Topics (384k) Articles (398k) Users (410) Discussions (242) Comments (383) Files (13k) New article
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2022 Imperative programming (resit) 5 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Retry invalid inputs without switching players; after a legal move, check whether the board has become empty:
val game = new Chomps(6)
var player = 1
while (game.Count() > 0) {
game.Display()
var accepted = false
var x = 0
var y = 0
while (!accepted) {
try {
println("Player " + player + ": enter x, then y")
x = scala.io.StdIn.readInt()
y = scala.io.StdIn.readInt()
accepted = game.Legal(x, y)
if (!accepted) println("That cell is not a legal move; try again.")
} catch {
case _: NumberFormatException => println("Please enter integer coordinates.")
}
}
game.Move(x, y)
if (game.Count() == 0)
println("Player " + player + " loses; player " + (3 - player) + " wins.")
else player = 3 - player
}Only a move at can remove the poisoned bottom-left token, and that move removes the entire remaining order ideal, so the empty-board test identifies the losing player correctly. Any other legal move preserves that token. Every accepted move strictly decreases the finite token count, giving at most 36 accepted moves. Invalid attempts do not change the board or the turn. As usual for this interactive fragment, the user is assumed eventually to supply another readable input rather than permanently ending the input stream or retrying forever.
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2022 Imperative programming (resit) 5 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
class Chomps(N: Int) {
require(N > 0 && N.toLong * N.toLong <= Int.MaxValue)
private val height = Array.fill(N)(N)
private var remaining = (N.toLong * N.toLong).toInt
def Count(): Int = remaining
def Legal(x: Int, y: Int): Boolean =
0 <= x && x < N && 0 <= y && y < height(x)
def Move(x: Int, y: Int): Unit = {
require(Legal(x, y), "illegal move")
var i = x
while (i < N && height(i) > y) {
remaining -= height(i) - y
height(i) = y
i += 1
}
}
def Display(): Unit = {
require(N < 10, "single-digit display labels required")
var y = N - 1
while (y >= 0) {
print(y + " ")
var x = 0
while (x < N) {
print(if (y < height(x)) "* " else " ")
x += 1
}
println()
y -= 1
}
print(" ")
var x = 0
while (x < N) { print(x + " "); x += 1 }
println()
}
}The strengthened representation invariant includes . The move loop's processed columns have their final truncated heights, unprocessed columns retain their old heights, and each subtraction removes exactly the corresponding height reduction. Because heights are nonincreasing, once a column is no higher than
y, neither is any later column; stopping there is valid. A legal move removes at least one token and leaves a order ideal.The constructor computes in
Long and checks representability before converting, avoiding integer overflow in the cached Int count. Legal rejects out-of-range coordinates before indexing. The methods meet the bounds in part (a); Display additionally checks its stated single-digit-label assumption. Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2022 Imperative programming (resit) 4 g Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Use sparse dot product by merging indices: only equal coordinate indices can contribute, so merge the two increasing index streams:
def dotProduct(vec1: Node, vec2: Node): Double = {
require(vec1 != null && vec2 != null)
require(vec1.index == vec2.index, "dimension mismatch")
var p = vec1.next
var q = vec2.next
var answer = 0.0
while ((p ne vec1) && (q ne vec2)) {
if (p.index < q.index) p = p.next
else if (q.index < p.index) q = q.next
else {
answer += p.value * q.value
p = p.next
q = q.next
}
}
answer
}The loop invariant states that the accumulator contains all common-coordinate products already passed, while no unprocessed smaller coordinate can acquire a future partner. If one current index is smaller, the other list has no remaining entry at that index, so its product is zero. Equal indices add their product and advance both. Once either list ends, all remaining coordinates of the other have zero partners.
Thus the code computes the dot product in coordinate order, subject to floating-point rounding, using time and constant auxiliary storage. It does not scan implicit zeros or alter either vector, and it also handles both arguments referring to the same header.
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2022 Imperative programming (resit) 4 f Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Append nonzero entries in increasing index order; repeatedly calling
setElement would unnecessarily rescan earlier entries and could make construction quadratic.def makeVector(elems: Array[Double]): Node = {
require(elems != null)
val head = makeZeroVector(elems.length)
var tail = head
var i = 0
while (i < elems.length) {
val v = elems(i)
require(!v.isNaN && !v.isInfinity)
if (v != 0.0) {
val fresh = new Node(v, i, tail, head)
tail.next = fresh
head.prev = fresh
tail = fresh
}
i += 1
}
head
}The loop invariant says that the list represents exactly the nonzero entries of the processed input prefix, in their original coordinate order, and
tail is the final node or the header when none exist. Every append preserves the cycle and ordering. At exit, all input coordinates have their intended values. Construction takes time and data nodes, where is the array length and the number of nonzeros, plus one header. The input array is unchanged. Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2022 Imperative programming (resit) 4 e Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
An absent coordinate already has value zero. If found, unlink its node in both directions:
def zeroElement(vector: Node, index: Int): Unit = {
require(vector != null)
require(0 <= index && index < vector.index)
var p = vector.next
while ((p ne vector) && p.index < index) p = p.next
if ((p ne vector) && p.index == index) {
p.prev.next = p.next
p.next.prev = p.prev
}
}Identity comparison with the header prevents treating its dimension field as a data index. The splice preserves reciprocal links even when removing the only data node: the two header links then point to the header again. All other coordinates are unchanged, and an absent coordinate causes no mutation. The running time is , with constant work after the node is located.
Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2022 Imperative programming (resit) 4 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Assume
vector is a well-formed header satisfying the sparse-vector representation invariant; checking that whole invariant on each operation would require traversing the list. Check the requested bounds and value, then find the first stored coordinate at or after the target.def setElement(vector: Node, value: Double, index: Int): Unit = {
require(vector != null)
require(0 <= index && index < vector.index)
require(value != 0.0 && !value.isNaN && !value.isInfinity)
var p = vector.next
while ((p ne vector) && p.index < index) p = p.next
if ((p ne vector) && p.index == index) p.value = value
else {
val fresh = new Node(value, index, p.prev, p)
p.prev.next = fresh
p.prev = fresh
}
}The scan excludes all smaller stored indices. An existing coordinate is updated without duplicating it; otherwise the new node is spliced immediately before
p, with both directions repaired. The header also serves as the insertion boundary after the final data node. Strict index order and nonzero storage are preserved. The cost is search and pointer work, where is the number of stored entries. Past exam of the year 1 of the computer science course of the University of Oxford 2022 Imperative programming (resit) 4 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
def makeZeroVector(size: Int): Node = {
require(size >= 0, "negative vector length")
val head = new Node(0.0, size, null, null)
head.prev = head
head.next = head
head
} Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 2. You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either OurBigBook.com or as a static website.Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally. Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact





