# Solves the Tower of Hanoi problem # # Matt Bishop, MHI 289I, Winter 2018 # read in a number # parameters: none # returns: the number, if read successfully # 0, on EOF def getnum(): # loop until we get good input while True: try: # get the input and check the type here n = int(raw_input("number of disks (EOF to quit): ")) except EOFError: # user wants to quit, so help her n = 0 break except ValueError: # user didn't enter a number print "You have to enter a positive n or EOF" continue # now check the value we read/were given if n > 0: break # this is bad, so say so print "You have to enter a positive n or EOF" # it's positve to continue, -1 to quit return n # solve the Tower of Hanoi # parameters: n, number of disks to move from fromtower to totower # fromtower, the name of the tower with the disks # totower, the name of the tower where the disks are to # be moved to # temptower, the name of the tower to be used to hold disks # temporarily # returns: nothing def hanoi(n, fromtower, totower, temptower): # base case: only one disk, so move it directly to totower if n == 1: print "Move disk from tower", fromtower, "to tower", totower # recursion here else: # move the top n-1 disks to the temporary tower hanoi(n-1, fromtower, temptower, totower) # move the leftover disk to the destination # note: for efficiency, we could just put a copy of the # base case here hanoi(1, fromtower, totower, temptower) # move the n-1 disks from the temporary tower to the destination hanoi(n-1, temptower, totower, fromtower) # this puts it all together def main(): # print out a description of the program print(""" The Tower of Hanoi puzzle solver will move disks from tower A to tower C. Tower B is in the middle and is used as a temporary tower. """) # get a positive integer n = getnum() # got it! if n > 0: # solve the problem hanoi(n, "A", "C", "B") main()