From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 07/02/01 Date: 2 Jul 2001 08:32:55 -0400 Message-ID: <200107020400.AAA18966@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/02/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Thu Jun 21 07:17:30 EDT 2001 # Name Author Score Age 1 QuiVa John Metcalf 28 174 2 Xord Monominer XOSC:01 Gino Oblena 20 20 3 Pitbull Christian Schmidt 15 37 4 test John Metcalf 13 9 5 fclear Brian Haskin 13 65 6 8thTest Gino Oblena 13 12 7 D-clearM Ken Espiritu 7 81 8 Her Majesty P.Kline 6 100 9 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 3 1 10 sptst (3D) Stefan Foerster 1 6 11 sptst (5D) Stefan Foerster 1 2 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 07/02/01 Date: 2 Jul 2001 08:32:50 -0400 Message-ID: <200107020400.AAA18974@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/02/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Thu Jun 28 08:21:30 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 42/ 40/ 19 Behemot Michal Janeczek 144 421 2 30/ 17/ 52 Son of Vain Oversby/Pihlaja 143 187 3 31/ 19/ 50 Inky Ian Oversby 142 77 4 27/ 16/ 57 nPaper II Paul-V Khuong 139 598 5 40/ 42/ 18 G2-b David Moore 139 384 6 40/ 42/ 17 Jinx Christian Schmidt 138 561 7 30/ 23/ 48 Quicksilver Michal Janeczek 137 360 8 30/ 24/ 46 Revival Fire P.Kline 137 66 9 29/ 22/ 49 Olivia Ben Ford 136 326 10 40/ 44/ 16 Phantasm 50 Robert Macrae 136 106 11 32/ 30/ 38 Blacken Ian Oversby 135 845 12 39/ 43/ 18 Eraser II Ken Espiritu 135 555 13 34/ 33/ 33 Keyser Soze Anton Marsden 134 299 14 27/ 22/ 52 AxID Burn Gino Oblena 131 21 15 27/ 24/ 48 Uninvited John Metcalf 130 280 16 25/ 20/ 56 Vain Ian Oversby 129 63 17 19/ 8/ 73 The Phantom Menace Anton Marsden 129 298 18 25/ 23/ 53 Qtest Christian Schmidt 127 120 19 19/ 14/ 67 Chism John Metcalf 124 1 20 18/ 13/ 68 Chism John Metcalf 124 2 21 1/ 83/ 16 Darwin v1 Evolved by Jason Coo 20 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 07/02/01 Date: 2 Jul 2001 08:33:00 -0400 Message-ID: <200107020400.AAA18970@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/02/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Wed Jun 20 04:06:45 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 33/ 19/ 47 KAT v5 Dave Hillis 148 31 2 39/ 34/ 26 Black Moods Ian Oversby 145 95 3 40/ 41/ 18 Greetings From Asbury Par JKW 139 59 4 36/ 35/ 29 Ogre Christian Schmidt 138 47 5 26/ 16/ 58 Katafutr Michal Janeczek 137 39 6 31/ 30/ 39 Big I.F.F.S. Dave Hillis 133 28 7 26/ 23/ 51 Damage Inflicted Robert Macrae 128 38 8 17/ 7/ 76 Denial David Moore 128 40 9 29/ 33/ 38 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 126 99 10 15/ 7/ 78 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 124 168 11 18/ 13/ 69 Kin John Metcalf 123 7 12 13/ 4/ 82 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 122 116 13 14/ 6/ 80 Black Box v1.1 JKW 122 62 14 27/ 33/ 39 test CS 122 56 15 19/ 19/ 63 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 119 121 16 31/ 45/ 24 Pagan John K W 116 153 17 28/ 43/ 29 Sand-Crawler John Metcalf 113 5 18 14/ 20/ 66 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 109 120 19 17/ 26/ 57 Disaster Area 2.8 Stefan Foerster 108 26 20 14/ 21/ 64 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 107 1 21 0/ 0/ 5 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 5 2 From: wooday04@aol.com (Wooday04) Date: 06 Jul 2001 04:20:50 GMT Subject: help Message-ID: <20010706002050.18491.00002163@ng-fa1.aol.com> hey is corewars still around? if so, could someone help me learn how to make a monster or warrior or whatever. take me under your wing, make me your apprentice. it would be greatly apprectiated Message-ID: <3B454AE4.3010707@SPAMTRAP.babel.com.au> From: Gold Subject: Re: help Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 05:22:19 GMT I've always wondered about corewars too. Would anyone like to start a multi part post over a few days/weeks telling about the game, any websites and a tutorial perhaps? Au. Wooday04 wrote: > hey is corewars still around? if so, could someone help me learn how to make a > monster or warrior or whatever. take me under your wing, make me your > apprentice. it would be greatly apprectiated From: "Benjamin Ford" Subject: Re: help Date: 6 Jul 2001 12:15:44 -0400 Message-ID: Its still around. The best sites to look at would be http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth/ and http://www.koth.org/ You should be able to find tutorials and such there. From: Gold >I've always wondered about corewars too. > >Would anyone like to start a multi part post over a few days/weeks >telling about the game, any websites and a tutorial perhaps? > >Au. > >Wooday04 wrote: > >>hey is corewars still around? if so, could someone help me learn how to >>make a >>monster or warrior or whatever. take me under your wing, make me your >>apprentice. it would be greatly apprectiated > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com From: "Paul Khuong" Subject: RE: help Date: 6 Jul 2001 22:09:33 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of Gold > Sent: 6 juillet, 2001 02:35 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: Re: help > > > I've always wondered about corewars too. > > Would anyone like to start a multi part post over a few days/weeks > telling about the game, any websites and a tutorial perhaps? > > Au. > > Wooday04 wrote: > > > hey is corewars still around? if so, could someone help me > learn how to make a > > monster or warrior or whatever. take me under your wing, make me your > > apprentice. it would be greatly apprectiated OK... First, corewarriors are programmed in an assembly like language. You'll find basic info in the pMars package, so i won't explain everyone of these opcodes 8) However, i'm going to explain addressing modes and instruction modifiers, sicne they seem to be a BIG obstacle for many. The basics of corewar: 1. Corewarriors are run in a flat memory ("core") that rolls around. IE, if you had a core of size 100 "memory cells"(a), pointing to address 100 or 0 would point tot he exact same place. Standard coresize is 8000. That core is numbered from 0 to (core size-1) 2. Addressing is relative to the instruction that is being executed. IE, there is no "real" address, except that for the sake of simplicity, the debugger assumes that the start of the first warrior is cell 0. For example: We ahve a program: [line 1:points to 1 and 2] [line 2:points to 1] [line 3:points to -2] *line=cell, sine you can only have one instruction/line, and one instruction = 1 cell(aaah, the simplicity 8) If line one points to "1", it will point to line 2. if it points to "2", it will point to line 3. However, if line two points to "1", it will point to line 3. And, if, for example, line 3 points to -2, it will point to line 1. BUT, there are no negatives in corewar. Negative numbers are converted to [coresize+negative number]. For example, if we had a coresize of 5 in the example above, line 3 would actually point to [5+-2=3], sicne everything rolls around. 3. Every programm can spawn multiple processes(threads). BUT, whenever you spawn a new thread, each thread runs at a smaller speed, since they all share the same computer time. Also, each corewarrior execute one fo their process one at a time from the process queue, in turn. So, let's say Warrior 1 had this queue: Part 1.3 part 1.1 part 1.2 And warrior 2 had: part 2.1 part 2.2 Then, they would execute in this order: part 1.3 part 2.1 Part 1.1 part 2.2 Part 1.2 Part 2.1 See? basic part of an instruction: Opcode(MOV, ADD, etc).[instruction modifier(changes how the opcode works] [addressing mode A(see below)] Address_A, [addressing mode B] Address_B Addressing mode+address is known as field. so, there are an A- and a B- field. OK. addressing modes: there three basic sorts of addressings: Direct Normal Indirect Direct:(identifier for direct addressing mode:#) Points to the instruction itself,no matter what comes after the #. For example, JMZ somewhere, #3 JMZ checks tos ee if the address pointed to by the B field is zero. BUT, if ahs to check that on either part A, B, or A and B of the isntruction the b-field points to. That's what the instruction modifier changes. JMZ assumes that it checks b-field, though, by default. SO, what address does it check? "0", sicne # make it so it ALWAYS point to itself. What part of the command does it check? b-field, since that's what it does by default. Is the b-field of jmz somewhere, #3 equal to 0? 3 isn't 0, so it doesn't jump to somewhere. ugh... it's getting long 8) How about we call it a day for now. Post ehre for what you don't understand(not if, i KNOW i'll have to reexaplin everything bc i suck at explaining stuff 8) HTH, Paul Khuong(NOT KLINE) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.264 / Virus Database: 136 - Release Date: 01-07-02 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com Message-ID: From: anton@paradise.net.nz (Anton Marsden) Subject: Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) Date: 08 Jul 2001 08:23:57 GMT Archive-name: games/corewar-faq Last-Modified: September 4, 1999 Version: 4.2 URL: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.html Copyright: (c) 1999 Anton Marsden Maintainer: Anton Marsden Posting-Frequency: once every 2 weeks Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) These are the Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) from the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.corewar. A plain text version of this document is posted every two weeks. The latest hypertext version is available at http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.html and the latest plain text version is available at http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.txt. This document is currently being maintained by Anton Marsden (anton@paradise.net.nz). Last modified: Sat Sep 4 00:22:22 NZST 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To Do * Add the new No-PSpace '94 hill location * Add online location of Dewdney's articles * Make question 17 easier to understand. Add a state diagram? * Add info about infinite hills, related games (C-Robots, Tierra?, ...) * New question: How do I know if my warrior is any good? Refer to beginners' benchmarks, etc. * Add a Who's Who list? * Would very much like someone to compile a collection of the "revolutionary" warriors so that beginners can see how the game has developed over the years. Mail me if interested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's New * Changed primary location of FAQ (again!) * Changed Philip Kendall's home page address. * Updated list server information * Changed primary location of FAQ * Vector-launching code was fixed thanks to Ting Hsu. * Changed the location of Ryan Coleman's paper (LaunchPad -> Launchpad) * Changed pauillac.inria.fr to para.inria.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents 1. What is Core War 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy of the current instruction set? 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? 6. What is the ICWS? 7. What is Core Warrior? 8. Where are the Core War archives? 9. Where can I find a Core War system for ...? 10. Where can I find warrior code? 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? 18. What is P-space? 19. What does "Missing ;assert .." in my message from KotH mean? 20. How should I format my code? 21. Are there any other Core War related resources I should know about? 22. What does (expression or term of your choice) mean? 23. Other questions? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. What is Core War? Core War is a game played by two or more programs (and vicariously by their authors) written in an assembly language called Redcode and run in a virtual computer called MARS (for Memory Array Redcode Simulator). The object of the game is to cause all processes of the opposing program to terminate, leaving your program in sole posession of the machine. There are Core War systems available for most computer platforms. Redcode has been standardised by the ICWS, and is therefore transportable between all standard Core War systems. The system in which the programs run is quite simple. The core (the memory of the simulated computer) is a continuous array of instructions, empty except for the competing programs. The core wraps around, so that after the last instruction comes the first one again. There are no absolute addresses in Core War. That is, the address 0 doesn't mean the first instruction in the memory, but the instruction that contains the address 0. The next instruction is 1, and the previous one obviously -1. However, all numbers are treated as positive, and are in the range 0 to CORESIZE-1 where CORESIZE is the amount of memory locations in the core - this means that -1 would be treated as CORESIZE-1 in any arithmetic operations, eg. 3218 + 7856 = (3218 + 7856) mod CORESIZE. Many people get confused by this, and it is particularly important when using the SLT instruction. Note that the source code of a program can still contain negative numbers, but if you start using instructions like DIV #-2, #5 it is important to know what effect they will have when executed. The basic unit of memory in Core War is one instruction. Each Redcode instruction contains three parts: * the opcode * the source address (a.k.a. the A-field) * the destination address (a.k.a. the B-field) The execution of the programs is equally simple. The MARS executes one instruction at a time, and then proceeds to the next one in the memory, unless the instruction explicitly tells it to jump to another address. If there is more than one program running, (as is usual) the programs execute alternately, one instruction at a time. The execution of each instruction takes the same time, one cycle, whether it is MOV, DIV or even DAT (which kills the process). Each program may have several processes running. These processes are stored in a task queue. When it is the program's turn to execute an instruction it dequeues a process and executes the corresponding instruction. Processes that are not killed during the execution of the instruction are put back into the task queue. Processes created by a SPL instruction are added to the task queue after the creating process is put back into the task queue. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? Both terms are used. Early references were to Core War. Later references seem to use Core Wars. I prefer "Core War" to refer to the game in general, "core wars" to refer to more than one specific battle. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? Core War was first described in the Core War Guidelines of March, 1984 by D. G. Jones and A. K. Dewdney of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Western Ontario (Canada). Dewdney wrote several "Computer Recreations" articles in Scientific American which discussed Core War, starting with the May 1984 article. Those articles are contained in two anthologies: Library of Author Title Published ISBN Congress Call Number The Armchair Dewdney, Universe: An New York: W. QA76.6 .D517 A. K. Exploration of H. Freeman �0-7167-1939-8 1988 Computer Worlds 1988 The Magic 0-7167-2125-2 Dewdney, Machine: A New York: W.(Hardcover), QA76.6 A. K. Handbook of H. Freeman �0-7167-2144-9 .D5173 1990 Computer Sorcery 1990 (Paperback) A.K. Dewdney's articles are still the most readable introduction to Core War, even though the Redcode dialect described in there is no longer current. For those who are interested, Dewdney has a home page at http://www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/akd/. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy of the current instruction set? A draft of the official standard (ICWS'88) is available as ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/standards/redcode-icws-88.Z. This document is formatted awkwardly and contains ambiguous statements. For a more approachable intro to Redcode, take a look at Mark Durham's tutorials, ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.1.Z and ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.2.Z. Steven Morrell has prepared a more practically oriented Redcode tutorial that discusses different warrior classes with lots of example code. This and various other tutorials can be found at http://www.koth.org/papers.html. Even though ICWS'88 is still the "official" standard, you will find that most people are playing by ICWS'94 draft rules and extensions. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? There is an ongoing discussion about future enhancements to the Redcode language. A proposed new standard, dubbed ICWS'94, is currently being evaluated. A major change is the addition of "instruction modifiers" that allow instructions to modify A-field, B-field or both. Also new is a new addressing modes and unrestricted opcode and addressing mode combination ("no illegal instructions"). ICWS'94 is backwards compatible; i.e. ICWS'88 warriors will run correctly on an ICWS'94 system. Take a look at the ICWS'94 draft at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/icws94.0202.Z for more information. There is a HTML version of this document available at http://www.koth.org/info/icws94.html. You can try out the new standard by submitting warriors to the '94 hills of the KotH servers. Two corewar systems currently support ICWS'94, pMARS (many platforms) and Redcoder (Mac), both available at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar. Note that Redcoder only supports a subset of ICWS'94. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. What is the ICWS? About one year after Core War first appeared in Scientific American, the "International Core War Society" (ICWS) was established. Since that time, the ICWS has been responsible for the creation and maintenance of Core War standards and the running of Core War tournaments. There have been six annual tournaments and two standards (ICWS'86 and ICWS'88). The ICWS is no longer active. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. What is Core Warrior? Following in the tradition of the Core War News Letter, Push Off, and The 94 Warrior, Core Warrior is a newsletter about strategies and current standings in Core War. Started in October 1995, back issues of Core Warrior (and the other newsletters) are available at http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. There is also a Core Warrior index page at http://www.kendalls.demon.co.uk/pak21/corewar/warrior.html which has a summary of the contents of each issue of Core Warrior. Many of the earlier issues contain useful information for beginners. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Where are the Core War archives? Many documents such as the guidelines and the ICWS standards along with previous tournament Redcode entries and complete Core War systems are available via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar. Also, most of past rec.games.corewar postings (including Redcode source listings) are archived there. Jon Blow (blojo@csua.berkeley.edu) is the archive administrator. When uploading to /pub/corewar/incoming, ask Jon to move your upload to the appropriate directory and announce it on the net. This site is mirrored at: * http://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror The plain text version of this FAQ is automatically archived by news.answers (but this version is probably out-of-date). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Where can I find a Core War system for . . . ? Core War systems are available via anonymous FTP from www.koth.org in the corewar/systems directory. Currently, there are UNIX, IBM PC-compatible, Macintosh, and Amiga Core War systems available there. It is a good idea to check ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/incoming for program updates first. CAUTION! There are many, many Core War systems available which are NOT ICWS'88 (or even ICWS'86) compatible available at various archive sites other than www.koth.org. Generally, the older the program - the less likely it will be ICWS compatible. If you are looking for an ICWS'94 simulator, get pMARS, which is available for many platforms and can be downloaded from: * ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar (original site) * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar (koth.org mirror) * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror (Planar mirror) * http://www.nc5.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/ (Terry Newton) * ftp://members.aol.com/ofechner/corewar (Fechter) Notes: * If you have trouble running pMARS with a graphical display under Win95 then check out http://www.koth.org/pmars.html which should have a pointer to the latest compilation of pMARS for this environment. * RPMs for the Alpha, PowerPC, Sparc and i386 can be found at ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/pmars-rpm/ Reviews of Core War systems would be greatly appreciated in the newsgroup and in the newsletter. Below is a not necessarily complete or up-to-date list of what's available at www.koth.org: MADgic41.lzh corewar for the Amiga, v4.1 MAD4041.lzh older version? MAD50B.lha corewar for the Amiga, beta version 5.0 Redcoder-21.hqx corewar for the Mac, supports ICWS'88 and '94 (without extensions) core-11.hqx corewar for the Mac core-wars-simulator.hqx same as core-11.hqx? corewar_unix_x11.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows, ICWS'86 but not ICWS'88 compatible koth31.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows. This program ran the former KotH server at intel.com koth.shar.Z older version kothpc.zip port of older version of KotH to the PC deluxe20c.tar.Z corewar for UNIX (broken X-windows or curses) and PC mars.tar.Z corewar for UNIX, likely not ICWS'88 compatible icons.zip corewar icons for MS-Windows macrored.zip a redcode macro-preprocessor (PC) c88v49.zip PC corewar, textmode display mars88.zip PC corewar, graphics mode display corwp302.zip PC corewar, textmode display, slowish mercury2.zip PC corewar written in assembly, fast! mtourn11.zip tournament scheduler for mercury (req. 4DOS) pmars08s.zip portable system, ICWS'88 and '94, runs on UNIX, PC, Mac, Amiga. C source archive pmars08s.tar.Z same as above pmars08.zip PC executables with graphics display, req 386+ macpmars02.sit.hqx pMARS executable for Mac (port of version 0.2) buggy, no display MacpMARS1.99a.cpt.hqx port of v0.8 for the Mac, with display and debugger MacpMARS1.0s.cpt.hqx C source (MPW, ThinkC) for Mac frontend pvms08.zip pMARS v0.8 for VMS build files/help (req. pmars08s.zip) ApMARS03.lha pMARS executable for Amiga (port of version 0.3.1) wincor11.zip MS-Windows system, shareware ($15) [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Where can I find warrior code? To learn the game, it is a good idea to study previously posted warrior code. The FTP archives have code in the ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/redcode directory. A clearly organized on-line warrior collection is available at the Core War web sites (see below). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? There is an FTP email server at bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu. This address may no longer exist. I haven't tested it yet. Send email with a subject and body text of "help" (without the quotes) for more information on its usage. Note that many FTP email gateways are shutting down due to abuse. To get a current list of FTP email servers, look at the Accessing the Internet by E-mail FAQ posted to news.answers. If you don't have access to Usenet, you can retrieve this FAQ one of the following ways: * Send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the body containing "send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email". * Send mail to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with the body containing "send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt". [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? To receive rec.games.corewar articles by email, join the COREWAR-L list run on the Koth.Org list processor. To join, send the message SUB COREWAR-L FirstName LastName to listproc@koth.org. You can send mail to corewar-l@koth.org to post even if you are not a member of the list. Responsible for the listserver is Scott J. Ellentuch (ttsg@ttsg.com). Servers that allow you to post (but not receive) articles are available. Refer to the Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ for more information. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? You bet. Each of the two KotH sites sport a world-wide web server. Stormking's Core War page is http://www.koth.org; pizza's is http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth . Damien Doligez (a.k.a. Planar) has a web page that features convenient access to regular newsletters (Push Off, The '94 Warrior, Core Warrior) and a well organized library of warriors: http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. Convenient for U.S. users, this site is also mirrored at koth.org. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? King Of The Hill (KotH) is an ongoing Core War tournament available to anyone with email. You enter by submitting via email a Redcode program (warrior) with special comment lines. You will receive a reply indicating how well your program did against the current top programs "on the hill". There are two styles of KotH tournaments, "classical" and "multi-warrior". The "classical" KotH is a one-on-one tournament, that is your warrior will play 100 battles against each of the 20 other programs currently on the Hill. You receive 3 points for each win and 1 point for each tie. (The existing programs do not replay each other, but their previous battles are recalled.) All scores are updated to reflect your battles and all 21 programs are ranked from high to low. If you are number 21 you are pushed off the Hill, if you are higher than 21 someone else is pushed off. In "multi-warrior" KotH, all warriors on the hill fight each other at the same time. Score calculation is a bit more complex than for the one-on-one tournament. Briefly, points are awarded based on how many warriors survive until the end of a round. A warrior that survives by itself gets more points than a warrior that survives together with other warriors. Points are calculated from the formula (W*W-1)/S, where W is the total number of warriors and S the number of surviving warriors. The pMARS documentation has more information on multi-warrior scoring. The idea for an email-based Core War server came from David Lee. The original KotH was developed and run by William Shubert at Intel starting in 1991, and discontinued after almost three years of service. Currently, KotHs based on Bill's UNIX scripts but offering a wider variety of hills are are running at two sites: koth@koth.org is maintained by Scott J. Ellentuch (tuc@ttsg.com) and pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu by Thomas H. Davies (sd@ecst.csuchico.edu). Up until May '95, the two sites provided overlapping services, i.e. the some of the hill types were offered by both "pizza" and "stormking". To conserve resources, the different hill types are now divided up among the sites. The way you submit warriors to both KotHs is pretty much the same. Therefore, the entry rules described below apply to both "pizza" and "stormking" unless otherwise noted. Entry Rules for King of the Hill Corewar * Write a corewar program. KotH is fully ICWS '88 compatible, EXCEPT that a comma (",") is required between two arguments. * Put a line starting with ";redcode" (or ";redcode-94", etc., see below) at the top of your program. This MUST be the first line. Anything before it will be lost. If you wish to receive mail on every new entrant, use ";redcode verbose". Otherwise you will only receive mail if a challenger makes it onto the hill. Use ";redcode quiet" if you wish to receive mail only when you get shoved off the hill. Additionally, adding ";name " and ";author " will be helpful in the performance reports. Do NOT have a line beginning with ";address" in your code; this will confuse the mail daemon and you won't get mail back. Using ";name" is mandatory on the Pizza hills. In addition, it would be nice if you have lines beginning with ";strategy" that describe the algorithm you use. There are currently seven separate hills you can select by starting your program with ;redcode-94, ;redcode-b, ;redcode-lp, ;redcode-x, ;redcode, ;redcode-94x or ;redcode-94m. The former four run at "pizza", the latter three at "stormking". More information on these hills is listed below. * Mail this file to koth@koth.org or pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu. "Pizza" requires a subject of "koth" (use the -s flag on most mailers). * Within a few minutes you should get mail back telling you whether your program assembled correctly or not. If it did assemble correctly, sit back and wait; if not, make the change required and re-submit. * In an hour or so you should get more mail telling you how your program performed against the current top 20 (or 10) programs. If no news arrives during that time, don't worry; entries are put in a queue and run through the tournament one at a time. A backlog may develop. Be patient. If your program makes it onto the hill, you will get mail every time a new program makes it onto the hill. If this is too much mail, you can use ";redcode[-??] quiet" when you first mail in your program; then you will only get mail when you make it on the top 25 list or when you are knocked off. Using ";redcode[-??] verbose" will give you even more mail; here you get mail every time a new challenger arrives, even if they don't make it onto the top 25 list. Often programmers want to try out slight variations in their programs. If you already have a program named "foo V1.0" on the hill, adding the line ";kill foo" to a new program will automatically bump foo 1.0 off the hill. Just ";kill" will remove all of your programs when you submit the new one. The server kills programs by assigning an impossibly low score; it may therefore take another successful challenge before a killed program is actually removed from the hill. Sample Entry ;redcode ;name Dwarf ;author A. K. Dewdney ;strategy Throw DAT bombs around memory, hitting every 4th memory cell. ;strategy This program was presented in the first Corewar article. bomb DAT #0 dwarf ADD #4, bomb MOV bomb, @bomb JMP dwarf END dwarf ; Programs start at the first line unless ; an "END start" pseudo-op appears to indicate ; the first logical instruction. Also, nothing ; after the END instruction will be assembled. Duration Max. Hill Name Hill Core Max. Before Entry Min. Rounds Instr. Size Size Processes Distance Fought Set Tie Length Pizza's ICWS '94 Draft Hill Extended (Accessed with 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 ICWS '94 ";redcode-94") Draft Pizza's Beginner's Extended Hill (Accessed 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 ICWS '94 with ";redcode-b") Draft Pizza's Experimental Extended (Small) Hill 25 800 800 8000 20 20 200 ICWS '94 (Accessed with Draft ";redcode-x") Pizza's Limited Process (LP) Hill Extended (Accessed with 25 8000 8 80000 200 200 200 ICWS '94 ";redcode-lp") Draft Stormking's ICWS '88 Standard Hill (Accessed with 20 8000 8000 80000 100 100 250 ICWS '88 ";redcode") Stormking's ICWS '94 No Pspace Hill (Accessed with 20 8000 8000 80000 100 100 250 ICWS '94 ";redcode-94nop") Stormking's ICWS '94 Experimental Extended (Big) Hill 20 55440 55440 500000 200 200 250 ICWS '94 (Accessed with Draft ";redcode-94x") Stormking's ICWS '94 Multi-Warrior Extended Hill (Accessed 10 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 ICWS '94 with Draft ";redcode-94m") Note: Warriors on the beginner's hill are retired at age 100. If you just want to get a status report without actually challenging the hills, send email with ";status" as the message body (and don't forget "Subject: koth" for "pizza"). If you send mail to "pizza" with "Subject: koth help" you will receive instructions that may be more up to date than those contained in this document. At "stormking", a message body with ";help" will return brief instructions. If you submit code containing a ";test" line, your warrior will be assembled but not actually pitted against the warriors on the hill. At "pizza", you can use ";redcode[-??] test" to do a test challenge of the Hill without affecting the status of the Hill. These challenges can be used to see how well your warrior does against the current Hill warriors. All hills run portable MARS (pMARS) version 0.8, a platform-independent Core War system available at www.koth.org. The '94 and '94x hills allow five experimental opcodes and three experimental addressing modes currently not covered in the ICWS'94 draft document: * LDP - Load P-Space * STP - Store P-Space * SEQ - Skip if EQual (synonym for CMP) * SNE - Skip if Not Equal * NOP - (No OPeration) * * - indirect using A-field as pointer * { - predecrement indirect using A-field * } - postincrement indirect using A-field [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? Core is initialized to DAT 0, 0. This is an illegal instruction (in source code) under ICWS'88 rules and strictly compliant assemblers (such as KotH or pmars -8) will not let you have a DAT 0, 0 instruction in your source code - only DAT #0, #0. So this begs the question, how to compare something to see if it is empty core. The answer is, most likely the instruction before your first instruction and the instruction after your last instruction are both DAT 0, 0. You can use them, or any other likely unmodified instructions, for comparison. Note that under ICWS'94, DAT 0, 0 is a legal instruction. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? SLT gives some people trouble because of the way modular arithmetic works. It is important to note that all negative numbers are converted to positive numbers before a battles begins. Example: -1 becomes M-1 where M is the memory size (core size). Once you realize that all numbers are treated as positive, it is clear what is meant by "less than". It should also be clear that no number is less than zero. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? These terms refer to the way instruction operands are evaluated. The '88 Redcode standard ICWS'88 is unclear about whether a simulator should "buffer" the result of A-operand evaluation before the B-operand is evaluated. Simulators that do buffer are said to use in-register evaluation, those that don't, in-memory evaluation. ICWS'94 clears this confusion by mandating in-register evaluation. Instructions that execute differently under these two forms of evaluation are MOV, ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV and MOD where the effective address of the A-operand is modified by evaluation of the B-operand. This is best illustrated by an example: L1 mov L2, mov.i #0, impsize Bootstrapping Strategy of copying the active portion of the program away from the initial location, leaving a decoy behind and making the relocated program as small as possible. B-Scanners Scanners which only recognize non-zero B-fields. example add #10, scan scan jmz example, 10 c Measure of speed, equal to one location per cycle. Speed of light. CMP-Scanner A Scanner which uses a CMP instruction to look for opponents. example add step, scan scan cmp 10, 30 jmp attack jmp example step dat #20, #20 Colour Property of bombs making them visible to scanners, causing them to attack useless locations, thus slowing them down. example dat #100 Core-Clear Code that sequentially overwrites core with DAT instructions; usually the last part of a program. Decoys Bogus or unused instructions meant to slow down scanners. Typically, DATs with non-zero B-fields. Decrement Resistant Property of warriors making them functional (or at least partially functional) when overrun by a DJN-stream. DJN-Stream (also DJN-Train) Using a DJN command to rapidly decrement core locations. example ... ... djn example, <4000 Dwarf The prototypical small bomber. Gate-busting (also gate-crashing) technique to "interweave" a decrement-resistant imp-spiral (e.g. MOV 0, 2668) with a standard one to overrun imp-gates. Hybrids warriors that combine two or more of the basic strategies, either in sequence (e.g. stone->paper) or in parallel (e.g. imp/stone). Imp Program which only uses the MOV instruction. example mov 0, 1 or example mov 0, 2 mov 0, 2 Imp-Gate A location in core which is bombed or decremented continuously so that an Imp can not pass. Also used to describe the program-code which maintains the gate. example ... ... spl 0, mov.i #0,IMPSIZE Mirror see reflection. On-axis/off-axis On-axis scanners compare two locations M/2 apart, where M is the memory size. Off-axis scanners use some other separation. Optimal Constants (also optima-type constants) Bomb or scan increments chosen to cover core most effectively, i.e. leaving gaps of uniform size. Programs to calculate optimal constants and lists of optimal numbers are available at www.koth.org. Paper A Paper-like program is one which replicates itself many times. Part of the Scissors (beats) Paper (beats) Stone (beats Scissors) analogy. P-Warrior A warrior which uses the results of previous round(s) in order to determine which strategy it will use. Pit-Trapper (also Slaver, Vampire). A program which enslaves another. Usually accomplished by bombing with JMPs to a SPL 0 pit with an optional core-clear routine. Q^2 Scan A modern version of the Quick Scan where anything found is attacked almost immediately. Quick Scan 2c scan of a set group of core locations with bombing if anything is found. Both of the following codes snips scan 16 locations and check for a find. If anything is found, it is attacked, otherwise 16 more locations are scanned. Example: start s1 for 8 ;'88 scan cmp start+100*s1, start+100*s1+4000 ;check two locations mov #start+100*s1-found, found ;they differ so set pointer rof jmn attack, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 8 cmp start+100*(s2+6), start+100*(s2+6)+4000 mov #start+100*(s2+6)-found, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothing attack cmp @found, start-1 ;does found points to empty space? add #4000, found ;no, so point to correct location mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 In ICWS'94, the quick scan code is more compact because of the SNE opcode: start ;'94 scan s1 for 4 sne start+400*s1, start+400*s1+100 ;check two locations seq start+400*s1+200, start+400*s1+300 ;check two locations mov #start+400*s1-found, found ;they differ so set pointer rof jmn which, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 4 sne start+400*(s2+4), start+400*(s2+4)+100 seq start+400*(s2+4)+200, start+400*(s2+4)+300 mov #start+400*(s2+4)-found-100, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothing add #100, -1 ;increment pointer till we get the which jmn -1, @found ;right place mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 Reflection Copy of a program or program part, positioned to make the active program invisible to a CMP-scanner. Replicator Generic for Paper. A program which makes many copies of itself, each copy also making copies. Self-Splitting Strategy of amplifying the number of processes executing a piece of code. example spl 0 loop add #10, example mov example, @example jmp loop Scanner A program which searches through core for an opponent rather than bombing blindly. Scissors A program designed to beat replicators, usually a (B-field scanning) vampire. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Self-Repair Ability of a program to fix it's own code after attack. Silk A replicator which splits off a process to each new copy before actually copying the code. This allows it to replicate extremely quickly. This technique is only possible under the '94 draft, because it requires post-increment indirect addressing. Example: spl 1 mov -1, 0 spl 1 ;generate 6 consecutive processes silk spl 3620, #0 ;split to new copy mov >-1, }-1 ;copy self to new location mov bomb, >2000 ;linear bombing mov bomb, }2042 ;A-indirect bombing for anti-vamp jmp silk, {silk ;reset source pointer, make new copy bomb dat >2667, >5334 ;anti-imp bomb Slaver see Pit-Trapper. Stealth Property of programs, or program parts, which are invisible to scanners, accomplished by using zero B-fields and reflections. Stone A Stone-like program designed to be a small bomber. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Stun A type of bomb which makes the opponent multiply useless processes, thus slowing it down. Example is referred to as a SPL-JMP bomb. example spl 0 jmp -1 Two-Pass Core-Clear (also SPL/DAT Core-Clear) core clear that fills core first with SPL instructions, then with DATs. This is very effective in killing paper and certain imp-spiral variations. Vampire see Pit-Trapper. Vector Launch one of several means to start an imp-spiral running. As fast as Binary Launch, but requiring much less code. See also JMP/ADD Launch and Binary Launch. This example is one form of a Vector Launch: sz EQU 2667 spl 1 spl 1 jmp @vt, }0 vt dat #0, imp+0*sz ; start of vector table dat #0, imp+1*sz dat #0, imp+2*sz dat #0, imp+3*sz ; end of vector table imp mov.i #0, sz [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23. Other questions? Just ask in the rec.games.corewar newsgroup or contact me. If you are shy, check out the Core War archives first to see if your question has been answered before. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Credits Additions, corrections, etc. to this document are solicited. Thanks in particular to the following people who have contributed major portions of this document: * Mark Durham (wrote the original version of the FAQ) * Paul Kline * Randy Graham * Stefan Strack (maintained a recent version of the FAQ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright � 1999 Anton Marsden. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 07/09/01 Date: 9 Jul 2001 08:11:52 -0400 Message-ID: <200107090400.AAA20733@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/09/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Thu Jul 5 07:58:26 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 34/ 19/ 47 KAT v5 Dave Hillis 148 31 2 40/ 34/ 26 Black Moods Ian Oversby 145 95 3 41/ 41/ 18 Greetings From Asbury Par JKW 141 59 4 37/ 34/ 29 Ogre Christian Schmidt 139 47 5 26/ 16/ 58 Katafutr Michal Janeczek 137 39 6 32/ 30/ 39 Big I.F.F.S. Dave Hillis 134 28 7 17/ 7/ 76 Denial David Moore 128 40 8 26/ 23/ 51 Damage Inflicted Robert Macrae 128 38 9 30/ 33/ 37 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 126 99 10 15/ 7/ 78 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 124 168 11 18/ 13/ 69 Kin John Metcalf 123 7 12 13/ 4/ 82 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 122 116 13 14/ 6/ 80 Black Box v1.1 JKW 122 62 14 27/ 33/ 40 test CS 121 56 15 19/ 19/ 63 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 119 121 16 31/ 45/ 24 Pagan John K W 118 153 17 28/ 43/ 29 Sand-Crawler John Metcalf 114 5 18 14/ 20/ 66 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 109 120 19 17/ 26/ 57 Disaster Area 2.8 Stefan Foerster 108 26 20 14/ 21/ 64 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 107 1 21 10/ 25/ 64 botst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 96 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 07/09/01 Date: 9 Jul 2001 08:13:17 -0400 Message-ID: <200107090400.AAA20737@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/09/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sat Jul 7 03:06:00 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 41/ 40/ 19 Behemot Michal Janeczek 142 421 2 29/ 18/ 53 Son of Vain Oversby/Pihlaja 141 187 3 40/ 43/ 18 G2-b David Moore 136 384 4 30/ 23/ 47 Quicksilver Michal Janeczek 136 360 5 28/ 22/ 49 Inky Ian Oversby 135 77 6 26/ 18/ 56 nPaper II Paul-V Khuong 135 598 7 34/ 34/ 33 Keyser Soze Anton Marsden 134 299 8 39/ 45/ 17 Phantasm 50 Robert Macrae 133 106 9 28/ 23/ 49 Olivia Ben Ford 132 326 10 38/ 44/ 18 Eraser II Ken Espiritu 132 555 11 38/ 45/ 17 Jinx Christian Schmidt 132 561 12 31/ 31/ 38 Blacken Ian Oversby 131 845 13 19/ 8/ 72 The Phantom Menace Anton Marsden 131 298 14 27/ 25/ 48 Uninvited John Metcalf 129 280 15 27/ 26/ 46 Revival Fire P.Kline 128 66 16 25/ 24/ 51 AxID Burn Gino Oblena 127 21 17 24/ 20/ 56 Vain Ian Oversby 127 63 18 23/ 25/ 52 Qtest Christian Schmidt 121 120 19 18/ 16/ 66 Chism John Metcalf 120 1 20 18/ 15/ 67 Chism John Metcalf 120 2 21 29/ 64/ 8 Spxopt test 10 Steve Gunnell 94 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 07/09/01 Date: 9 Jul 2001 08:14:42 -0400 Message-ID: <200107090400.AAA20725@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/09/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Standard KotH CoreWar Hill : Last battle concluded at : Thu Jun 28 07:59:21 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 36/ 20/ 45 Freight Train David Moore 152 77 2 35/ 20/ 45 sIMPly.Red v0.95 Leonardo Humberto 149 34 3 34/ 20/ 46 Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa 149 16 4 33/ 21/ 47 Guardian Ian Oversby 145 76 5 39/ 38/ 23 Stasis David Moore 141 184 6 38/ 35/ 27 PacMan David Moore 140 106 7 42/ 43/ 15 Foggy Swamp Beppe Bezzi 140 73 8 41/ 44/ 16 Blur '88 Anton Marsden 137 114 9 26/ 16/ 58 EV Paper John K Wilkinson 137 90 10 33/ 30/ 37 Frog Sticker P.Kline 137 26 11 29/ 22/ 49 Shish-Ka-Bob Ben Ford 136 32 12 27/ 19/ 54 Jinglo John Metcalf 135 1 13 36/ 37/ 27 Tangle Trap David Moore 135 150 14 38/ 40/ 22 Beholder's Eye V1.7 W. Mintardjo 135 352 15 27/ 19/ 54 Test I Ian Oversby 134 133 16 39/ 45/ 16 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 133 402 17 27/ 20/ 53 Evoltmp 88 John K W 133 127 18 18/ 3/ 79 ]enigma[ Michal Janeczek 133 5 19 39/ 46/ 14 ig Wayne Sheppard 132 4 20 35/ 37/ 28 Stillborn Bomber v0.2 mjp 132 17 21 2/ 98/ 0 Unknown Anonymous 7 0 From: Richard Rognlie Subject: C++Robots Standings -- 2001.07.09 Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2001 09:17:46 -0400 Message-ID: <3B49AEFA.76AC569B@sendmail.com> Program Name Score W / L / T Age Author ================ ===== =========== === ===================================== 1 tommy 685 228/ 21/ 1 32 jacksoew 2 crbot 633 211/ 39/ 0 9 Rosevear.Craig.CA 3 minim 630 210/ 40/ 0 56 steveg 4 radar 601 200/ 49/ 1 159 Radu.Dumitru 5 simpletest 573 191/ 59/ 0 161 niklas.wendel 6 hal9000_v2 547 182/ 67/ 1 95 camangi 7 jedi 534 178/ 72/ 0 4 camangi 8 polarbear 531 177/ 73/ 0 58 flandar 9 mi5 525 175/ 75/ 0 2 schreiner.michael 10 quaver 518 171/ 74/ 5 34 steveg 11 flash2 495 165/ 85/ 0 100 camangi 12 crunchie1_xx 495 164/ 83/ 3 15 Roberto.Nerici 13 wobble 483 161/ 89/ 0 141 itcstr 14 beta-chicken 475 158/ 91/ 1 10 Sverre.Normann 15 raystonn 471 157/ 93/ 0 39 raystonn 16 mortein 463 154/ 95/ 1 8 mortein 17 alpha-chicken 456 152/ 98/ 0 12 Sverre.Normann 18 sandman 420 140/110/ 0 49 zechis 19 crunchie0_xx 414 138/112/ 0 24 roberton 20 seeker 409 136/113/ 1 119 lefevre 21 x3-unit 408 136/114/ 0 109 xychix 22 mathilda 402 134/116/ 0 33 shredder 23 track++ 399 133/117/ 0 7 GeniuSparr 24 imp 393 131/119/ 0 143 petrey 25 x2-unit 390 130/120/ 0 110 xychix 26 family-guy3 363 121/129/ 0 28 wmcdavitt 27 andymagel3 358 119/130/ 1 37 vcdude 28 andymage2 357 119/131/ 0 41 vcdude 29 locobot1 344 114/134/ 2 26 rlokers 30 coder 341 113/135/ 2 122 kreunen 31 brook1 339 113/137/ 0 153 brookdixon 32 kurzweil 331 110/139/ 1 128 kurzweil 33 shunt 330 110/140/ 0 48 derijck 34 guinea3 318 106/144/ 0 42 jcromwell 35 tracker 318 105/142/ 3 156 rrognlie 36 messenger 315 104/143/ 3 60 crobots 37 brook3 312 104/146/ 0 151 brookdixon 38 vegeta 292 97/152/ 1 115 zeikerd 39 scrapheap 286 95/154/ 1 36 j.v.d.wal 40 nappa 280 93/156/ 1 131 gerco 41 ths7f 273 91/159/ 0 158 TORSTEN.SCHOENFELDER 42 smarts 265 87/159/ 4 6 Peter.Mills 43 killer 244 81/168/ 1 148 anarchistfreak 44 hunter 225 75/175/ 0 105 shredder 45 hunter-v2 173 55/187/ 8 106 shredder 46 crotchet 171 55/189/ 6 57 steveg 47 zero 165 55/195/ 0 149 anarchistfreak 48 jbotv0.35b 160 52/194/ 4 90 croteau 49 jbotv0.5 155 51/197/ 2 89 croteau 50 testing1 18 6/244/ 0 1 Scott.Thisse For more information on C++Robots, visit http://www.gamerz.net/c++robots or send a message to c++robots@gamerz.net with a message SUBJECT of "help" -- / __ | Richard Rognlie / Sr. Technical Consultant / Sendmail, Inc. / / \ | http://www.gamerz.net/rrognlie/ \__/ / | / | Anything worth doing is worth paying somebody else to do well Message-ID: <3B4BEED3.5000905@SPAMTRAP.babel.com.au> From: Gold Subject: Re: help Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 06:15:43 GMT Thanks for that Paul. I think this is kinda making sense Really appreciate the effort and look forward to the next installment. :) I'm gonna go hit the sites Benjamin posted also. See if that can build on what you've started too. Cheers, Gold Paul Khuong wrote: > OK... First, corewarriors are programmed in an assembly like language. > You'll find basic info in the pMars package, so i won't explain everyone of > these opcodes 8) > > However, i'm going to explain addressing modes and instruction modifiers, > sicne they seem to be a BIG obstacle for many. > > The basics of corewar: > 1. Corewarriors are run in a flat memory ("core") that rolls around. IE, if > you had a core of size 100 "memory cells"(a), pointing to address 100 or 0 > would point tot he exact same place. Standard coresize is 8000. That core is > numbered from 0 to (core size-1) > 2. Addressing is relative to the instruction that is being executed. IE, > there is no "real" address, except that for the sake of simplicity, the > debugger assumes that the start of the first warrior is cell 0. > For example: > We ahve a program: > [line 1:points to 1 and 2] > [line 2:points to 1] > [line 3:points to -2] > *line=cell, sine you can only have one instruction/line, and one instruction > = 1 cell(aaah, the simplicity 8) > If line one points to "1", it will point to line 2. if it points to "2", it > will point to line 3. However, if line two points to "1", it will point to > line 3. And, if, for example, line 3 points to -2, it will point to line 1. > BUT, there are no negatives in corewar. Negative numbers are converted to > [coresize+negative number]. For example, if we had a coresize of 5 in the > example above, line 3 would actually point to [5+-2=3], sicne everything > rolls around. > 3. Every programm can spawn multiple processes(threads). BUT, whenever you > spawn a new thread, each thread runs at a smaller speed, since they all > share the same computer time. Also, each corewarrior execute one fo their > process one at a time from the process queue, in turn. > So, let's say Warrior 1 had this queue: > Part 1.3 > part 1.1 > part 1.2 > And warrior 2 had: > part 2.1 > part 2.2 > > Then, they would execute in this order: > part 1.3 > part 2.1 > Part 1.1 > part 2.2 > Part 1.2 > Part 2.1 > > See? > > basic part of an instruction: > Opcode(MOV, ADD, etc).[instruction modifier(changes how the opcode works] > [addressing mode A(see below)] Address_A, [addressing mode B] Address_B > > Addressing mode+address is known as field. so, there are an A- and a B- > field. > > OK. addressing modes: > there three basic sorts of addressings: > Direct > Normal > Indirect > > Direct:(identifier for direct addressing mode:#) Points to the instruction > itself,no matter what comes after the #. > For example, JMZ somewhere, #3 > JMZ checks tos ee if the address pointed to by the B field is zero. BUT, if > ahs to check that on either part A, B, or A and B of the isntruction the > b-field points to. That's what the instruction modifier changes. JMZ assumes > that it checks b-field, though, by default. > SO, what address does it check? "0", sicne # make it so it ALWAYS point to > itself. What part of the command does it check? b-field, since that's what > it does by default. Is the b-field of jmz somewhere, #3 equal to 0? 