Build an iOS App
User: I want to build a simple iOS app to practice blackjack.
iOS-GPT: What features do you want to include in your blackjack practice app?
User: At first, we will do something very simple. Given a pair of cards, 2s to As and the dealer card, the user needs to decide whether he should spit or not.
iOS-GPT: What are the rules for splitting in your blackjack practice app?
User:
Always split aces and 8s
Never split 5s
Split 2s, 3s, 7s against 2-7
Split 4s against 5 or 6
Split 6s against 2-6
Split 9s against 2-6 and 8-9
iOS-GPT: Based on the splitting rules you provided, here's a plan for building your simple blackjack practice app:
Create a user interface that displays the player's two cards and the dealer's up card.
Implement a function to determine whether the player should split or not, based on the provided rules.
Display a button for the user to choose whether to split or not.
Compare the user's choice with the recommended action from the function, and provide feedback on whether their decision was correct or not.
Add a button to generate a new set of cards for continuous practice.
Once you have implemented these steps, you'll have a basic blackjack practice app that helps users learn the correct splitting strategy. You can then consider adding more features, like a scoring system or additional blackjack rules, to enhance the app further.
User: Ok let's get started. I opened XCode.
iOS-GPT: Great, now follow these steps to build your blackjack practice app:
Create a new project in Xcode by selecting "File" > "New" > "Project" and choose the "Single View App" template.
Name your project, for example, "BlackjackPractice" and set the appropriate options, such as the organization name, identifier, and language (Swift is recommended).
Design the user interface: a. Open the Main.storyboard file. b. Drag and drop the necessary UI elements (UILabels for the player's cards and dealer's card, UIButton for the split decision, and another UIButton for generating a new set of cards) onto the view controller. c. Use Auto Layout constraints to position and size the UI elements appropriately.
Create IBOutlet and IBAction connections: a. Open the ViewController.swift file. b. Control-drag from the UI elements in the storyboard to the ViewController.swift file to create IBOutlet connections for the labels and buttons. c. Control-drag from the buttons in the storyboard to the ViewController.swift file to create IBAction connections for the user interactions.
Implement the splitting rules function: a. In the ViewController.swift file, write a function that takes the player's cards and the dealer's card as input and returns a boolean value indicating whether the player should split or not, based on the provided rules.
Implement the user interaction logic: a. In the IBAction function for the split decision button, compare the user's choice with the recommended action from the splitting rules function and update the UI to provide feedback on whether their decision was correct or not. b. In the IBAction function for generating a new set of cards, randomly generate new cards for the player and dealer, update the UI, and reset any feedback messages.
Run your app: a. Click the "Run" button in the top-left corner of Xcode to build and run your app in the iOS Simulator. b. Test your app by interacting with the UI elements and ensure that the splitting rules are applied correctly and the user receives appropriate feedback.
Once you have completed these steps, you will have a basic blackjack practice app. You can then refine the app and add more features as desired.
User: I can't find "Main.storyboard".
iOS-GPT: If you can't find "Main.storyboard", it's possible that your project is using SwiftUI instead of UIKit. In this case, you'll need to work with SwiftUI to create your user interface. Follow these steps:
Open "ContentView.swift": This is where you'll design your user interface using SwiftUI.
Design the user interface: Create Text views for the player's two cards and the dealer's up card. Add Button views for the user to choose whether to split or not, and another button to generate a new set of cards for continuous practice.
Create state variables: Add @State properties for the player's cards, dealer's up card, and any other necessary state variables.
Implement the splitting rules function: Write a function that takes the player's two cards and the dealer's up card as input and returns a boolean value indicating whether the player should split or not, based on the provided rules.
Update the user interface: In the Button action for the "Split" button, compare the user's choice with the recommended action from the splitting rules function and update the user interface to provide feedback on whether their decision was correct or not.
Generate new cards: In the Button action for the "New Cards" button, generate a new set of random cards for the player and the dealer, and update the state variables accordingly.
Run the app: Build and run your app on the iOS Simulator or a connected device to test its functionality. Make any necessary adjustments to fix bugs or improve the user experience.
Once you've completed these steps, you should have a basic blackjack practice app that helps users learn the correct splitting strategy using SwiftUI. You can then consider adding more features, like a scoring system or additional blackjack rules, to enhance the app further.
User: Expand on the "Button" part in step 2
User: Expand on part 3 about the @State thing.
In SwiftUI, @State is a property wrapper that allows you to store and manage the mutable state of your app's user interface. It ensures that your app's UI is automatically updated whenever the state changes. Here's how to use @State in your blackjack practice app:
Declare state variables: At the top of your ContentView struct, declare the state variables for the player's cards, dealer's up card, and any other necessary state variables. For example:
struct ContentView: View {
@State private var playerCard1: String = "2"
@State private var playerCard2: String = "3"
@State private var dealerCard: String = "10"
@State private var feedbackMessage: String = ""
}
Bind state variables to UI elements: When creating your user interface, bind the state variables to the appropriate UI elements. For example, you can bind the Text views displaying the player's cards and dealer's up card to their respective state variables:
VStack {
Text("Player Card 1: \(playerCard1)")
Text("Player Card 2: \(playerCard2)")
Text("Dealer Card: \(dealerCard)")
}
Update state variables: Whenever the user interacts with the app, such as pressing a button or making a decision, update the state variables accordingly. For example, when the user presses the "Split" button, you can update the feedbackMessage state variable based on the user's decision:
Button("Split") {
let shouldSplit = shouldSplitCards(playerCard1, playerCard2, dealerCard)
feedbackMessage = shouldSplit ? "Correct! You should split." : "Incorrect. You should not split."
}
Refresh the UI: SwiftUI automatically updates the UI whenever a state variable changes. In this case, you can display the feedbackMessage in a Text view, and it will automatically update when the state variable is modified:
Text(feedbackMessage)
By using @State properties, you can easily manage the mutable state of your app's UI and ensure that it's always up-to-date. This makes it simple to create dynamic, interactive apps with SwiftUI.
User: where to define the shouldSplitCards function?
iOS App: where to define the shouldSplitCards function
User: How to write the code for step 6 ("New Cards" button)?
To implement the "New Cards" button, you'll need to generate new random cards for the player and dealer, and update the state variables accordingly. Here's how to do it:
Create a function to generate a random card:
func randomCard() -> String {
let cardValues = ["2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "J", "Q", "K", "A"]
return cardValues.randomElement()!
}
Add the "New Cards" button to your user interface:
Button("New Cards") {
// Generate new random cards for the player and dealer
playerCard1 = randomCard()
playerCard2 = randomCard()
dealerCard = randomCard()
// Clear the feedback message
feedbackMessage = ""
}
This button will call the randomCard() function to generate new random cards for the player and dealer, update the state variables, and clear the feedback message.
Your complete ContentView struct should now look something like this:
struct ContentView: View {
@State private var playerCard1: String = "2"
@State private var playerCard2: String = "3"
@State private var dealerCard: String = "10"
@State private var feedbackMessage: String = ""
var body: some View {
VStack {
Text("Player Card 1: \(playerCard1)")
Text("Player Card 2: \(playerCard2)")
Text("Dealer Card: \(dealerCard)")
Button("Split") {
let shouldSplit = shouldSplitCards(playerCard1, playerCard2, dealerCard)
feedbackMessage = shouldSplit ? "Correct! You should split." : "Incorrect. You should not split."
}
Button("New Cards") {
playerCard1 = randomCard()
playerCard2 = randomCard()
dealerCard = randomCard()
feedbackMessage = ""
}
Text(feedbackMessage)
}
}
func randomCard() -> String {
let cardValues = ["2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "J", "Q", "K", "A"]
return cardValues.randomElement()!
}
}
Now, when the user presses the "New Cards" button, the app will generate new random cards for the player and dealer, update the state variables, and clear the feedback message.
User: How to export the app to my iPhone?
To export the app to your iPhone, follow these steps:
Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable.
Open Xcode and your project.
In Xcode, go to the top-left corner of the window and click on the active scheme (it should display the name of your app and a device or simulator). A dropdown menu will appear.
In the dropdown menu, under "Devices", find and select your connected iPhone. If your iPhone doesn't appear, make sure it's unlocked and trusted by your Mac.
