Lab Week 13: Stable Matchings

Announcements

  • Two short quizzes posted this week
    • one on stacks
    • one on stable matchings
    • can be completed any time before end of classes
  • Accountability group survey posted tomorrow

Today

  1. Project Hints and Suggestions
  2. Time to Work

Agent.java

Representation of an agent

  • preferences stored in ArrayList<Agent> prefList
    • first element is most preferred Agent, etc
  • current match stored as Agent curMatch
    • curMatch = null indicates agent is not matched
  • curIndex is index of curMatch in prefList
    • initially curIndex = -1

Agent Instance Methods

  • boolean prefers(Agent a, Agent b) returns true if this agent prefers a to b
    • all agents prefer being matched with prefList agent to not being matched (i.e., curMatch == null) to being matching with agent not in prefList
    • null parameter indicates not being matched
  • void proposal(Agent a) this agent receives proposal from Agent a

  • void refusal() this agent was refused by curMatch
    • if curMatch is last in prefList, unmatch and return
    • otherwise, set curMatch to next in prefList, and propose

SMInstance

  • Stores:
    • ArrayList<Agent> hospitals
    • ArrayList<Agent> residents
  • Matching is implicit in hospitals/residents
    • matching consists of pairs (r, h) where:
      1. h = r.curMatch
      2. r = h.curMatch
    • Matching a class for dealing with matchings
      • stores an ArrayList of Pair<Agent>s

SMInstance Methods

  • void computeStableMatching() use the McVitie & Wilson algorithm to compute a stable matching
    • matching is implicit in state values of curMatch
    • hint: make sure each resident r sets curMatch before making first proposal
      • which method actually sets a proposer’s match?
  • Matching getMatching() return a Matching consisting of pairs (r, h) where r = h.curMatch and h = r.curMatch
  • void setMatching(Matching m)
  • Pair<Agent> getBlockingPair()
  • boolean isStable()

General Advice

  • Start with Agent class
  • Use AgentTester to test each method
  • No method should require too much code
  • Use print statements to help debug!