hearts", "Diamonds"). You can assume that the deck of cards is already shuffled.

Example usage:

card = deal_card()
print(card)  # "5 Hearts"

calculate_hand_value(hand)

This function should take a list of cards as input and return the total value of the hand. Aces can have a value of 1 or 11, whichever is more advantageous to the player. Face cards (King, Queen, Jack) have a value of 10, and all other cards have their numerical value. If the hand contains an Ace, the function should consider the highest possible value that does not exceed 21.

Example usage:

hand = ["6 Hearts", "King Spades", "Ace Diamonds"]
value = calculate_hand_value(hand)
print(value)  # 17

play_blackjack()

This function should simulate a game of Blackjack. It should deal two initial cards to the player and two to the dealer. The player can then choose to either hit (receive another card) or stand (stop receiving cards). The dealer will continue to hit until their hand value is at least 17. The function should then determine the winner based on the final hand values and print the result.

Example usage:

play_blackjack()

main()

This function should serve as the entry point for your program. It should call the play_blackjack() function to start the game.

Example usage:

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Code Snippet

Here is an example implementation of the deal_card() function:

import random

def deal_card():
    ranks = ["2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "King", "Queen", "Jack", "Ace"]
    suits = ["Hearts", "Diamonds", "Clubs", "Spades"]
    return f"{random.choice(ranks)} {random.choice(suits)}"

Conclusion

The Blackjack CodingBat provides you with an opportunity to practice your programming skills and demonstrate your understanding of important programming concepts. By implementing the required functions, you will improve your problem-solving abilities and gain confidence in your coding abilities. Good luck and have fun playing and coding Blackjack!