User Story: A sports company has hired you to write an application that would simulate a marathon race between interesting groups of participants. They could be slow as a tortoise, as fast as a hare, and anything in between. The runners differ in their speed and how often they need to rest. Some may be slow and never rest; others may run fast but lose steam quickly and rest a lot of the time. Still others could be anything in between.
Example operation between two runners: A Tortoise and a Hare
• Say in this case, there are only two runners. The runners differ in their speed and how often they need to rest. One of the runners, named “Tortoise,” is slow but never rests. The other runner, named “Hare,” is ten times as fast but rests 90% of the time.
• There is a random element to the runners’ performance, so the outcome of the race is different each time the application is run.
• The race is run over a course of 1000 meters. Each time one of the runners move, the application display the runner’s new position on the course. The first runner to reach 1000 wins the race.
• When one of the runners finishes the race, the application declares that runner to be the winner and the other runner concedes.
Example specifications for N runners (this gives you lot of hints; however, you are encouraged to come up with your own innovative design)
• Each runner should be implemented as a separate thread using a class named ThreadRunner. The ThreadRunner class should include a constructor that accepts three parameters: a string representing the name of the runner, an int value from 1 to 100 indicating the likelihood that on any given move the runner will rest instead of run, and an int value that indicates the runners speed—that is, how many meters the runner travels in each move.
• Each runner has following information:
RunnersName
Tortoise
Hare
Dog
Cat
RunnersSpeed
10
100
50
30
RestPercentage
0
90
40
75
The program accommodates N number of runners.
• You will read the above runners information from an input source.
• The run method of the ThreadRunner class should consist of a loop that repeats until the runner has reached 1000 meters. Each time through the loop, the thread should decide whether it should run or rest based on a random number and the percentage passed to the constructor (RestPercentage). If this random number indicates that the runner should run, the class should add the speed value passed to the constructor (RunnersSpeed). The run method should sleep for 100 milliseconds on each repetition of the loop.
• To determine whether a thread should run or rest, calculate a random number between 1 and 100. Then, have the thread rest if the number is less than or equal to the percentage of time that the thread rests (RestPercentage). Otherwise, the thread should run.• If the run method is interrupted, it should display a message that concedes the race and quits.
• The main method of the application’s main class should create as many runner threads as are read from the input source and start all of them. You will pass all the information read from input source into the threads through constructor. Use RunnersName to be name of the thread.
• This class should also include a method named finished that one of the threads can call when it finishes the race. That method should declare the thread that calls it to be the winner and should interrupt the other thread so it can concede the race.
• The finished method should provide for the possibility that the two or more threads will finish the race at almost the same time. If that happens, it should ensure that only one of the threads is declared the winner. (There are no ties!)
• The finished method in the main application class will need to know which thread called it. Part of the console example for default two runners.
Start and end of the race between a Tortoise and a Hare
Welcome to the Marathon Race Runner Program
Select your data source:
- Derby database
- XML file
- Text file
- Default two runners
- Exit Enter your choice: 2 Enter XML file name: FinalXMLData.xml
.... <User can select menu 1 to 4 to run the marathon, or 5 to quit> ... Dog : 1000 Dog : I finished! The race is over! The Dog is the winner. Hare: You beat me fair and square. Rabbit: You beat me fair and square. Cat: You beat me fair and square. Press any key to continue . . .