If this is your first time running an app on your iPhone, you'll need to add your Apple ID to Xcode. Go to Xcode > Preferences > Accounts, and click the "+" button to add your Apple ID. Sign in with your Apple ID credentials.
In the project navigator, select your project, then click on the "Signing & Capabilities" tab in the main editor area.
Under "Team", select your Apple ID from the dropdown menu. Xcode will automatically manage the provisioning profile and signing certificate for you.
If you encounter any issues with provisioning profiles or signing certificates, click on the "Try Again" button that appears next to the error message. Xcode will attempt to resolve the issue automatically.
Click the "Run" button (the triangle icon) in the top-left corner of the Xcode window, or press Cmd + R. Xcode will build and run your app on your connected iPhone.
On your iPhone, you might see a message saying "Untrusted Developer". To trust the developer profile, go to Settings > General > Profiles & Device Management, tap on your Apple ID, and then tap "Trust".
Go back to your iPhone's home screen, and you should see your app installed. Tap on the app icon to launch it.
Now you have successfully exported your app to your iPhone. You can test the app on your device and make any necessary adjustments to fix bugs or improve the user experience.
User: Ok, the app works but it looks a bit ugly. Give some suggestions to make it look better.
User: So splitting is only one possible training game. I want to create a menu where I can choose between "Splits", "soft counts" or "hard counts". When I choose one option, it will open a new game. And of course, I should be able to go back to the menu when I want.
More threads
User: Ok, so this is what we got to.
User: How to enable Dark mode by default? I'm using SwiftUI btw.
User: Ok, so we made this View. Let's refactor it.
User: Ok we need an icon for the app. What are the constraints
iOS: iPhone Icon and submitting to App store
User: I want to provide hints on the game pages. When aa user presses a button, it should open some kind of popup that displays hints. Oh by the way, I renamed "SoftCounts" and "HardCounts" to "SoftTotals" and "HardTotals" because it's a better name. Here is the current code for SplitView.swift
User: Let's improve esthetic of this app. The icon has a brown/red-ish tone and I like it. Should we use a background image or maybe we can get away by coding some background using Swift with some color gradient?
User: I have this extension. Where can I put it in my swift code?
User: Let's work on displaying the cards better. What are my options?
User: The code for HardTotal and SoftTotal is so similar. There should be a way to refactor them. What are the common parts and what are the parts that are different. How can I factor it?
User: Ok we've done some good work. We now have a class Card.
public struct Card {
let rank: Int
let suit: Suit
}and we check whether a user is doing the correct action with
let (correctAction, reason) = Utility.getAction(playerCard1: playerCard1, playerCard2: playerCard2, dealerCard: dealerCard)User: We are going to implement a stats tracking system to keep track of a user's weakest hands. We want to store this info on device so that it's persistent after closing the app.
User: Now, let's make a WatchOS app out of this.
User: Let's implement a system that keeps track of the user's streak of correct actions. It should persist after an app restart. Describe in which file I should put the code and also what code.
User: Ok, now let's create a settings page where the user can configure whether to display the Deal button and whether to auto-deal, as well as the dealing speed. These settings should persist obviously. Write the SettingsView code.
User: Let's switch gears a bit. We are going to add a killer feature this app. Do you remember what features it currently has?
Yes, I remember the current features of your app. The app is a blackjack practice tool with the following features:
A menu to choose between different training games: Splits, Soft Totals, and Hard Totals.
In each training game, the user is given a pair of player cards and a dealer card, and they need to decide the correct action based on the rules provided.
Hints are available to help users understand the correct action for each situation.
A stats tracking system that keeps track of the user's weakest hands.
A streak tracking system that records the user's streak of correct actions, which persists after an app restart.
A Settings page where users can configure options like displaying the Deal button, auto-dealing, and dealing speed.
User: That's correct. What do you suggest would be a killer feature for this app.
A killer feature for this app could be a "Challenge Mode" where users can test their skills in a series of increasingly difficult scenarios or levels. In this mode, users would be presented with a variety of hands and situations that they must correctly identify the best action for, based on the rules and strategies they've learned in the practice games.
Some ideas for Challenge Mode include:
Time-based challenges: Users must make a certain number of correct decisions within a specified time limit.
