How does Tic-Tac-Toe differ from the maze problem?
The state is the board configuration. There are $3^9$ of them, though not all are reachable. Is this too big?
It is a bit less than 20,000. Not bad. Is this the full size of the Q table?
No. We must add the action dimension. There are at most 9 actions, one for each cell on the board. So the Q table will contain about $20,000 \cdot 9$ values or about 200,000. No worries.
Instead of thinking about the Q table as a three-dimensional array, as we did last time, let's be more pythonic and use a dictionary. Use the current state as the key, and the value associated with the state is an array of Q values for each action taken in that state.
We still need a way to represent a board.
How about an array of characters? So
X | | O
---------
| X | O
---------
X | |
would be
board = np.array(['X',' ','O', ' ','X','O', 'X',' ',' '])
The initial board would be
board = np.array([' ']*9)
We can represent a move as an index, 0 to 8, into this array.
What should the reinforcement values be?
How about 0 every move except when X wins, with a reinforcement of 1, and when O wins, with a reinforcement of -1.
For the above board, let's say we, meaning Player X, prefer move to index 3. In fact, this always results in a win. So the Q value for move to 3 should be 1. What other Q values do you know?
If we don't play a move to win, O could win in one move. So the other moves might have Q values close to -1, depending on the skill of Player O. In the following discussion we will be using a random player for O, so the Q value for a move other than 8 or 3 will be close to but not exactly -1.
For our agent to interact with its world, we must implement
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
%matplotlib inline
from copy import copy
Let's write a function to print a board in the usual Tic-Tac-Toe style.
def printBoard(board):
print('{}|{}|{}\n-----\n{}|{}|{}\n-----\n{}|{}|{}'.format(*board))
board = np.array(['X',' ','O', ' ','X','O', 'X',' ',' '])
printBoard(board)
Let's write a function that returns True if the current board is a winning board for us. We will be Player X. What does the value of combos represent?
def winner(board):
combos = np.array((0,1,2, 3,4,5, 6,7,8, 0,3,6, 1,4,7, 2,5,8, 0,4,8, 2,4,6))
return np.any(np.logical_or(np.all('X' == board[combos].reshape((-1,3)), axis=1),
np.all('O' == board[combos].reshape((-1,3)), axis=1)))
board = np.array(['X',' ','O', ' ','X','O', 'X',' ',' '])
printBoard(board)
winner(board)
board[3] = 'X'
printBoard(board)
winner(board)
How can we find all valid moves from a board? Just find all of the spaces in the board representation
np.where(board == ' ')
np.where(board == ' ')[0]
And how do we pick one at random and make that move?
board = np.array(['X',' ','O', ' ','X','O', 'X',' ',' '])
validMoves = np.where(board == ' ')[0]
move = np.random.choice(validMoves)
boardNew = copy(board)
boardNew[move] = 'X'
print('From this board')
printBoard(board)
print('\n Move',move)
print('\nresults in board')
printBoard(boardNew)
If X just won, we want to set the Q value for the previous state (board) to 1, because X will always win from that state and that action (move).
First we must figure out how to implement the Q table. We want to associate a value with each board and move. We can use a python dictionary for this. We know how to represent a board. A move can be an integer from 0 to 8 to index into the board array for the location to place a marker.
Q = {} # empty table
Q[(tuple(board),1)] = 0
Q
Q[(tuple(board),1)]
What if we try to look up a Q value for a state,action we have not encountered yet? It will not be in the dictionary. We can use the get method for the dictionary, that has a second argument as the value returned if the key does not exist.
board[1] = 'X'
Q[(tuple(board),1)]
Q.get((tuple(board),1), 42)
Now we can set the Q value for (board,move) to 1.
Q[(tuple(board),move)] = 1
If the board is full and we have a draw, then the previous state and action should be assigned 0.
Q[(tuple(board),move)] = 0
If the board is not full, better check to see if O just won. If O did just win, then we should adjust the Q value of the previous state and X action to be closer to -1, because we just received a -1 reinforcement and the game is over.
rho = 0.1 # learning rate
Q[(tuple(board),move)] += rho * (-1 - Q[(tuple(board),move)])
If nobody won yet, let's calculate the temporal difference error and use it to adjust the Q value of the previous board,move. We do this only if we are not at the first move of a game.
step = 0
if step > 0:
Q[(tuple(boardOld),moveOld)] += rho * (Q[(tuple(board),move)] - Q[(tuple(boardOld),moveOld)])
Initially, taking random moves is a good strategy, because we know nothing about how to play Tic-Tac-Toe. But, once we have gained some experience and our Q table has acquired some good predictions of the sum of future reinforcement, we should rely on our Q values to pick good moves. For a given board, which move is predicted to lead to the best possible future using the current Q table?
validMoves = np.where(board == ' ')[0]
print('Valid moves are',validMoves)
Qs = np.array([Q.get((tuple(board),m), 0) for m in validMoves])
print('Q values for validMoves are',Qs)
bestMove = validMoves[np.argmax(Qs)]
print('Best move is',bestMove)
To slowly transition from taking random actions to taking the action currently believed to be best, called the greedy action, we slowly decay a parameter, $\epsilon$, from 1 down towards 0 as the probability of selecting a random action. This is called the $\epsilon$-greedy policy.
def epsilonGreedy(epsilon, Q, board):
validMoves = np.where(board == ' ')[0]
if np.random.uniform() < epsilon:
# Random Move
return np.random.choice(validMoves)
else:
# Greedy Move
Qs = np.array([Q.get((tuple(board),m), 0) for m in validMoves])
return validMoves[ np.argmax(Qs) ]
epsilonGreedy(0.8, Q, board)
Now write a function to make plots to show results of some games. Say the variable outcomes is a vector of 1's, 0's, and -1's, for games in which X wins, draws, and loses, respectively.
