[meta]: <title> (po connect-4 voerbak readme)
[meta]: <tags> (po4, po-connect-4, voerbak, c)
[meta]: <date> (April 1 2021)
[meta]: <author> (Loekaars)

# Voerbak

Here's the source for voerbak, this project's connect 4 engine. The name comes from an abbreviation for the Dutch word for connect 4: Vier Op Een Rij -> VOER + bak = voerbak

Voerbak uses a 1-dimensional array for storing the playfield, and it's printed after every move. The ordering is left to right, then bottom to top:

35|36|37|38|39|40|41
-|-|-|-|-|-|-
28|29|30|31|32|33|34
21|22|23|24|25|26|27
14|15|16|17|18|19|20
7|8|9|10|11|12|13
0|1|2|3|4|5|6

Voerbak is used in this project using api/game/voerbak_connector.py

## Building

```sh
make
```

## Input

Voerbak takes moves seperated by newlines from stdin. An example game would look like this:

``` sh
echo "4,3,3,2,1,2,2,7,1,7,1,7,1" | sed "s/,/\n/g" | ./voerbak
#                                  ^ convert "," to newline
```

## Output

Voerbak outputs special messages in this format:

```
e:full
^ \__/
|  |
|  message (without spaces)
|
message type
```

Message reference:

type|name|messages
-|-|-
d|draw|full = board is full
e|errors|full = column is full
m|move|true|false = if it's player 1's move
w|win|int-int = board indices where 4 was connected

## Command-line arguments

```sh
$ ./voerbak --help
Usage: voerbak [OPTION...] arguments
Connect 4 engine

  -c, --solver=NAME          Solver used for computing moves (unset is two
                             humans playing)
  -h, --height=HEIGHT        Field height (rows)
  -v, --verbosity=LEVEL      Verbosity, 0 = none (default), 1 = info, 2 =
                             debug
  -w, --width=WIDTH          Field width (columns)
  -?, --help                 Give this help list
      --usage                Give a short usage message
  -V, --version              Print program version

Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional
for any corresponding short options.

Report bugs to https://github.com/lonkaars/po-4-op-een-rij/.
```