Storing the configuration in properties files

The properties files are often used with Java programs. However, there's no reason why we can't use them with Python. They're relatively easy to parse and allow us to encode the configuration parameters in a handy, easy-to-use format. For more information about the format, you can refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.properties and https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/java/util/Properties.html#load(java.io.Reader).

Here's what a properties file might look like:

# Example Simulation Setup 
 
player.betting: Flat 
player.play: SomeStrategy 
player.rounds: 100 
player.stake: 50 
 
table.dealer: Hit17 
table.decks: 6 
table.limit: 50 
table.payout: (3,2) 
table.split: NoResplitAces 
 
simulator.outputfile = data/ch14_simulation5.dat
simulator.samples = 100 

This has some advantages in terms of simplicity. The...