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DOI: 10.1201/9781003214335-3

Build Your Own Game

with a Simple Algorithm

Tic Tac Toe

Let me begin.

You have a computer and a spreadsheet application (Excel).

You are already good at Excel—​so what is there new to learn here?

There is a gold mine of opportunity hidden away in your laptop.

Starting to write a program when you have never written one should not be scary. But

strangely enough, this thought is scary for many people I have met. This is explain­

able and psychologists say that the reasons are one of the following:

• Fear of doing something new

• Fear of breaking something

• Fear of failure

So let me begin by dispelling all of them at once by a simple experiment.

2.1  HOW TO GET STARTED

Start your computer. Open up the Excel application. Open a new sheet. You are on

Sheet1. Enter the following:

FIGURE 2.1  Excel sheet.

Now click on the +​ sign at the bottom of your sheet near the tab name (Sheet1) and

create a new sheet—​this is automatically called Sheet2.

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