Streak-based challenges: Users must achieve a specific streak of correct decisions to complete the challenge.
Scenario-based challenges: Users are presented with a series of pre-defined hands and situations, designed to test their understanding of specific aspects of blackjack strategy.
In addition to the Challenge Mode, you could also implement a leaderboard or ranking system that allows users to compare their performance with other players. This could create a competitive aspect to the app and motivate users to improve their skills.
Finally, consider adding a tutorial or learning section that provides users with in-depth explanations, tips, and strategies for each game type (Splits, Soft Totals, and Hard Totals). This would help users gain a deeper understanding of the game and improve their performance in the practice and challenge modes.
User: Actually, I was thinking. We could use the iPhone camera to do image recognition on real life cards and advise the user on what action to take.
Integrating image recognition using the iPhone camera to identify real-life cards and provide advice on the best action to take would be an innovative and engaging feature for your app. To implement this feature, you can use Apple's Core ML and Vision frameworks, which provide powerful machine learning and computer vision capabilities.
Here's an outline of the steps to implement this feature:
Prepare a dataset: Collect a dataset of images of playing cards in various orientations, lighting conditions, and backgrounds. You'll use this dataset to train a machine learning model to recognize the cards.
Train a machine learning model: Use a tool like Create ML or Turi Create to train a machine learning model on your dataset. This will enable the model to recognize playing cards from images captured by the iPhone camera.
Integrate the model into your app: Import the trained machine learning model into your Xcode project and use the Core ML and Vision frameworks to perform image recognition on the camera feed.
Capture camera input: Implement a camera view in your app that captures images in real-time and processes them using your machine learning model to recognize the cards.
Provide real-time advice: Based on the identified cards, use your existing game logic to determine the best action for the user to take, and display this advice on the screen in real-time.
User interaction: Allow users to enable or disable this feature from the settings page, and provide instructions on how to use it effectively.
By implementing this feature, your app would provide users with an interactive and engaging way to practice their blackjack skills using real-life cards, making it a unique and valuable tool for learning and improving their game strategy.
User: I am comfortable with PyTorch. What are the advantages of training a model in Pytorch vs using Create ML or Turi Create?
Training a model in PyTorch has several advantages over using Create ML or Turi Create, especially if you're already comfortable with PyTorch:
Flexibility: PyTorch offers a high level of flexibility in creating and customizing neural network architectures, loss functions, and optimization algorithms. This allows you to experiment with various approaches and fine-tune your model to achieve the best possible performance.
Larger ecosystem: PyTorch has a vast ecosystem of libraries, tools, and pre-trained models that can be easily integrated into your project. This can save you time and effort in implementing certain features or functionalities.
Cross-platform compatibility: PyTorch models can be deployed on various platforms, including iOS, Android, and web applications, using libraries like ONNX and PyTorch Mobile. This makes it easier to create cross-platform apps and services using a single codebase.
Advanced features: PyTorch supports advanced features like dynamic computation graphs, which can be useful for certain types of models and tasks. It also supports GPU acceleration for faster training and inference.
Strong community: PyTorch has a large and active community of developers and researchers, which means you'll have access to a wealth of resources, tutorials, and support when working with PyTorch.
On the other hand, Create ML and Turi Create are designed specifically for Apple platforms and offer a more streamlined and user-friendly experience for training and deploying machine learning models on iOS and macOS. They provide easy-to-use interfaces and tools for creating models with minimal code, making them more accessible to developers with less experience in machine learning.
In summary, if you're already comfortable with PyTorch and require more flexibility or advanced features, it may be a better choice for your project. However, if you're looking for a more user-friendly and platform-specific solution, Create ML or Turi Create might be more suitable.
User: Alright, maybe let's try using Create ML. How do you think we should approach building our model?
To build a card recognition model using Create ML, you can follow these steps:
Prepare a dataset: Collect a dataset of images of playing cards in various orientations, lighting conditions, and backgrounds. Label each image with the corresponding card value and suit. Organize the dataset into separate folders for each class (e.g., "2H" for 2 of Hearts, "AS" for Ace of Spades, etc.).