outcomes = np.random.choice([-1,0,1],replace=True,size=(1000))
outcomes[:10]
def plotOutcomes(outcomes,epsilons,maxGames,nGames):
if nGames==0:
return
nBins = 100
nPer = int(maxGames/nBins)
outcomeRows = outcomes.reshape((-1,nPer))
outcomeRows = outcomeRows[:int(nGames/float(nPer))+1,:]
avgs = np.mean(outcomeRows,axis=1)
plt.subplot(3,1,1)
xs = np.linspace(nPer,nGames,len(avgs))
plt.plot(xs, avgs)
plt.xlabel('Games')
plt.ylabel('Mean of Outcomes\n(0=draw, 1=X win, -1=O win)')
plt.title('Bins of {:d} Games'.format(nPer))
plt.subplot(3,1,2)
plt.plot(xs,np.sum(outcomeRows==1,axis=1),'g-',label='Wins')
plt.plot(xs,np.sum(outcomeRows==-1,axis=1),'r-',label='Losses')
plt.plot(xs,np.sum(outcomeRows==0,axis=1),'b-',label='Draws')
plt.legend(loc="center")
plt.ylabel('Number of Games\nin Bins of {:d}'.format(nPer))
plt.subplot(3,1,3)
plt.plot(epsilons[:nGames])
plt.ylabel('$\epsilon$')
plt.figure(figsize=(8,8))
plotOutcomes(outcomes,np.zeros(1000),1000,1000)
Finally, let's write the whole Tic-Tac-Toe learning loop!
from IPython.display import display, clear_output
maxGames = 50000
rho = 0.2
epsilonDecayRate = 0.9999
epsilon = 1.0
graphics = True
showMoves = not graphics
outcomes = np.zeros(maxGames)
epsilons = np.zeros(maxGames)
Q = {}
if graphics:
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10,10))
for nGames in range(maxGames):
epsilon *= epsilonDecayRate
epsilons[nGames] = epsilon
step = 0
board = np.array([' '] * 9) # empty board
done = False
while not done:
step += 1
# X's turn
move = epsilonGreedy(epsilon, Q, board)
boardNew = copy(board)
boardNew[move] = 'X'
if (tuple(board),move) not in Q:
Q[(tuple(board),move)] = 0 # initial Q value for new board,move
if showMoves:
printBoard(boardNew)
if winner(boardNew):
# X won!
if showMoves:
print(' X Won!')
Q[(tuple(board),move)] = 1
done = True
outcomes[nGames] = 1
elif not np.any(boardNew == ' '):
# Game over. No winner.
if showMoves:
print(' draw.')
Q[(tuple(board),move)] = 0
done = True
outcomes[nGames] = 0
else:
# O's turn. O is a random player!
moveO = np.random.choice(np.where(boardNew==' ')[0])
boardNew[moveO] = 'O'
if showMoves:
printBoard(boardNew)
if winner(boardNew):
# O won!
if showMoves:
print(' O Won!')
Q[(tuple(board),move)] += rho * (-1 - Q[(tuple(board),move)])
done = True
outcomes[nGames] = -1
if step > 1:
Q[(tuple(boardOld),moveOld)] += rho * (Q[(tuple(board),move)] - Q[(tuple(boardOld),moveOld)])
boardOld, moveOld = board, move # remember board and move to Q(board,move) can be updated after next steps
board = boardNew
if graphics and (nGames % (maxGames/10) == 0 or nGames == maxGames-1):
fig.clf()
plotOutcomes(outcomes,epsilons,maxGames,nGames-1)
clear_output(wait=True)
display(fig);
if graphics:
clear_output(wait=True)
print('Outcomes: {:d} X wins {:d} O wins {:d} draws'.format(np.sum(outcomes==1), np.sum(outcomes==-1), np.sum(outcomes==0)))
How can we examine the Q function that predicts the future for every board and move?
Q[(tuple([' ']*9),0)]
Q[(tuple([' ']*9),1)]
Q.get((tuple([' ']*9),0), 0)
[Q.get((tuple([' ']*9),m), 0) for m in range(9)]
board = np.array([' ']*9)
Qs = [Q.get((tuple(board),m), 0) for m in range(9)]
printBoard(board)
print()
print('''{:5.2f} | {:5.2f} | {:5.2f}
---------------------
{:5.2f} | {:5.2f} | {:5.2f}
---------------------
{:5.2f} | {:5.2f} | {:5.2f}'''.format(*Qs))
def printBoardQs(board,Q):
printBoard(board)
Qs = [Q.get((tuple(board),m), 0) for m in range(9)]
print()
print('''{:5.2f} | {:5.2f} | {:5.2f}
---------------------
{:5.2f} | {:5.2f} | {:5.2f}
---------------------
{:5.2f} | {:5.2f} | {:5.2f}'''.format(*Qs))
board[0] = 'X'
board[1] = 'O'
printBoardQs(board,Q)
board[4] = 'X'
board[3] = 'O'
printBoardQs(board,Q)
board[0] = 'X'
board[4] = 'O'
printBoardQs(board,Q)
board[2] = 'X'
board[1] = 'O'
printBoardQs(board,Q)
board[7] = 'X'
board[3] = 'O'
printBoardQs(board,Q)
board[5] = 'X'
board[6] = 'O'
printBoardQs(board,Q)