Card shuffle

[Chris Lavery]

my final assessment in my java class for this year is to design and implement a Java programme which takes as input the number of desired swaps, outputs an ordered Set of cards which are then "shuffled" and output again. The number of swaps must be at least 1 and not more than 1000.
im not asking for the code to be written for me, but i really dont have any idea of this one. can sumone possibly give me a detailed guideline as to how i shud do it.
p.s. u know, if any1 wants 2 write the whole thing id b happy to let them
thanx in advance
chris

[Stan James]

What is your instructor's definition of "shuffle"? It's kind of an interesting problem to cut the deck perfectly and interleave the cards perfectly. Cards 1..52 wind up 1,26,2,27,3,28 etc. If you repeat this just the right number of times you get the original order back. I think.

Another way to shuffle is to lay all 52 cards out in a row. Point to the first one, swap it with some random card. Point to the second one, swap it with some random card. Every card wll be moved at least once, some more.

Either of those sound like a good shuffle routine?

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Chris, please don't start more than one thread on the same topic. As I'm having an ongoing dialog with you here, I'm going to close this thread and leave that other one open.