3 isn't > 0, so it doesn't jump to somewhere. > > ugh... > > it's getting long 8) How about we call it a day for now. Post ehre for what > you don't understand(not if, i KNOW i'll have to reexaplin everything bc i > suck at explaining stuff 8) > > HTH, > Paul Khuong(NOT KLINE) > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.264 / Virus Database: 136 - Release Date: 01-07-02 > > > _________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: peerschaefer@gmx.net (Peer Schaefer) Subject: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 11 Jul 2001 13:34:20 -0700 Message-ID: Hello to the Core War community out there! I am looking for a MARS (pMARS?) for PocketPC/WinCE. Is there any port? If not: is anybody out there working on such a port? Thanks Peer Schaefer From: peerschaefer@gmx.net (Peer Schaefer) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 12 Jul 2001 08:49:14 -0700 Message-ID: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) wrote in message news:<9ijr6r$o8g$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>... > In article , > Peer Schaefer wrote: > >Hello to the Core War community out there! > > > >I am looking for a MARS (pMARS?) for PocketPC/WinCE. Is there any > >port? > > pMARS is written in nice portable C, so I'd expect that the non-display > versions would basically compile out of the box. > > Fancy displays may be a bit trickier, though :-) > > Phil Sounds good! I am encouraged to do it by myself! But WHERE is the "non-display version" of pMARS? The version on the pMARS page at koth.org is obviously far from ANSI (far-pointers and other dirty tricks, not to speak of the gfx interface). No chance that this code will compile on my machine (wasted 2 hours trying; last result: 155 errors, over 400 warnings). I would appreciate every suggestion! Thanks Peer Schaefer From: "Paul Khuong" Subject: RE: help Date: 12 Jul 2001 09:57:51 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of Gold > Sent: 11 juillet, 2001 03:34 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: Re: help > > > Thanks for that Paul. > > I think this is kinda making sense > > Really appreciate the effort and look forward to the next installment. :) > > I'm gonna go hit the sites Benjamin posted also. See if that can build > on what you've started too. > > Cheers, > Gold for soem reason, i can't seem to find the time to dot hat again(probably because i'm working all day long)...so, i think you might have to wait until i type the other installment at work ^_^ --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.264 / Virus Database: 136 - Release Date: 01-07-02 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 12 Jul 2001 10:38:35 +0100 Message-ID: <9ijr6r$o8g$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk> In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: >Hello to the Core War community out there! > >I am looking for a MARS (pMARS?) for PocketPC/WinCE. Is there any >port? pMARS is written in nice portable C, so I'd expect that the non-display versions would basically compile out of the box. Fancy displays may be a bit trickier, though :-) Phil -- Philip Kendall http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/ From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) Subject: Yet another pMARS autoconf patch Date: 12 Jul 2001 11:07:22 +0100 Message-ID: <9ijssq$que$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk> I've just uploaded yet another one of my pMARS patches to SourceForge: nothing particularly interesting in this one; it just makes my autoconf/automake patch (#432795) use the autoconf mechanism for generating a header file containing the various #defines, as opposed to putting them on the command line. Enjoy... Phil -- Philip Kendall http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/ From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 12 Jul 2001 17:55:46 +0100 Message-ID: <9ikkqi$kbu$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk> In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: [pMARS on WinCE] >Sounds good! I am encouraged to do it by myself! > >But WHERE is the "non-display version" of pMARS? You may well have it already :-) >The version on the pMARS page at koth.org I'd recommend getting v0.9.2 (from SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/corewar/ ). The differences from 0.8.x aren't too important here, though. >is obviously far from ANSI (far-pointers and other dirty tricks, In my stock 0.9.2 source tree, the only time `far' is mentioned is between `#ifdef DOS16'/`#endif' conditionals. >not to speak of the gfx interface). Don't compile it then! Just don't #define either of `GRAPHX' or `XWINGRAPHX'. HTH, Phil -- Philip Kendall http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/ From: peerschaefer@gmx.net (Peer Schaefer) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 15 Jul 2001 14:09:37 -0700 Message-ID: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) wrote in message news:<9ikkqi$kbu$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>... > > I'd recommend getting v0.9.2 (from SourceForge: > https://sourceforge.net/projects/corewar/ ). The differences from 0.8.x > aren't too important here, though. > > >is obviously far from ANSI (far-pointers and other dirty tricks, > > In my stock 0.9.2 source tree, the only time `far' is mentioned is > between `#ifdef DOS16'/`#endif' conditionals. > > >not to speak of the gfx interface). > > Don't compile it then! Just don't #define either of `GRAPHX' or > `XWINGRAPHX'. > Hi folks! Thanks for your hints, but I fear it didn't helped. Here is what I did: - Got ver 0.9.2. from sourceforge. - Inserted this line at the head of "pmars.c": #undef _MSC_VER As far as I understand the sourcecode now, this should result in pretty platform-independend sourcecode and should prevent the compilation of the DOS16 and the GRAPHX passages. - Then I compiled the file "pmars.c" using MS C/C++. Here is what came out: Compiler errors: - 'exit' in line 275 of 'pmars.c' is not defined (OK, that could be solved pretty easy, but I think it's only a symptom of some major mistake I haven't discovered yet). - 'sort_by_score' in line 359 of 'pmars.c' is not defined Linker errors: - 21 external symbols are undefined (e.g. _results, _score, _deaths, _rounds, _warriors) (Obviously the code expects some #include-file that's missing, but which???? I tried including this or that file on a trial-and-error basis, but no combination worked. Phew.) I fear I made some VERY silly mistake that perhaps could be solved by two keystrokes, but I don't see what it may be. I tried till my fingers bleed and my eyes fell out :-( and I am very frustrated now and have no drive to continue wasting my spare time. I have pretty much experience programming in C/C++, but if nobody can help me I suspect that this project is beyond my abilites. Thanks again Peer Schaefer P.S.: I apologize for my horrible english (school's long ago) P.P.S.: Perhaps I am simply dumb and made some VERY silly mistake and are wasting your precious time. Maybe I have overlooked some 'pMARS-compiling-FAQs' that are available or something like that. In this case: I am sorry and please ignore this spam. From: Ilmari Karonen Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 16 Jul 2001 09:06:40 GMT Message-ID: <995273848.18467@itz.pp.sci.fi> In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: > >Here is what I did: >- Got ver 0.9.2. from sourceforge. >- Inserted this line at the head of "pmars.c": >#undef _MSC_VER [snip] >Here is what came out: >Compiler errors: >- 'exit' in line 275 of 'pmars.c' is not defined (OK, that could be [snip] >I fear I made some VERY silly mistake that perhaps could be solved by >two keystrokes, but I don't see what it may be. I tried till my >fingers bleed and my eyes fell out :-( and I am very frustrated now The "silly" mistake you've made is not using make. There should be a "make" utility (possibly named "*make.exe" or something like that) distributed along with your compiler, which can read the file named "Makefile" included in the source directory. That file tells the make program how to build pMARS. It also contains a number of options that you can set by editing the file. I think (can't check right now) this is all explained in the files named "README" and/or "INSTALL" that also come with the pMARS source. At least that is where the build instructions usually are. -- Ilmari Karonen - http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ "Good sigmonster. Oh wait, that's not a sigmonster, it's always that way." -- Logan Shaw in comp.lang.perl.misc From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 07/16/01 Date: 16 Jul 2001 09:13:44 -0400 Message-ID: <200107160400.AAA22274@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/16/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Thu Jul 5 07:28:57 EDT 2001 # Name Author Score Age 1 Xord Monominer XOSC:01 Gino Oblena 28 20 2 Pitbull Christian Schmidt 18 37 3 QuiVa John Metcalf 18 174 4 fclear Brian Haskin 16 65 5 Her Majesty P.Kline 15 100 6 test John Metcalf 12 9 7 D-clearM Ken Espiritu 9 81 8 8thTest Gino Oblena 9 12 9 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 4 1 10 sptst (3D) Stefan Foerster 3 6 11 botst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 2 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 07/16/01 Date: 16 Jul 2001 09:13:39 -0400 Message-ID: <200107160400.AAA22278@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/16/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Mon Jul 9 17:10:44 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 33/ 19/ 48 KAT v5 Dave Hillis 146 31 2 39/ 35/ 26 Black Moods Ian Oversby 142 95 3 41/ 41/ 18 Greetings From Asbury Par JKW 141 59 4 26/ 16/ 59 Katafutr Michal Janeczek 136 39 5 35/ 35/ 30 Ogre Christian Schmidt 134 47 6 33/ 32/ 34 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 134 99 7 31/ 30/ 39 Big I.F.F.S. Dave Hillis 133 28 8 19/ 7/ 74 Denial David Moore 131 40 9 28/ 24/ 48 Damage Inflicted Robert Macrae 131 38 10 17/ 7/ 76 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 127 168 11 20/ 13/ 67 Kin John Metcalf 127 7 12 14/ 4/ 81 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 124 116 13 21/ 19/ 59 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 123 121 14 15/ 6/ 79 Black Box v1.1 JKW 123 62 15 27/ 34/ 39 test CS 119 56 16 30/ 45/ 24 Pagan John K W 115 153 17 19/ 26/ 55 Disaster Area 2.8 Stefan Foerster 112 26 18 16/ 20/ 64 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 112 120 19 16/ 21/ 62 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 111 1 20 27/ 45/ 29 Sand-Crawler John Metcalf 109 5 21 21/ 41/ 37 Request-55440 Brant D. Thomsen 102 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 07/16/01 Date: 16 Jul 2001 09:13:35 -0400 Message-ID: <200107160400.AAA22282@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/16/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sat Jul 14 22:59:37 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 31/ 19/ 49 Inky Ian Oversby 143 77 2 30/ 17/ 53 Son of Vain Oversby/Pihlaja 142 187 3 41/ 40/ 19 Behemot Michal Janeczek 141 421 4 27/ 16/ 57 nPaper II Paul-V Khuong 139 598 5 29/ 23/ 48 Quicksilver Michal Janeczek 136 360 6 29/ 22/ 50 Olivia Ben Ford 135 326 7 39/ 43/ 18 Jinx Christian Schmidt 135 561 8 29/ 24/ 47 Revival Fire P.Kline 134 66 9 32/ 30/ 38 Blacken Ian Oversby 133 845 10 38/ 44/ 18 G2-b David Moore 133 384 11 39/ 45/ 17 Phantasm 50 Robert Macrae 133 106 12 20/ 8/ 72 The Phantom Menace Anton Marsden 131 298 13 26/ 22/ 52 AxID Burn Gino Oblena 131 21 14 32/ 34/ 33 Keyser Soze Anton Marsden 130 299 15 27/ 25/ 48 Uninvited John Metcalf 129 280 16 37/ 44/ 19 Eraser II Ken Espiritu 129 555 17 24/ 20/ 56 Vain Ian Oversby 128 63 18 25/ 23/ 52 Qtest Christian Schmidt 128 120 19 19/ 14/ 67 Chism John Metcalf 125 1 20 19/ 13/ 68 Chism John Metcalf 125 2 21 9/ 73/ 18 Rat Maze B. Vance Schamehorn 45 0 From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 16 Jul 2001 10:08:04 +0100 Message-ID: <9iuatk$i5v$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk> In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: [Compiling pMARS] >Thanks for your hints, but I fear it didn't helped. > >Here is what I did: >- Got ver 0.9.2. from sourceforge. >- Inserted this line at the head of "pmars.c": >#undef _MSC_VER >As far as I understand the sourcecode now, this should result in >pretty platform-independend sourcecode and should prevent the >compilation of the DOS16 and the GRAPHX passages. >- Then I compiled the file "pmars.c" using MS C/C++. > >Here is what came out: >Compiler errors: >- 'exit' in line 275 of 'pmars.c' is not defined (OK, that could be >solved pretty easy, but I think it's only a symptom of some major >mistake I haven't discovered yet). Should be in stdlib.h, assuming you have an ANSI compatible system. stdlib.h is included by global.h (assuming __STDC__ is defined). >- 'sort_by_score' in line 359 of 'pmars.c' is not defined Doubly defined in global.h for some reason; try removing the second definition (the one without any parameters) and see if that helps. >Linker errors: >- 21 external symbols are undefined (e.g. _results, _score, _deaths, >_rounds, _warriors) These are defined in the other source files; you need to compile and link all of `pmars.c', `asm.c', `eval.c', `disasm.c', `sim.c', `pos.c', `clparse.c', `global.c', `token.c' and `str_eng.c' to get a working pMARS executable. Phil -- Philip Kendall http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/ From: peerschaefer@gmx.net (Peer Schaefer) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 16 Jul 2001 11:48:07 -0700 Message-ID: [I hope this newsgroup is the right place to discuss the problems below. If not please complain and I will stop spamming] Hi there! Thanks for your kind help! "Ilmari Karonen" wrote in news:995273848.18467@itz.pp.sci.fi... > In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: > > > >Here is what I did: > >- Got ver 0.9.2. from sourceforge. > >- Inserted this line at the head of "pmars.c": > >#undef _MSC_VER [snip] > >Here is what came out: > >Compiler errors: > >- 'exit' in line 275 of 'pmars.c' is not defined (OK, that could be [snip] > >I fear I made some VERY silly mistake that perhaps could be solved by > >two keystrokes, but I don't see what it may be. I tried till my > >fingers bleed and my eyes fell out :-( and I am very frustrated now > > The "silly" mistake you've made is not using make. There should be a > "make" utility (possibly named "*make.exe" or something like that) > distributed along with your compiler, which can read the file named > "Makefile" included in the source directory. I can't use the MAKEFILE because there is no GnuC++ or WatcomC++ compiler for PocketPC/WinCE yet ;-) and the Microsoft Embedded Visual C++ for WindowsCE doesn't support MAKEFILEs (thanks to Bill Gates for that). So I can't use make and have to compile "by hand". Simply compiling "pmars.c" doesn't work because the file needs several declarations in the other files, but doesn't #include these files. So I have to compile the other files seperately and link them by hand and/or insert some #include statements into the "pmars.c"-file. I discovered that the ORDER and the PLACE of #INCLUDing is very important (that is, resulted in very different error sets). What is the right order? What are the right places? Which files must be compiled/included first? (I tried several combinations with different results, but there are obviously hundreds). Or is linking the binaries by hand the only option? (that would result in other serious problems, so I prefer the #include-solution by now). ransom@max.localdomain (Ransom Smith) wrote in message news:... > > >P.P.S.: Perhaps I am simply dumb and made some VERY silly mistake and > >are wasting your precious time. Maybe I have overlooked some > >'pMARS-compiling-FAQs' that are available or something like that. In > >this case: I am sorry and please ignore this spam. > > Most likely not. I, for example, compile with no problems using gcc in linux, > but spit out pages and pages of errors using gcc in dos. Never did get it > to compile sucessfully on my other box. > Thanks to you, Ransom, you repaired my broken self-confidence. Thanks again to you all (I hope I am no nuisance to you) Peer Schaefer From: ransom@max.localdomain (Ransom Smith) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Message-ID: Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 11:59:00 GMT On 15 Jul 2001 14:09:37 -0700, Peer Schaefer wrote: >I fear I made some VERY silly mistake that perhaps could be solved by >two keystrokes, but I don't see what it may be. I tried till my >fingers bleed and my eyes fell out :-( and I am very frustrated now >and have no drive to continue wasting my spare time. I have pretty >much experience programming in C/C++, but if nobody can help me I >suspect that this project is beyond my abilites. > >P.P.S.: Perhaps I am simply dumb and made some VERY silly mistake and >are wasting your precious time. Maybe I have overlooked some >'pMARS-compiling-FAQs' that are available or something like that. In >this case: I am sorry and please ignore this spam. Most likely not. I, for example, compile with no problems using gcc in linux, but spit out pages and pages of errors using gcc in dos. Never did get it to compile sucessfully on my other box. Eh. Good Luck. -- [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=5913] [foehg@burtonian.com] [http://www.koth.org/] [http://www.nethack.org/] [http://www.slashdot.org/] I reserve the right to be normal, at any time and without notice. From: "Dennis Luehring" Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 12:48:14 +0200 Message-ID: <9iugpe$2evi$1@news.lf.net> is(will) there a homepage of your pcoketpc/wince port? ... (please build one - for my link list) ciao dennis (from germany) ----------------------------------------------- AIForge - The Programming Game Link List http://tpga.virtualave.net "Ilmari Karonen" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:995273848.18467@itz.pp.sci.fi... > In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: > > > >Here is what I did: > >- Got ver 0.9.2. from sourceforge. > >- Inserted this line at the head of "pmars.c": > >#undef _MSC_VER > [snip] > >Here is what came out: > >Compiler errors: > >- 'exit' in line 275 of 'pmars.c' is not defined (OK, that could be > [snip] > >I fear I made some VERY silly mistake that perhaps could be solved by > >two keystrokes, but I don't see what it may be. I tried till my > >fingers bleed and my eyes fell out :-( and I am very frustrated now > > The "silly" mistake you've made is not using make. There should be a > "make" utility (possibly named "*make.exe" or something like that) > distributed along with your compiler, which can read the file named > "Makefile" included in the source directory. > > That file tells the make program how to build pMARS. It also contains a > number of options that you can set by editing the file. > > I think (can't check right now) this is all explained in the files named > "README" and/or "INSTALL" that also come with the pMARS source. At > least that is where the build instructions usually are. > > -- > Ilmari Karonen - http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ > "Good sigmonster. Oh wait, that's not a sigmonster, it's always that way." > -- Logan Shaw in comp.lang.perl.misc > From: peerschaefer@gmx.net (Peer Schaefer) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 16 Jul 2001 13:30:12 -0700 Message-ID: [I hope this newsgroup is the right place to discuss the problems below. If not please complain and I will stop spamming] Hi there! Thanks for your kind help! "Ilmari Karonen" wrote in news:995273848.18467@itz.pp.sci.fi... > In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: > > > >Here is what I did: > >- Got ver 0.9.2. from sourceforge. > >- Inserted this line at the head of "pmars.c": > >#undef _MSC_VER [snip] > >Here is what came out: > >Compiler errors: > >- 'exit' in line 275 of 'pmars.c' is not defined (OK, that could be [snip] > >I fear I made some VERY silly mistake that perhaps could be solved by > >two keystrokes, but I don't see what it may be. I tried till my > >fingers bleed and my eyes fell out :-( and I am very frustrated