if expressions result in a value

In Scala, if is an expression, and expressions result in a value. That means the result of if can be assigned to a variable.

Imagine you're playing Twenty-One. You receive cards from the dealer and would like to know where your hand stands. If your hand is greater than 21, a "Bust!" message informing us of this result would be disappointing but helpful. If our hand is 21 exactly, the congratulatory "Twenty-One!" message applies. If less than 21, the program should ask us, "Hit or stay?"

In this exercise, you'll improve the code you wrote last exercise. You'll write an if-else if-else expression to store an appropriate message for the player's current hand in a variable. The card variables you need are already defined.

This exercise is part of the course

Introduction to Scala

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Exercise instructions

Read the provided code, then fill in the type annotation for the informPlayer variable.
Write appropriate if, else if, and else conditions based on the provided code.
Change fiveSpades to fourSpades, then click "Run Code" and observe the output.
Change fourSpades to threeSpades, then click "Submit Answer".

Hands-on interactive exercise

Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.

// Point value of a player's hand
val hand = sevenClubs + kingDiamonds + fiveSpades

// Inform a player where their current hand stands
val informPlayer: ___ = {
  ___
    "Bust! :("
  ___
    "Twenty-One! :)"
  ___
    "Hit or stay?"
}

// Print the message
print(informPlayer)

Edit and Run Code