Tennis Kata in Erlang

I’ve recently been reading ploeh’s series on doing the Tennis Kata in F#. I decided to have a go in Erlang, we might not have a fancy type system but we do have pattern matching and partial functions.

You can find the source code to follow along here.

I decided to implement a “game” as a gen_server (when you have a hammer…), I refer you to a previous post for the pre-amble.

Love all

The first test is to check the initial score:

initial_score(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>love,p2=>love}, gen_server:call(Pid, get_score))
    end.

I decided to return a map, rather than a tuple or record, and to use the atom “love” rather than 0. The implementation is pretty trivial:

init([]) ->
    {ok, #{p1=>love,p2=>love}}.

handle_call(get_score, _From, State) ->
    {reply, State, State};

If there was more information in the state map, you might want to return a projection rather than the whole object.

Fifteen love

fifteen_love(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>15,p2=>love}, gen_server:call(Pid, {won_point, p1}))
    end.

This time we need to calculate the new score when a player has won a point:

handle_call({won_point, p1}, _From, State = #{p1:=CurrentScore}) ->
    NewState = State#{p1:=new_score(CurrentScore)},
    {reply, NewState, NewState};

...

new_score(love) -> 15.

Love fifteen

love_fifteen(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>love,p2=>15}, gen_server:call(Pid, {won_point, p2}))
    end.

We can re-use the new_score method from before:

handle_call({won_point, p2}, _From, State = #{p2:=CurrentScore}) ->
    NewState = State#{p2:=new_score(CurrentScore)},
    {reply, NewState, NewState};

Fifteen all

fifteen_all(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>15,p2=>15}, won_point(Pid, p2))
    end.

won_point(Pid, Player) ->
    gen_server:call(Pid, {won_point, Player}).

No need for any new code, but it seemed like time for a little test refactoring.

Thirty fifteen

thirty_fifteen(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>30,p2=>15}, won_point(Pid, p1))
    end.

Now we need to add another function head, to handle the new score:

new_score(love) -> 15;
new_score(15) -> 30.

Thirty all

thirty_all(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>30,p2=>30}, won_point(Pid, p1))
    end.

No new code required.

Forty thirty

forty_thirty(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>40,p2=>30}, won_point(Pid, p1))
    end.

Again, we need to handle a new score:

...
new_score(30) -> 40.

P1 win

p1_wins(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        ?assertEqual({game_over, p1}, won_point(Pid, p1))
    end.

This requires a special case, for when the player has 40 points:

handle_call({won_point, p1}, _From, State = #{p1:=40}) ->
    {stop, normal, {game_over, p1}, State};

But now we have a problem, as I skipped over the troublesome “deuce”.

Deuce

deuce(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>deuce,p2=>deuce}, won_point(Pid, p2))
    end.

Again, I decided to use an atom, rather than 40-40. But now we need to take both player’s scores into account when determining the new score:

handle_call({won_point, p1}, _From, State = #{p1:=P1Score,p2:=P2Score}) ->
    {NewP1Score, NewP2Score} = new_score(P1Score, P2Score),
    NewState = State#{p1:=NewP1Score, p2:=NewP2Score},
    {reply, NewState, NewState};

...

new_score(love, Score) -> {15, Score};
new_score(15, Score) -> {30, Score};
new_score(30, 40) -> {deuce, deuce};
new_score(30, Score) -> {40, Score}.

Advantage

advantage_p1(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>advantage,p2=>40}, won_point(Pid, p1))
    end.

Another case to handle:

...
new_score(deuce, deuce) -> {advantage, 40}.

Back to Deuce

advantage_p1_back_to_deuce(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        ?assertEqual(#{p1=>deuce,p2=>deuce}, won_point(Pid, p2))
    end.

Now we need to add a guard to the win case:

handle_call({won_point, p2}, _From, State = #{p1:=P1Score, p2:=40}) when P1Score =/= advantage ->
    {stop, normal, {game_over, p2}, State};

...

new_score(40, advantage) -> {deuce, deuce}.

Advantage, then win

advantage_p1_then_win(Pid) ->
    fun() ->
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p2),
        won_point(Pid, p1),
        ?assertEqual({game_over, p1}, won_point(Pid, p1))
    end.

Finally, we need to allow a win from Advantage:

handle_call({won_point, p1}, _From, State = #{p1:=advantage}) ->
    {stop, normal, {game_over, p1}, State};

I think that’s everything covered. As Mark says, “it’s easy enough that it’s fun to play with, but difficult enough that it’s fun to play with”. I personally feel that the use of pattern matching made the intent of the code clearer, but of course YMMV.

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!