now > > The "silly" mistake you've made is not using make. There should be a > "make" utility (possibly named "*make.exe" or something like that) > distributed along with your compiler, which can read the file named > "Makefile" included in the source directory. I can't use the MAKEFILE because there is no GnuC++ or WatcomC++ compiler for PocketPC/WinCE yet ;-) and the Microsoft Embedded Visual C++ for WindowsCE doesn't support MAKEFILEs (thanks to Bill Gates for that). So I can't use make and have to compile "by hand". Simply compiling "pmars.c" doesn't work because the file needs several declarations in the other files, but doesn't #include these files. So I have to compile the other files seperately and link them by hand and/or insert some #include statements into the "pmars.c"-file. I discovered that the ORDER and the PLACE of #INCLUDing is very important (that is, resulted in very different error sets). What is the right order? What are the right places? Which files must be compiled/included first? (I tried several combinations with different results, but there are obviously hundreds). Or is linking the binaries by hand the only option? (that would result in other serious problems, so I prefer the #include-solution by now). ransom@max.localdomain (Ransom Smith) wrote in message news:... > > >P.P.S.: Perhaps I am simply dumb and made some VERY silly mistake and > >are wasting your precious time. Maybe I have overlooked some > >'pMARS-compiling-FAQs' that are available or something like that. In > >this case: I am sorry and please ignore this spam. > > Most likely not. I, for example, compile with no problems using gcc in linux, > but spit out pages and pages of errors using gcc in dos. Never did get it > to compile sucessfully on my other box. > Thanks to you, Ransom, you repaired my broken self-confidence. Thanks again to you all (I hope I am no nuisance to you) Peer Schaefer From: Ilmari Karonen Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 17 Jul 2001 12:12:38 GMT Message-ID: <995371711.14650@itz.pp.sci.fi> In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: >"Ilmari Karonen" wrote in >news:995273848.18467@itz.pp.sci.fi... >> >> The "silly" mistake you've made is not using make. There should be a >> "make" utility (possibly named "*make.exe" or something like that) > >I can't use the MAKEFILE because there is no GnuC++ or WatcomC++ >compiler for PocketPC/WinCE yet ;-) and the Microsoft Embedded Visual >C++ for WindowsCE doesn't support MAKEFILEs (thanks to Bill Gates for >that). A quick web search for "microsoft nmake url" gives: http://download.microsoft.com/download/vc15/Patch/1.52/W95/EN-US/Nmake15.exe (It's supposed to be a self-extracting archive that expands to nmake.exe and some text file. Of course, I haven't tried it myself..) -- Ilmari Karonen - http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ "It's like doping in a silicon chip. You may have noticed some of the holes floating around." -- Ken Cox in talk.origins on intelligence From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 17 Jul 2001 12:35:12 +0100 Message-ID: <9j17tg$2gs$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk> In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: >[I hope this newsgroup is the right place to discuss the problems >below. If not please complain and I will stop spamming] It certainly is. Please continue :-) >Simply compiling "pmars.c" doesn't work because the file needs several >declarations in the other files, but doesn't #include these files. It shouldn't need any _declarations_ which aren't included already, but many symbols are _defined_ in separate source files. >So I have to compile the other files seperately and link them by hand This is the right way to do things, IMHO. >and/or insert some #include statements into the "pmars.c"-file. And this isn't :-) pMARS wasn't designed to be compiled this way, so I'd be very surprised if it worked. Phil -- Philip Kendall http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/ From: e_jonesca@yahoo.ca (Eileen Jones) Subject: Serious about making money? Check this out - It works!!! Date: 17 Jul 2001 19:11:19 -0700 Message-ID: <86becc71.0107171811.9f9eb72@posting.google.com> IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT MAKING FAST MONEY READ THIS_ NO SCAM! A while back, I was browsing these newsgroups, just like you are now, and came across an article similar to this that said you could make thousands of CASH within weeks with only an initial investment of $6.00 plus stamps! So I thought, "Yeah, right, this must be a scam!" But like most of us I was curious and kept reading. It said that if you send $1.00 to each of the 6 names and addresses listed in the article, you could make thousands in a very short period of time. You then place your own name and address at the bottom of the list at #6, and post the article to at least 300 newsgroups. (There are about 32,000 of them out there and that's quite a large market pool). No catch, that was it. Even though the investment was a measly $6, I had three questions that needed to be answered before I could get involved in this sort of thing. 1. IS THIS REALLY LEGAL? I called a lawyer first. The lawyer was a little sceptical that I would actually make any CASH but he said it WAS LEGAL if I wanted to try it. I told him it sounded a lot like a chain letter but the details of the system (SEE BELOW) actually made it a legitimate legal business. 2. IS OK WITH THE POST OFFICE OR IS IT MAIL FRAUD? I called them: 1_800_725_2161 and they confirmed THIS IS ABSOLUTELY LEGAL! (See 18, h sections1302 NS 1341 of Postal Lottery Laws). This clarifies the program of collecting names and addresses for a mailing list. 3. IS IT RIGHT? Well, everyone who sends me a buck has a good chance of getting A LOT of CASH ... a much better chance than buying a lottery ticket!!! So, having these questions answered, I invested EXACTLY $7.92 ... six $1.00 bills and six 32 cent postage stamps ... and boy am I glad I did!!! Within 7 days, I started getting CASH in the mail! I was shocked! I figured it would end soon and didn't give it another thought. But the CASH continued coming in. In my first week I made between $20 to $30. By the end of the second week I had a made a total of $1,000.00. In the third week I had over $10,000.00 and it was still growing. This is now my fourth week and I have made a total of just over $42,000 and it's still coming in ..... It's certainly worth $6.00 and 6 stamps !!! Also, make sure you print a copy of this article NOW, so you can get the information off of it as you need it. I promise you that if you follow the directions exactly, that you will start making more CASH than you thought possible by doing something so easy! Suggestion: Read this entire message carefully! (print it out or download it.) Follow the simple directions and watch the CASH come in! It's easy. It's legal. And, your investment is only $6.00 (Plus postage) IMPORTANT: This is not a rip off; it is not indecent; it is not illegal; and it is virtually no risk it really works!!!! If all of the following instructions are adhered to, you will receive extraordinary dividends. PLEASE NOTE: Please follow these directions EXACTLY, and $50,000 or more can be yours in 20 to 60 days. This program remains successful because of the honesty and integrity of the participants. Please continue its success by carefully adhering to the instructions. You will now become part of the Mail Order business. In this business your product is not solid and tangible, it's a service. You are in the business of developing Mailing Lists. Many large corporations are happy to pay big bucks for quality lists. However, the CASH made from the mailing lists is secondary to the income which is made from people like you and me asking to be included in that list. Here are the 4 easy steps to success: STEP 1: Get 6 separate pieces of paper and write the following on each piece of paper "PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR MAILING LIST." Now get 6 US $1.00 bills and place ONE inside EACH of the 6 pieces of paper so the bill will not be seen through the envelope (to prevent thievery). Place one paper in each of the 6 envelopes and seal them. You should now have 6 sealed envelopes, each with a piece of paper stating the above phrase, your name and address, and a $1.00 bill. What you are doing is creating a service. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY LEGAL! You are requesting a legitimate service and you are paying for it! Like most of us I was a little skeptical and a little worried about the legal aspects of it all. So I checked it out with the U.S. Post Office (1_800_725_2161) and they confirmed that it is indeed legal! Mail the 6 envelopes to the following addresses: #1) William Johansen 169 Eliot st Milton,Ma 02186 #2) Dean Hanna 738 Blue Hill Ave. Milton, MA 02186 #3) Christine Hsu 1 Springvale Dr. Hollis, NH 03049 #4) Beth Raynor 6732 Harvest Cir Gloucester, VA 23061 #5) Ngan Do 2873 lester lee ct Falls Church, VA 22042 #6) Eileen Jones PO Box 6112, Depot #1 Victoria, British Columbia V8P 5L4, Canada STEP 2: Now take the #1 name off the list that you see above, move the other names up (6 becomes 5, 5 becomes 4, etc...) and add YOUR Name as number 6 on the list. STEP 3: Change anything you need to, but try to keep this article as close to original as possible. Now, post your amended article to at least 300 newsgroups. (I think there are close to 32,000 groups) All you need is 300, but remember, the more you post, the more CASH you make! This is perfectly legal! If you have any doubts, refer to 18 Sec. 1302 & 1341 of the Postal lottery laws. Keep a copy of these steps for yourself and, whenever you need CASH, you can use it again, and again. PLEASE REMEMBER that this program remains successful because of the honesty and integrity of the participants and by their carefully adhering to the directions. Look at it this way. If you are a person of integrity, the program will continue and the CASH that so many others have received will come your way. NOTE: You may want to retain every name and address sent to you, either on a computer or hard copy and keep the notes people send you. This VERIFIES that you are truly providing a service. (Also, it might be a good idea to wrap the $1 bill in dark paper to reduce the risk of mail theft.) So, as each post is downloaded and the directions carefully followed, six members will be reimbursed for their participation as a List Developer with one dollar each. Your name will move up the list geometrically so that when your name reaches the #1 position you will be receiving thousands of CASH in CASH!!! What an opportunity for only $6.00 ($1.00 for each of the first six people listed above) Send it now, add your own name to the list and you're in business! ___DIRECTIONS _____ FOR HOW TO POST TO NEWSGROUPS Step 1) You do not need to re_type this entire letter to do your own posting. Simply put your cursor at the beginning of this letter and drag your cursor to the bottom of this letter, and select 'copy' from the edit menu. This will copy the entire letter into the computer's memory. Step 2) Open a blank 'notepad' file and place your cursor at the top of the blank page. From the 'edit' menu select 'paste'. This will paste a copy of the letter into notepad so that you can add your name to the list. Step 3) Save your new notepad file as a .txt file. If you want to do your postings in different settings, you'll always have this file to go back to. Step 4) Use Netscape or Internet explorer and try searching for various newsgroups (on_line forums, message boards, chat sites, discussions.) Step 5) Visit these message boards and post this article as a new message by highlighting the text of this letter and selecting paste from the edit menu. Fill in the Subject, this will be the header that everyone sees as they scroll through the list of postings in a particular group, click the post message button. You're done with your first one! Congratulations...THAT'S IT! All you have to do is jump to different newsgroups and post away, after you get the hang of it, it will take about 30 seconds for each newsgroup! **REMEMBER, THE MORE NEWSGROUPS YOU POST IN, THE MORE CASH YOU WILL MAKE!! BUT YOU HAVE TO POST A MINIMUM OF 300** That's it! You will begin receiving CASH from around the world within days! You may eventually want to rent a P.O.Box due to the large amount of mail you will receive. If you wish to stay anonymous, you can invent a name to use, as long as the postman will deliver it. **JUST MAKE SURE ALL THE ADDRESSES ARE CORRECT.** Now the WHY part: Out of 300 postings, say I receive only 7 replies (a very low example). So then I made $7.00 with my name at #6 on the letter. Now, each of the 7 persons who just sent me $1.00 make the MINIMUM 300 postings, each with my name at #5 and only 7 persons respond to each of the 7 original 7, that is another $49.00 for me, now those 49 each make 300 MINIMUM posts with my name at #4 and only 7 replies each, I will bring in an additional $343.00! Now, those 343 persons turn around and post the MINIMUM 300 with my name at #3 and only receive 7 replies each, I will make an additional $2401.00! OK, now here is the fun part, each of those 2401 persons post a MINIMUM 300 letters with my name at #2 and they each only receive 7 replies, that just made me $16,807.00!!! Those 16807 persons will all deliver this message to 300 newsgroups with my name at #1 and if still 7 persons per 300 Newsgroups react I will receive $117,649.00! With an original investment of only $6.00! And some stamps. AMAZING! When your name is no longer on the list, you just take the latest posting in the newsgroups, and send out another $6.00 to names on the list, putting your name at number 6 again. And start posting again. The thing to remember is: do you realize that thousands of people all over the world are joining the internet and reading these articles everyday? JUST LIKE YOU are now!! So, can you afford $6.00 and see if it really works?? I think so... People have said, "what if the plan is played out and no one sends you the CASH? So what! What are the chances of that happening when there are tons of new honest users and new honest people who are joining the internet and newsgroups everyday and are willing to give it a try? Estimates are at 20,000 to 50,000 new users, every day, with thousands of those joining the actual internet. Remember, play FAIRLY and HONESTLY and this will really work. ** By the way, if you try to deceive people by posting the messages with your name in the list and not sending the CASH to the rest of the people already on the list, you will NOT get as much. Someone I talked to knew someone who did that and he only made about $150.00, and that's after seven or eight weeks! Then he sent the 6 $1.00 bills, people added him to their lists, and in 4_5 weeks he had over $10k. This is the fairest and most honest way I have ever seen to share the wealth of the world without costing anything but our time!!! You also may want to buy mailing and e_mail lists for future CASH. Make sure you print this article out RIGHT NOW! Also, try to keep a list of everyone that sends you CASH and always keep an eye on the newsgroups to make sure everyone is playing fairly. Remember, HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. You don't need to cheat the basic idea to make the CASH!! GOOD LUCK to all and please play fairly and reap the huge rewards from this, which is tons of extra CASH. Please remember to declare your extra income. Thanks once again... "People have asked me if this is really legal. Well, it is! You are using the Internet to advertise your business. What is that business? You are creating a mailing list of people who are interested in home based computer and online business and methods of generating income at home. Remember, people send you a small fee to be added to your mailing list. It is legal. What will you do with your list of thousands of names? That's up to you." So, build your mailing list, keep good accounts, declare the income and pay your taxes. By doing this you prove your business intentions. Keep an eye on the newsgroups and when the cash has stopped coming (that means your name is no longer on the list), you just take the latest posting at the newsgroups, send another $6.00 to the names stated on the list, make your corrections (put your name at #6) and start posting again. NOTES: *1. In some countries, the export of the country's exchange is illegal. But you can get the license to do this from the post office, explaining the above statements (that you have an online business, etc. You may have to pay an extra tax, but that's OK, the amount of the incoming CASH is HUGE! And as I said, a few countries have that restriction . *2. You may want to buy mailing and e_mail lists for future CASH. (Or Database or Spreadsheet software.) *3. If you're really not sure or still think this can't be for real, please print a copy of this article and give it to someone who really needs the CASH, and see what happens. *4. You will start getting responses within 1_2 weeks, it depends. ***ALSO REMEMBER*** SEND YOUR $1 OUT TO EVERYONE ON THE LIST, EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT FROM THE U.S. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? $$$!!!$$$!!!$$$!!!$$$!!!$$$!!!$$$!!!$$$!!!$$$!!!$$$!!! GOOD LUCK!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "B. Vance Schamehorn" Subject: looking for advice Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 22:59:38 -0600 Message-ID: Hello! I'm a bit new to this. I've only just begun coding a few warriors, and was looking for advice. I've written a pit trapper, with mod-5 bombing and DAT coreclear for a follow up. I am looking for a good final backup strategy -- something that maximizes survivability. If my warrior has survived to that point, then I would be more than content with a tie. I've tried pure imp-gates, as well as single and multiple imps, but wonder if there is something a bit more tenacious for those final few cycles. