Why is 0 passed as initial depth limit.

[Mehes Andrew F J]

Although this is a bit late, I was just wondering why when game.c calls
minimax, it passes a depth of 0. Should this not be 1? I personally have
accounted for this, but for those who have not, I beleive that they will
go one depth limit beyond the set depth limit. For example, for a depth
limit 1, they would actually do two, those being depth 0, then depth 1
before reaching depth limit 1. Hopefully, this will also be
accounted for
in the marking.

Thank you.

[Stephen C]

Hi,

There are two interpretations of how to implement this. Some people have
gone 1 depth level beyond the depthlimit to evaluate the board value while
some have evaluated the board value at the depth limit.

You can check the post "Re: Reaching Depth Level". It addresses this
concern, since it is a bit late, the TA's are accepting both
interpretations.

[Alexander Smith]

It starts at 0, as per the picture. This much matches the description in
the handout. The discrepancy comes in when you reach the depth limit: if
you follow the picture, you would never look at any moves beyond
"depthLimit". If you follow the words, you will look at one level below
it. Those are the two interpretations that will be accounted for. If
someone goes to a depthLimit of 5 in the first interpretation, it is the
same as going to a depthLimit of 4 in the second.

Alexander