Split the dataset: Divide your dataset into training, validation, and testing subsets. A common split ratio is 70% for training, 15% for validation, and 15% for testing. This will help you evaluate the performance of your model and prevent overfitting.
Install Create ML app: Download and install the Create ML app from the Mac App Store. This app provides a user-friendly interface for training machine learning models using Create ML.
Create a new Create ML project: Open the Create ML app and create a new project. Choose the "Image Classifier" template, as it's suitable for the task of recognizing playing cards.
Import the dataset: In the Create ML app, import your training and validation datasets by dragging and dropping the respective folders into the designated areas in the app.
Train the model: Start the training process by clicking the "Train" button. Create ML will automatically train an image classifier using your dataset. You can monitor the training progress, accuracy, and loss in the app.
Evaluate the model: Once the training is complete, import your testing dataset into the app to evaluate the model's performance. Review the model's accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score to ensure it meets your requirements.
Fine-tune the model (optional): If the model's performance is not satisfactory, you can try fine-tuning the model by adjusting parameters such as the number of iterations, learning rate, or augmentation options. You can also try adding more data or improving the quality of your dataset.
Export the Core ML model: When you're satisfied with the model's performance, export the trained model as a Core ML file (.mlmodel) by clicking the "Export" button.
Integrate the model into your app: Import the Core ML model into your Xcode project and use the Vision framework to perform image recognition on the camera feed. Based on the identified cards, use your existing game logic to determine the best action for the user to take, and display this advice on the screen in real-time.
By following these steps, you can create a custom card recognition model using Create ML and integrate it into your app to provide real-time advice based on real-life cards.
User: The model will be fed multiple cards. Should we break the task into object recognition (the card) then image classification (which card it is) or should we do all in one go? Besides, should we recognize the whole card at once (Ace of spades) or the rank and the suit separately?
Given the task of recognizing multiple cards in a single image, it's generally better to break the task into two parts: object detection (localizing the cards) and image classification (identifying the card rank and suit).
Object Detection: Use an object detection model to localize and identify the cards in the image. This step will provide the bounding boxes for each card detected in the image. Popular object detection models include YOLO, SSD, and Faster R-CNN. You can use Create ML's Object Detection template to train a custom object detection model for playing cards.
Image Classification: Once you have the bounding boxes for each card, crop the original image to obtain individual card images. Then, use your trained card recognition model (the one you trained with Create ML) to identify the rank and suit of each card. This step can be done by recognizing the whole card at once (e.g., Ace of Spades) or by recognizing the rank and suit separately. Recognizing the whole card at once is generally more straightforward, but recognizing the rank and suit separately might provide more flexibility in handling variations in card design.
By breaking the task into these two parts, you can leverage the strengths of both object detection and image classification models to accurately detect and recognize multiple cards in a single image.
In summary, the recommended approach is:
Perform object detection to localize the cards in the image.
Crop the original image to obtain individual card images.
Use an image classification model to recognize the whole card (rank and suit) at once.
This approach should provide a good balance between accuracy and simplicity for your card recognition task.
User: the issue is that the cards may be overlapping as is typically the case in blackjack. Maybe that's alright. What do you think?
In the case of overlapping cards, as is typical in blackjack, object detection models might have difficulty accurately localizing and identifying the cards. However, this doesn't mean it's impossible. Many object detection models, like YOLO, SSD, and Faster R-CNN, are designed to handle overlapping objects to some extent.
One approach to tackle this issue is to train the object detection model specifically on images of overlapping cards. By doing this, the model will learn to recognize and localize overlapping cards more effectively. Make sure to include a diverse set of images in your dataset, with various degrees of overlapping, card orientations, and lighting conditions.
Another approach is to use a combination of object detection and image segmentation techniques. Image segmentation can help separate overlapping cards by identifying the pixels that belong to each card. This can be particularly helpful if the cards have distinct colors or patterns that make them easier to separate.
In summary, while overlapping cards can be challenging for object detection models, it's still possible to achieve reasonable performance by training the model on a diverse dataset of overlapping cards and considering additional techniques like image segmentation if necessary.
User: Alright, so I will generate a synthetic dataset of images. The first step is to take my transparent card images and give them some white-ish background and borders. I probably should use some random shade of white and apply some grain to make the picture more realistic.