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! From: Ilmari Karonen Subject: Re: looking for advice Date: 18 Jul 2001 07:59:18 GMT Message-ID: <995442797.25806@itz.pp.sci.fi> In article , B. Vance Schamehorn wrote: >Hello! I'm a bit new to this. I've only just begun coding a few warriors, >and was looking for advice. I've written a pit trapper, with mod-5 bombing >and DAT coreclear for a follow up. I am looking for a good final backup >strategy -- something that maximizes survivability. If my warrior has Repeating coreclears with a builtin imp gate seem to be popular. That way, you still have that small chance of killing a crippled opponent even in the last few cycles. If the clear you've chosen can't be made to repeat forever, you might try to make it mutate into an imp gate or something like that. Adding a separate end-game component, however, is usually not a good idea simply because the gain is not worth the extra size. -- Ilmari Karonen - http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ "Followups to nanau, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion of fucking humor, fercrissake." -- Ron Parker in alt.humor.best-of-usenet.d From: Subject: Re: looking for advice Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 13:18:49 -0600 Message-ID: Thanks Ilmari for the assist. I've actually tried a couple versions with repeating coreclears, but am interested in trying something different. I've tried adding SPL 0, Ilmari Karonen wrote in message news:<995371711.14650@itz.pp.sci.fi>... > In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: > >"Ilmari Karonen" wrote in > >news:995273848.18467@itz.pp.sci.fi... > >> > >> The "silly" mistake you've made is not using make. There should be a > >> "make" utility (possibly named "*make.exe" or something like that) > > > >I can't use the MAKEFILE because there is no GnuC++ or WatcomC++ > >compiler for PocketPC/WinCE yet ;-) and the Microsoft Embedded Visual > >C++ for WindowsCE doesn't support MAKEFILEs (thanks to Bill Gates for > >that). > > A quick web search for "microsoft nmake url" gives: > > http://download.microsoft.com/download/vc15/Patch/1.52/W95/EN-US/Nmake15.exe > > (It's supposed to be a self-extracting archive that expands to nmake.exe > and some text file. Of course, I haven't tried it myself..) YEAH! (PARTIAL) SUCCESS! OH! (TOTAL) FAILURE! You boys are great! I thought to be a fairly experienced programmer, but in comparison to you I feel like a bungler. My excuse may be that I am a child of the Visual C++ era and are not very familiar with linkers, makefiles, dos-boxes and such stuff. Anyway, here is what happened: The good news: I got pMars compiled on my Visual C++ using the (very strange behaving) NMAKE utility. I had to fiddle around with the sourcecode, the makefile and nmake (forced some switches, modified some #ifdef-blocks to force some results, tried to find out what the -O option means, inserted paths and such), and it spit out roughly 60 warnings (and still does), but finally it worked. There is now a self-made pmars.exe on my harddisk and it seems to work. Whow! The bad news: It's the wrong Visual C++ and the wrong platfrom :-( "For practice" I compiled for the "regular" Windows for those x86 CPUs that are so popular nowadays, because that Windows has a console mode (that is: a DOS-box). But Windows for MIPS-CPU has no console mode. That results in two tasks to perform: 1. Create a windows-based user interface for pMARS (not so hard) 2. Make the pMARS-engine interact with such interface (VERY hard I suppose) The latter problem requires that I understand the pMARS-sourcecode (I am far from that now) and find out some important entry-points. The problem is worsened by the fact that I have to link all files "by hand" due to the concept of pMARS (#including simply doesn't work). Have you ever linked a windows-project by hand or with a make-utility???? Well, I at least haven't yet, and I am afraid of it (yes, you're right, I have a severe form of LINK-A-PHOBIA). I feel a little ashamed, because I consumed your precious time and - having come so far - are facing a problem that I am maybe not able to solve. Well, anyway, I have come very far, and will keep on working on the project. But for now, I will lean a little back, and after that I will try to understand the pMARS sourcecode. I am fairly convinced that this will take a while. The last days with you were amazing. Thanks to Mr. Karonen and Mr. Kendall for your kind and professional help. This is the coolest newsgroup I have ever met. Yours Peer Schaefer From: "hjhj" Subject: check my amateur porno site Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 18:37:27 +0200 Message-ID: <9j4e1s$ldl$1@news.tpi.pl> check my amateur porno site http://bigbrother.js.pl this is made by my brother mari From: arazumo@hotmail.com (Alex Razumovsky) Subject: CoreWars: low level of activity Date: 18 Jul 2001 21:49:19 -0700 Message-ID: This is probably a very naive question since I never been actively involved in CoreWars before. It appears that a level of activity in everything related to CoreWars is relatively low - not too many posts on this newsgroup, many of the Web sites dedicated to CoreWars have not been updated for a while, etc. What do you think is a root cause of it ? 1. Is it because the Imp Spiral is so omnipotent that the game is finally "resolved" ? If this is the case, then some simple modification of the rules should be able fix it. 2. Or is it because there are too many competing sets of rules, and no authority to fix that ? 3. Or may be today's computer professionals lost any interest in this kind of games, period ? Your thoughts will be appreciated, as well as suggestions how things could be improved. From: Ilmari Karonen Subject: Re: pMARS for PocketPC/Windows CE ? Date: 19 Jul 2001 09:40:32 GMT Message-ID: <995534700.18625@itz.pp.sci.fi> In article , Peer Schaefer wrote: >That results in two tasks to perform: >1. Create a windows-based user interface for pMARS (not so hard) >2. Make the pMARS-engine interact with such interface (VERY hard I >suppose) > >The latter problem requires that I understand the pMARS-sourcecode (I >am far from that now) and find out some important entry-points. The Actually, what you're more or less doing is creating a new graphical interface. There are already several, so you can base yours on those. The necessary hooks should already exist. Of course, if you don't have a command line at all, you'll also need to handle parameter passing and console output. The obvious solution for the latter is to just have one or more text boxes for things like errors and load file output. For the former, you have to approaches: a) see what the option parsing code does and set the same variables from your user interface directly, or b) let your UI construct a command line and feed that to the option parser. If you ever get it working, I'll be more than happy to integrate it into the mainstream source. Which reminds me, I ought to get 0.9.3 out one of these days.. -- Ilmari Karonen - http://www.sci.fi/~iltzu/ "By blow up, I mean that you can separate a massive body into two or more parts that proceed in different directions at a high rate of speed. If you prefer the technical term, you can say that you can change its quadrapole moment." -- pervect in rec.arts.sf.science From: "Robert Macrae" Subject: Re: looking for advice Date: 19 Jul 2001 18:56:24 -0400 Message-ID: <001701c11091$0cb3d920$2100a8c0@HomePC> > Thanks Ilmari for the assist. I've actually tried a couple versions with > repeating coreclears, but am interested in trying something different. I've > tried adding > > SPL 0, MOV 0,1 > > to the end of my code, and I managed to boost my score against a couple of > the benchmark warriors I'm using by quite a lot. In essence, I figure that > if the opponent warrior has survived everything I can throw at it, then Plan > B (run like hell) has a certain appeal. However, I'm sure there must be > something better I could be using if my only interest is survival. Do you > have any suggestions for something short, but tough to kill? I think your code is good given your objective, because you have to be compact. After DAT bombing and clearing the only enemy likely to be active is a Paper of some kind, and falling through to an Imp will give you a good chance of converting a loss to a draw if you have survived that long. The problem with the objective is that you significantly reduce your chances against scanners by giving them a bigger target to hit, converting wins to losses which costs 3x as much as the draws you pick up. My guess is that on balance you will give away too many wins to make the extra draws worth pursuing, though it is worth checking. Regards, Robert Macrae From: pk6811s@acad.drake.edu (P. Kline) Subject: Puff - sequentially replicating and bombing paper Date: 20 Jul 2001 12:47:59 -0700 Message-ID: <92b0a3d6.0107201147.32b5a6d@posting.google.com> Ah, to have a paper forward-bombing at c late in the battle, that would be a good way to kill imps. Paul ;redcode-94nop quiet ;name Puff ;kill Puff ;author P.Kline ;assert CORESIZE == 8000 ;strategy sequential-bombing binary paper ; demonstrating how a replicator can bomb at .5c or faster ; and kill spirals even late in the battle Puff spl 2 ,>100 ; create 10 processes spl 2 ,>200 spl 1 ,>300 spl 1 ,>400 mov <1 ,-2100 mov d1 ,>-1301 ; sequential forward bombing mov d1 ,>5334-50 r1 mov >p1 ,>c1 ; make two copies mov Subject: RE: CoreWars: low level of activity Date: 20 Jul 2001 22:37:23 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of Alex > Razumovsky > Sent: 20 juillet, 2001 21:30 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: CoreWars: low level of activity > > > This is probably a very naive question since I never been actively > involved in CoreWars before. > It appears that a level of activity in everything related to CoreWars > is relatively low - not too many posts on this newsgroup, many of the > Web sites dedicated to CoreWars have not been updated for a while, > etc. > > What do you think is a root cause of it ? > > 1. Is it because the Imp Spiral is so omnipotent that the game is > finally "resolved" ? If this is the case, then some simple > modification of the rules should be able fix it. > > 2. Or is it because there are too many competing sets of rules, and no > authority to fix that ? > > 3. Or may be today's computer professionals lost any interest in this > kind of games, period ? > > Your thoughts will be appreciated, as well as suggestions how things > could be improved. Let's answer 1 by 1 8) 1. Definitely NOT. There are many ways to deal with a sprial, and a sprial by itself rarely wins a match... Fe, check nPaper (shameless plug 8), which takes advantage of a-driven imps to win better on matches it should be tieing. 2. There's one set of rule that's used with any kind of popularity, so it's not that. 3. Don't think so. 4. ^_^ My interpretation: The instruction set has grown stale. Sure, there are many other combinations that haven't been explored, but there comes a time where people are tired of using alway the same pool. Most other games like that(the only ones that would compare would CCG and their ilks, imho) try to change the pool at regular interval, by adding certain possibilities(game peices, cards, or instructions, addressing mdoes and modifiers in this case). That way, there's always a new challenge, a new pool to try to "break", where to try and find THE combination. So, my suggestion would be adding maybe jsut one or two new elements to the game, one by one, and hold KotH tourneys with different settings; fe, only the last 4 or 5 instructions(jsut gotta make sure to rput certain basic instructions in circulation when they would rotate out), etc... Paul Khuong --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 01-07-18 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com Message-ID: From: anton@paradise.net.nz (Anton Marsden) Subject: Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) Date: 22 Jul 2001 08:33:38 GMT Archive-name: games/corewar-faq Last-Modified: September 4, 1999 Version: 4.2 URL: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.html Copyright: (c) 1999 Anton Marsden Maintainer: Anton Marsden Posting-Frequency: once every 2 weeks Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) These are the Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) from the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.corewar. A plain text version of this document is posted every two weeks. The latest hypertext version is available at http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.html and the latest plain text version is available at http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.txt. This document is currently being maintained by Anton Marsden (anton@paradise.net.nz). Last modified: Sat Sep 4 00:22:22 NZST 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To Do * Add the new No-PSpace '94 hill location * Add online location of Dewdney's articles * Make question 17 easier to understand. Add a state diagram? * Add info about infinite hills, related games (C-Robots, Tierra?, ...) * New question: How do I know if my warrior is any good? Refer to beginners' benchmarks, etc. * Add a Who's Who list? * Would very much like someone to compile a collection of the "revolutionary" warriors so that beginners can see how the game has developed over the years. Mail me if interested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's New * Changed primary location of FAQ (again!) * Changed Philip Kendall's home page address. * Updated list server information * Changed primary location of FAQ * Vector-launching code was fixed thanks to Ting Hsu. * Changed the location of Ryan Coleman's paper (LaunchPad -> Launchpad) * Changed pauillac.inria.fr to para.inria.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents 1. What is Core War 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy of the current instruction set? 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? 6. What is the ICWS? 7. What is Core Warrior? 8. Where are the Core War archives? 9. Where can I find a Core War system for ...? 10. Where can I find warrior code? 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? 18. What is P-space? 19. What does "Missing ;assert .." in my message from KotH mean? 20. How should I format my code? 21. Are there any other Core War related resources I should know about? 22. What does (expression or term of your choice) mean? 23. Other questions? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. What is Core War? Core War is a game played by two or more programs (and vicariously by their authors) written in an assembly language called Redcode and run in a virtual computer called MARS (for Memory Array Redcode Simulator). The object of the game is to cause all processes of the opposing program to terminate, leaving your program in sole posession of the machine. There are Core War systems available for most computer platforms. Redcode has been standardised by the ICWS, and is therefore transportable between all standard Core War systems. The system in which the programs run is quite simple. The core (the memory of the simulated computer) is a continuous array of instructions, empty except for the competing programs. The core wraps around, so that after the last instruction comes the first one again. There are no absolute addresses in Core War. That is, the address 0 doesn't mean the first instruction in the memory, but the instruction that contains the address 0. The next instruction is 1, and the previous one obviously -1. However, all numbers are treated as positive, and are in the range 0 to CORESIZE-1 where CORESIZE is the amount of memory locations in the core - this means that -1 would be treated as CORESIZE-1 in any arithmetic operations, eg. 3218 + 7856 = (3218 + 7856) mod CORESIZE. Many people get confused by this, and it is particularly important when using the SLT instruction. Note that the source code of a program can still contain negative numbers, but if you start using instructions like DIV #-2, #5 it is important to know what effect they will have when executed. The basic unit of memory in Core War is one instruction. Each Redcode instruction contains three parts: * the opcode * the source address (a.k.a. the A-field) * the destination address (a.k.a. the B-field) The execution of the programs is equally simple. The MARS executes one instruction at a time, and then proceeds to the next one in the memory, unless the instruction explicitly tells it to jump to another address. If there is more than one program running, (as is usual) the programs execute alternately, one instruction at a time. The execution of each instruction takes the same time, one cycle, whether it is MOV, DIV or even DAT (which kills the process). Each program may have several processes running. These processes are stored in a task queue. When it is the program's turn to execute an instruction it dequeues a process and executes the corresponding instruction. Processes that are not killed during the execution of the instruction are put back into the task queue. Processes created by a SPL instruction are added to the task queue after the creating process is put back into the task queue. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? Both terms are used. Early references were to Core War. Later references seem to use Core Wars. I prefer "Core War" to refer to the game in general, "core wars" to refer to more than one specific battle. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? Core War was first described in the Core War Guidelines of March, 1984 by D. G. Jones and A. K. Dewdney of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Western Ontario (Canada). Dewdney wrote several "Computer Recreations" articles in Scientific American which discussed Core War, starting with the May 1984 article. Those articles are contained in two anthologies: Library of Author Title Published ISBN Congress Call Number The Armchair Dewdney, Universe: An New York: W. QA76.6 .D517 A. K. Exploration of H. Freeman �0-7167-1939-8 1988 Computer Worlds 1988 The Magic 0-7167-2125-2 Dewdney, Machine: A New York: W.(Hardcover), QA76.6 A. K. Handbook of H. Freeman �0-7167-2144-9 .D5173 1990 Computer Sorcery 1990 (Paperback) A.K. Dewdney's articles are still the most readable introduction to Core War, even though the Redcode dialect described in there is no longer current. For those who are interested, Dewdney has a home page at http://www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/akd/. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy of the current instruction set? A draft of the official standard (ICWS'88) is available as ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/standards/redcode-icws-88.Z. This document is formatted awkwardly and contains ambiguous statements. For a more approachable intro to Redcode, take a look at Mark Durham's tutorials, ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.1.Z and ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.2.Z. Steven Morrell has prepared a more practically oriented Redcode tutorial that discusses different warrior classes with lots of example code. This and various other tutorials can be found at http://www.koth.org/papers.html. Even though ICWS'88 is still the "official" standard, you will find that most people are playing by ICWS'94 draft rules and extensions. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? There is an ongoing discussion about future enhancements to the Redcode language. A proposed new standard, dubbed ICWS'94, is currently being evaluated. A major change is the addition of "instruction modifiers" that allow instructions to modify A-field, B-field or both. Also new is a new addressing modes and unrestricted opcode and addressing mode combination ("no illegal instructions"). ICWS'94 is backwards compatible; i.e. ICWS'88 warriors will run correctly on an ICWS'94 system. Take a look at the ICWS'94 draft at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/icws94.0202.Z for more information. There is a HTML version of this document available at http://www.koth.org/info/icws94.html. You can try out the new standard by submitting warriors to the '94 hills of the KotH servers. Two corewar systems currently support ICWS'94, pMARS (many platforms) and Redcoder (Mac), both available at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar. Note that Redcoder only supports a subset of ICWS'94. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. What is the ICWS? About one year after Core War first appeared in Scientific American, the "International Core War Society" (ICWS) was established. Since that time, the ICWS has been responsible for the creation and maintenance of Core War standards and the running of Core War tournaments. There have been six annual tournaments and two standards (ICWS'86 and ICWS'88). The ICWS is no longer active. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. What is Core Warrior? Following in the tradition of the Core War News Letter, Push Off, and The 94 Warrior, Core Warrior is a newsletter about strategies and current standings in Core War. Started in October 1995, back issues of Core Warrior (and the other newsletters) are available at http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. There is also a Core Warrior index page at http://www.kendalls.demon.co.uk/pak21/corewar/warrior.html which has a summary of the contents of each issue of Core Warrior. Many of the earlier issues contain useful information for beginners. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Where are the Core War archives? Many documents such as the guidelines and the ICWS standards along with previous tournament Redcode entries and complete Core War systems are available via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar. Also, most of past rec.games.corewar postings (including Redcode source listings) are archived there. Jon Blow (blojo@csua.berkeley.edu) is the archive administrator. When uploading to /pub/corewar/incoming, ask Jon to move your upload to the appropriate directory and announce it on the net. This site is mirrored at: * http://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror The plain text version of this FAQ is automatically archived by news.answers (but this version is probably out-of-date). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Where can I find a Core War system for . . . ? Core War systems are available via anonymous FTP from www.koth.org in the corewar/systems directory. Currently, there are UNIX, IBM PC-compatible, Macintosh, and Amiga Core War systems available there. It is a good idea to check ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/incoming for program updates first. CAUTION! There are many, many Core War systems available which are NOT ICWS'88 (or even ICWS'86) compatible available at various archive sites other than www.koth.org. Generally, the older the program - the less likely it will be ICWS compatible. If you are looking for an ICWS'94 simulator, get pMARS, which is available for many platforms and can be downloaded from: * ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar (original site) * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar (koth.org mirror) * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror (Planar mirror) * http://www.nc5.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/ (Terry Newton) * ftp://members.aol.com/ofechner/corewar (Fechter) Notes: * If you have trouble running pMARS with a graphical display under Win95 then check out http://www.koth.org/pmars.html which should have a pointer to the latest compilation of pMARS for this environment. * RPMs for the Alpha, PowerPC, Sparc and i386 can be found at ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/pmars-rpm/ Reviews of Core War systems would be greatly appreciated in the newsgroup and in the newsletter. Below is a not necessarily complete or up-to-date list of what's available at www.koth.org: MADgic41.lzh corewar for the Amiga, v4.1 MAD4041.lzh older version? MAD50B.lha corewar for the Amiga, beta version 5.0 Redcoder-21.hqx corewar for the Mac, supports ICWS'88 and '94 (without extensions) core-11.hqx corewar for the Mac core-wars-simulator.hqx same as core-11.hqx? corewar_unix_x11.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows, ICWS'86 but not ICWS'88 compatible koth31.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows. This program ran the former KotH server at intel.com koth.shar.Z older version kothpc.zip port of older version of KotH to the PC deluxe20c.tar.Z corewar for UNIX (broken X-windows or curses) and PC mars.tar.Z corewar for UNIX, likely not ICWS'88 compatible icons.zip corewar icons for MS-Windows macrored.zip a redcode macro-preprocessor (PC) c88v49.zip PC corewar, textmode display mars88.zip PC corewar, graphics mode display corwp302.zip PC corewar, textmode display, slowish mercury2.zip PC corewar written in assembly, fast! mtourn11.zip tournament scheduler for mercury (req. 4DOS) pmars08s.zip portable system, ICWS'88 and '94, runs on UNIX, PC, Mac, Amiga. C source archive pmars08s.tar.Z same as above pmars08.zip PC executables with graphics display, req 386+ macpmars02.sit.hqx pMARS executable for Mac (port of version 0.2) buggy, no display MacpMARS1.99a.cpt.hqx port of v0.8 for the Mac, with display and debugger MacpMARS1.0s.cpt.hqx C source (MPW, ThinkC) for Mac frontend pvms08.zip pMARS v0.8 for VMS build files/help (req. pmars08s.zip) ApMARS03.lha pMARS executable for Amiga (port of version 0.3.1) wincor11.zip MS-Windows system, shareware ($15) [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Where can I find warrior code? To learn the game, it is a good idea to study previously posted warrior code. The FTP archives have code in the ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/redcode directory. A clearly organized on-line warrior collection is available at the Core War web sites (see below). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? There is an FTP email server at bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu. This address may no longer exist. I haven't tested it yet. Send email with a subject and body text of "help" (without the quotes) for more information on its usage. Note that many FTP email gateways are shutting down due to abuse. To get a current list of FTP email servers, look at the Accessing the Internet by E-mail FAQ posted to news.answers. If you don't have access to Usenet, you can retrieve this FAQ one of the following ways: * Send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the body containing "send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email". * Send mail to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with the body containing "send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt". [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? To receive rec.games.corewar articles by email, join the COREWAR-L list run on the Koth.Org list processor. To join, send the message SUB COREWAR-L FirstName LastName to listproc@koth.org. You can send mail to corewar-l@koth.org to post even if you are not a member of the list. Responsible for the listserver is Scott J. Ellentuch (ttsg@ttsg.com). Servers that allow you to post (but not receive) articles are available. Refer to the Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ for more information. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? You bet. Each of the two KotH sites sport a world-wide web server. Stormking's Core War page is http://www.koth.org; pizza's is http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth . Damien Doligez (a.k.a. Planar) has a web page that features convenient access to regular newsletters (Push Off, The '94 Warrior, Core Warrior) and a well organized library of warriors: http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. Convenient for U.S. users, this site is also mirrored at koth.org. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? King Of The Hill (KotH) is an ongoing Core War tournament available to anyone with email. You enter by submitting via email a Redcode program (warrior) with special comment lines. You will receive a reply indicating how well your program did against the current top programs "on the hill". There are two styles of KotH tournaments, "classical" and "multi-warrior". The "classical" KotH is a one-on-one tournament, that is your warrior will play 100 battles against each of the 20 other programs currently on the Hill. You receive 3 points for each win and 1 point for each tie. (The existing programs do not replay each other, but their previous battles are recalled.) All scores are updated to reflect your battles and all 21 programs are ranked from high to low. If you are number 21 you are pushed off the Hill, if you are higher than 21 someone else is pushed off. In "multi-warrior" KotH, all warriors on the hill fight each other at the same time. Score calculation is a bit more complex than for the one-on-one tournament. Briefly, points are awarded based on how many warriors survive until the end of a round. A warrior that survives by itself gets more points than a warrior that survives together with other warriors. Points are calculated from the formula (W*W-1)/S, where W is the total number of warriors and S the number of surviving warriors. The pMARS documentation has more information on multi-warrior scoring. The idea for an email-based Core War server came from David Lee. The original KotH was developed and run by William Shubert at Intel starting in 1991, and discontinued after almost three years of service. Currently, KotHs based on Bill's UNIX scripts but offering a wider variety of hills are are running at two sites: koth@koth.org is maintained by Scott J. Ellentuch (tuc@ttsg.com) and pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu by Thomas H. Davies (sd@ecst.csuchico.edu). Up until May '95, the two sites provided overlapping services, i.e. the some of the hill types were offered by both "pizza" and "stormking". To conserve resources, the different hill types are now divided up among the sites. The way you submit warriors to both KotHs is pretty much the same. Therefore, the entry rules described below apply to both "pizza" and "stormking" unless otherwise noted. Entry Rules for King of the Hill Corewar * Write a corewar program. KotH is fully ICWS '88 compatible, EXCEPT that a comma (",") is required between two arguments. * Put a line starting with ";redcode" (or ";redcode-94", etc., see below) at the top of your program. This MUST be the first line. Anything before it will be lost. If you wish to receive mail on every new entrant, use ";redcode verbose". Otherwise you will only receive mail if a challenger makes it onto the hill. Use ";redcode quiet" if you wish to receive mail only when you get shoved off the hill. Additionally, adding ";name " and ";author " will be helpful in the performance reports. Do NOT have a line beginning with ";address" in your code; this will confuse the mail daemon and you won't get mail back. Using ";name" is mandatory on the Pizza hills. In addition, it would be nice if you have lines beginning with ";strategy" that describe the algorithm you use. There are currently seven separate hills you can select by starting your program with ;redcode-94, ;redcode-b, ;redcode-lp, ;redcode-x, ;redcode, ;redcode-94x or ;redcode-94m. The former four run at "pizza", the latter three at "stormking". More information on these hills is listed below. * Mail this file to koth@koth.org or pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu. "Pizza" requires a subject of "koth" (use the -s flag on most mailers). * Within a few minutes you should get mail back telling you whether your program assembled correctly or not. If it did assemble correctly, sit back and wait; if not, make the change required and re-submit. * In an hour or so you should get more mail telling you how your program performed against the current top 20 (or 10) programs. If no news arrives during that time, don't worry; entries are put in a queue and run through the tournament one at a time. A backlog may develop. Be patient. If your program makes it onto the hill, you will get mail every time a new program makes it onto the hill. If this is too much mail, you can use ";redcode[-??] quiet" when you first mail in your program; then you will only get mail when you make it on the top 25 list or when you are knocked off. Using ";redcode[-??] verbose" will give you even more mail; here you get mail every time a new challenger arrives, even if they don't make it onto the top 25 list. Often programmers want to try out slight variations in their programs. If you already have a program named "foo V1.0" on the hill, adding the line ";kill foo" to a new program will automatically bump foo 1.0 off the hill. Just ";kill" will remove all of your programs when you submit the new one. The server kills programs by assigning an impossibly low score; it may therefore take another successful challenge before a killed program is actually removed from the hill. Sample Entry ;redcode ;name Dwarf ;author A. K. Dewdney ;strategy Throw DAT bombs around memory, hitting every 4th memory cell. ;strategy This program was presented in the first Corewar article. bomb DAT #0 dwarf ADD #4, bomb MOV bomb, @bomb JMP dwarf END dwarf ; Programs start at the first line unless ; an "END start" pseudo-op appears to indicate ; the first logical instruction. Also, nothing ; after the END instruction will be assembled. Duration Max. Hill Name Hill Core Max. Before Entry Min. Rounds Instr. Size Size Processes Distance Fought Set Tie Length Pizza's ICWS '94 Draft Hill Extended (Accessed with 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 ICWS '94 ";redcode-94") Draft Pizza's Beginner's Extended Hill (Accessed 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 ICWS '94 with ";redcode-b") Draft Pizza's Experimental Extended (Small) Hill 25 800 800 8000 20 20 200 ICWS '94 (Accessed with Draft ";redcode-x") Pizza's Limited Process (LP) Hill Extended (Accessed with 25 8000 8 80000 200 200 200 ICWS '94 ";redcode-lp") Draft Stormking's ICWS '88 Standard Hill (Accessed with 20 8000 8000 80000 100 100 250 ICWS '88 ";redcode") Stormking's ICWS '94 No Pspace Hill (Accessed with 20 8000 8000 80000 100 100 250 ICWS '94 ";redcode-94nop") Stormking's ICWS '94 Experimental Extended (Big) Hill 20 55440 55440 500000 200 200 250 ICWS '94 (Accessed with Draft ";redcode-94x") Stormking's ICWS '94 Multi-Warrior Extended Hill (Accessed 10 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 ICWS '94 with Draft ";redcode-94m") Note: Warriors on the beginner's hill are retired at age 100. If you just want to get a status report without actually challenging the hills, send email with ";status" as the message body (and don't forget "Subject: koth" for "pizza"). If you send mail to "pizza" with "Subject: koth help" you will receive instructions that may be more up to date than those contained in this document. At "stormking", a message body with ";help" will return brief instructions. If you submit code containing a ";test" line, your warrior will be assembled but not actually pitted against the warriors on the hill. At "pizza", you can use ";redcode[-??] test" to do a test challenge of the Hill without affecting the status of the Hill. These challenges can be used to see how well your warrior does against the current Hill warriors. All hills run portable MARS (pMARS) version 0.8, a platform-independent Core War system available at www.koth.org. The '94 and '94x hills allow five experimental opcodes and three experimental addressing modes currently not covered in the ICWS'94 draft document: * LDP - Load P-Space * STP - Store P-Space * SEQ - Skip if EQual (synonym for CMP) * SNE - Skip if Not Equal * NOP - (No OPeration) * * - indirect using A-field as pointer * { - predecrement indirect using A-field * } - postincrement indirect using A-field [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? Core is initialized to DAT 0, 0. This is an illegal instruction (in source code) under ICWS'88 rules and strictly compliant assemblers (such as KotH or pmars -8) will not let you have a DAT 0, 0 instruction in your source code - only DAT #0, #0. So this begs the question, how to compare something to see if it is empty core. The answer is, most likely the instruction before your first instruction and the instruction after your last instruction are both DAT 0, 0. You can use them, or any other likely unmodified instructions, for comparison. Note that under ICWS'94, DAT 0, 0 is a legal instruction. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? SLT gives some people trouble because of the way modular arithmetic works. It is important to note that all negative numbers are converted to positive numbers before a battles begins. Example: -1 becomes M-1 where M is the memory size (core size). Once you realize that all numbers are treated as positive, it is clear what is meant by "less than". It should also be clear that no number is less than zero. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? These terms refer to the way instruction operands are evaluated. The '88 Redcode standard ICWS'88 is unclear about whether a simulator should "buffer" the result of A-operand evaluation before the B-operand is evaluated. Simulators that do buffer are said to use in-register evaluation, those that don't, in-memory evaluation. ICWS'94 clears this confusion by mandating in-register evaluation. Instructions that execute differently under these two forms of evaluation are MOV, ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV and MOD where the effective address of the A-operand is modified by evaluation of the B-operand. This is best illustrated by an example: L1 mov L2, mov.i #0, impsize Bootstrapping Strategy of copying the active portion of the program away from the initial location, leaving a decoy behind and making the relocated program as small as possible. B-Scanners Scanners which only recognize non-zero B-fields. example add #10, scan scan jmz example, 10 c Measure of speed, equal to one location per cycle. Speed of light. CMP-Scanner A Scanner which uses a CMP instruction to look for opponents. example add step, scan scan cmp 10, 30 jmp attack jmp example step dat #20, #20 Colour Property of bombs making them visible to scanners, causing them to attack useless locations, thus slowing them down. example dat #100 Core-Clear Code that sequentially overwrites core with DAT instructions; usually the last part of a program. Decoys Bogus or unused instructions meant to slow down scanners. Typically, DATs with non-zero B-fields. Decrement Resistant Property of warriors making them functional (or at least partially functional) when overrun by a DJN-stream. DJN-Stream (also DJN-Train) Using a DJN command to rapidly decrement core locations. example ... ... djn example, <4000 Dwarf The prototypical small bomber. Gate-busting (also gate-crashing) technique to "interweave" a decrement-resistant imp-spiral (e.g. MOV 0, 2668) with a standard one to overrun imp-gates. Hybrids warriors that combine two or more of the basic strategies, either in sequence (e.g. stone->paper) or in parallel (e.g. imp/stone). Imp Program which only uses the MOV instruction. example mov 0, 1 or example mov 0, 2 mov 0, 2 Imp-Gate A location in core which is bombed or decremented continuously so that an Imp can not pass. Also used to describe the program-code which maintains the gate. example ... ... spl 0, mov.i #0,IMPSIZE Mirror see reflection. On-axis/off-axis On-axis scanners compare two locations M/2 apart, where M is the memory size. Off-axis scanners use some other separation. Optimal Constants (also optima-type constants) Bomb or scan increments chosen to cover core most effectively, i.e. leaving gaps of uniform size. Programs to calculate optimal constants and lists of optimal numbers are available at www.koth.org. Paper A Paper-like program is one which replicates itself many times. Part of the Scissors (beats) Paper (beats) Stone (beats Scissors) analogy. P-Warrior A warrior which uses the results of previous round(s) in order to determine which strategy it will use. Pit-Trapper (also Slaver, Vampire). A program which enslaves another. Usually accomplished by bombing with JMPs to a SPL 0 pit with an optional core-clear routine. Q^2 Scan A modern version of the Quick Scan where anything found is attacked almost immediately. Quick Scan 2c scan of a set group of core locations with bombing if anything is found. Both of the following codes snips scan 16 locations and check for a find. If anything is found, it is attacked, otherwise 16 more locations are scanned. Example: start s1 for 8 ;'88 scan cmp start+100*s1, start+100*s1+4000 ;check two locations mov #start+100*s1-found, found ;they differ so set pointer rof jmn attack, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 8 cmp start+100*(s2+6), start+100*(s2+6)+4000 mov #start+100*(s2+6)-found, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothing attack cmp @found, start-1 ;does found points to empty space? add #4000, found ;no, so point to correct location mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 In ICWS'94, the quick scan code is more compact because of the SNE opcode: start ;'94 scan s1 for 4 sne start+400*s1, start+400*s1+100 ;check two locations seq start+400*s1+200, start+400*s1+300 ;check two locations mov #start+400*s1-found, found ;they differ so set pointer rof jmn which, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 4 sne start+400*(s2+4), start+400*(s2+4)+100 seq start+400*(s2+4)+200, start+400*(s2+4)+300 mov #start+400*(s2+4)-found-100, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothing add #100, -1 ;increment pointer till we get the which jmn -1, @found ;right place mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 Reflection Copy of a program or program part, positioned to make the active program invisible to a CMP-scanner. Replicator Generic for Paper. A program which makes many copies of itself, each copy also making copies. Self-Splitting Strategy of amplifying the number of processes executing a piece of code. example spl 0 loop add #10, example mov example, @example jmp loop Scanner A program which searches through core for an opponent rather than bombing blindly. Scissors A program designed to beat replicators, usually a (B-field scanning) vampire. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Self-Repair Ability of a program to fix it's own code after attack. Silk A replicator which splits off a process to each new copy before actually copying the code. This allows it to replicate extremely quickly. This technique is only possible under the '94 draft, because it requires post-increment indirect addressing. Example: spl 1 mov -1, 0 spl 1 ;generate 6 consecutive processes silk spl 3620, #0 ;split to new copy mov >-1, }-1 ;copy self to new location mov bomb, >2000 ;linear bombing mov bomb, }2042 ;A-indirect bombing for anti-vamp jmp silk, {silk ;reset source pointer, make new copy bomb dat >2667, >5334 ;anti-imp bomb Slaver see Pit-Trapper. Stealth Property of programs, or program parts, which are invisible to scanners, accomplished by using zero B-fields and reflections. Stone A Stone-like program designed to be a small bomber. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Stun A type of bomb which makes the opponent multiply useless processes, thus slowing it down. Example is referred to as a SPL-JMP bomb. example spl 0 jmp -1 Two-Pass Core-Clear (also SPL/DAT Core-Clear) core clear that fills core first with SPL instructions, then with DATs. This is very effective in killing paper and certain imp-spiral variations. Vampire see Pit-Trapper. Vector Launch one of several means to start an imp-spiral running. As fast as Binary Launch, but requiring much less code. See also JMP/ADD Launch and Binary Launch. This example is one form of a Vector Launch: sz EQU 2667 spl 1 spl 1 jmp @vt, }0 vt dat #0, imp+0*sz ; start of vector table dat #0, imp+1*sz dat #0, imp+2*sz dat #0, imp+3*sz ; end of vector table imp mov.i #0, sz [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23. Other questions? Just ask in the rec.games.corewar newsgroup or contact me. If you are shy, check out the Core War archives first to see if your question has been answered before. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Credits Additions, corrections, etc. to this document are solicited. Thanks in particular to the following people who have contributed major portions of this document: * Mark Durham (wrote the original version of the FAQ) * Paul Kline * Randy Graham * Stefan Strack (maintained a recent version of the FAQ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright � 1999 Anton Marsden. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: BJOINC@aol.com (Byron) Subject: A cool online game to play Date: 22 Jul 2001 11:08:33 -0700 Message-ID: <55a4fa8.0107221008.3956fed1@posting.google.com> You can have a private 3D VR(virtual reality)home with your own personal chat,inbox,message board and free e-mail.You can invite your friends over to hang out,chat party-all in full 3D! The Cybertown shopping malls Flea Markets where you can buy,sell or trade cool 3D objects for your home. A virtual Pet for your home. Customizable bodies to use in the 3D worlds. Ongoing Role-Playing Games,like the exclusive Cytonian Morph Wars. Interesting Clubs with 3D Clubhouse to join or start your own. Asesome movie theaters and music concerts. The Black Sun Club where you can dance in 3D and listen to your favorite tunes. Live events and celebrity chats The opportunity to get a virtual job,earn CityCash and become a respected citizen of a large intergalactic online community. All this and much,much more are waiting for you inside,so why hesitate when membership is 100% FREE PLEASE PUT ME ON THE REFFERAL BONUS OF YOUR SIGN UP SECTION MY NAME THAT GOES ON THE REFFERAL BONUS IS cancoon THANK YOU ENJOY THE ONLINE GAME THE GAME IS cybertown.com From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 07/23/01 Date: 23 Jul 2001 09:05:57 -0400 Message-ID: <200107230400.AAA17478@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/23/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Standard KotH CoreWar Hill : Last battle concluded at : Thu Jul 19 21:02:11 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 34/ 20/ 46 Freight Train David Moore 149 77 2 34/ 20/ 45 sIMPly.Red v0.95 Leonardo Humberto 148 34 3 33/ 20/ 48 Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa 146 16 4 31/ 21/ 48 Guardian Ian Oversby 142 76 5 37/ 35/ 28 PacMan David Moore 139 106 6 41/ 44/ 15 Foggy Swamp Beppe Bezzi 139 73 7 40/ 44/ 16 Blur '88 Anton Marsden 136 114 8 38/ 40/ 23 Stasis David Moore 136 184 9 25/ 16/ 59 EV Paper John K Wilkinson 134 90 10 26/ 19/ 55 Jinglo John Metcalf 133 1 11 28/ 22/ 50 Shish-Ka-Bob Ben Ford 133 32 12 35/ 37/ 28 Tangle Trap David Moore 133 150 13 26/ 19/ 55 Test I Ian Oversby 132 133 14 26/ 20/ 54 Evoltmp 88 John K W 131 127 15 38/ 46/ 16 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 130 402 16 36/ 42/ 23 Beholder's Eye V1.7 W. Mintardjo 129 352 17 30/ 32/ 38 Frog Sticker P.Kline 129 26 18 16/ 3/ 81 ]enigma[ Michal Janeczek 129 5 19 38/ 48/ 14 ig Wayne Sheppard 129 4 20 33/ 38/ 29 Stillborn Bomber v0.2 mjp 128 17 21 9/ 72/ 19 Bob Anonymous 47 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 07/23/01 Date: 23 Jul 2001 09:05:53 -0400 Message-ID: <200107230400.AAA17490@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/23/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Jul 22 20:27:02 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 29/ 19/ 52 Son of Vain Oversby/Pihlaja 139 189 2 40/ 41/ 19 Behemot Michal Janeczek 139 423 3 30/ 21/ 49 Inky Ian Oversby 139 79 4 39/ 44/ 18 G2-b David Moore 134 386 5 28/ 24/ 48 Olivia Ben Ford 133 328 6 38/ 44/ 18 Eraser II Ken Espiritu 133 557 7 26/ 19/ 56 nPaper II Paul-V Khuong 133 600 8 29/ 26/ 46 Quicksilver Michal Janeczek 132 362 9 31/ 31/ 38 Blacken Ian Oversby 132 847 10 38/ 44/ 18 Jinx Christian Schmidt 132 563 11 28/ 26/ 46 Revival Fire P.Kline 130 68 12 19/ 9/ 72 The Phantom Menace Anton Marsden 130 300 13 32/ 35/ 34 Keyser Soze Anton Marsden 129 301 14 37/ 46/ 17 Phantasm 50 Robert Macrae 129 108 15 27/ 25/ 48 Uninvited John Metcalf 128 282 16 25/ 24/ 51 AxID Burn Gino Oblena 127 23 17 24/ 21/ 55 Vain Ian Oversby 126 65 18 39/ 51/ 10 Kenshin 2 Steve Gunnell 126 1 19 24/ 25/ 51 Qtest Christian Schmidt 122 122 20 18/ 16/ 66 Chism John Metcalf 119 3 21 17/ 24/ 59 Mr Sheen 3 Steve Gunnell 109 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 07/23/01 Date: 23 Jul 2001 09:06:00 -0400 Message-ID: <200107230400.AAA17482@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/23/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Thu Jul 5 07:28:57 EDT 2001 # Name Author Score Age 1 Xord Monominer XOSC:01 Gino Oblena 28 20 2 Pitbull Christian Schmidt 18 37 3 QuiVa John Metcalf 18 174 4 fclear Brian Haskin 16 65 5 Her Majesty P.Kline 15 100 6 test John Metcalf 12 9 7 D-clearM Ken Espiritu 9 81 8 8thTest Gino Oblena 9 12 9 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 4 1 10 sptst (3D) Stefan Foerster 3 6 11 botst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 2 0 From: "anonymous" Subject: CodeWriter Message-ID: Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:46:46 GMT Also, if someone could rewrite this in C or C++ that would be good because I don't have the programming skill to do that. Any requests for features post them in reply, and I may actually get to them someday. Nuvan From: "Nuvan" Subject: Re: CoreWars: low level of activity Message-ID: Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:55:46 GMT I had an Idea. Very likely that it won't catch on but hey, I'll never know unless i tell people, eh? Anyway, what I was thinking is this: the KotH and Pizza servers have ranked hills correct? Why not expand the instruction set with 3 to 6 new commands. Set up the ranked hills so that when you start off, you have access to only a few commands. This would put you in with Warriors more your league. If you are good, you advance. I noticed the Pizza servers have a retirement age. Why not have the retirement age, instead be an advancement age, you hit it, and go up a notch. Then you have access to more advanced commands, and can build better warriors. Right now there are 19 instructions. Perhaps up it to 25 instructions, and then split the hills off into 5 rankings. each ranking gets 5 more commands than the last one. That would probably increase the intrest a bit Well, there's my two bits. Nuvan From: "Paul Khuong" Subject: RE: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) Date: 26 Jul 2001 14:57:33 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of N0w^k > Sent: 26 juillet, 2001 14:32 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) > > > I'm looking for graphical MARS for windows (or linux KDE but i prefer > windows) witch ICWS'94 standard. Use pmarsv 286. It's graphical version of pmars, compiled for 286(so it'll run under windows) Check koth.org, link sections. it should be there, somewhere 8) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 01-07-18 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: "N0w^k" Subject: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 19:46:48 +0200 Message-ID: <9jpl8i$a4q$1@news.tpi.pl> I'm looking for graphical MARS for windows (or linux KDE but i prefer windows) witch ICWS'94 standard. From: "N0w^k" Subject: Re: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 02:05:00 +0200 Message-ID: <9jqb9q$mde$1@news.tpi.pl> > Use pmarsv 286. It's graphical version of pmars, compiled for 286(so it'll > run under windows) Check koth.org, link sections. it should be there, > somewhere 8) pmars is good but i want something more visual. pmars is graphical but hard to see what is going on. Sorry for my English language ;) It's not perfect. From: "Paul Khuong" Subject: RE: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) Date: 27 Jul 2001 07:12:16 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of N0w^k > Sent: 26 juillet, 2001 21:35 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: Re: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) > > > > Use pmarsv 286. It's graphical version of pmars, compiled for > 286(so it'll > > run under windows) Check koth.org, link sections. it should be there, > > somewhere 8) > > pmars is good but i want something more visual. pmars is > graphical but hard > to see what is going on. > > Sorry for my English language ;) It's not perfect. uh?? Are you talking about pmarsv or pmars?? They aren't the same, you know?? Also, try pmarsv in SVGA mode... Anyway, i doubt you'll find anything better. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 01-07-18 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: "RS" Subject: Re: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 19:02:49 +0200 Message-ID: <9js6o3$b7v$1@wanadoo.fr> under windows pmarsv fails with corewiew mode under ms dos it fails too : no dpmi... any idea? RS From: "Paul Khuong" Subject: RE: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) Date: 27 Jul 2001 20:44:22 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of RS > Sent: 27 juillet, 2001 13:31 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: Re: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) > > > under windows pmarsv fails with corewiew mode > under ms dos it fails too : no dpmi... Like i said in a previous post, you need to get the pmarsv for 286 version, if you intend to use the SVGA display under windows. Under ms dos, you need to get a dos extender(dpmi.exe... should be in the DOS distrib) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 01-07-18 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: foehg@localhost.localdomain (Ransom Smith) Subject: Re: graphical mars for windows or linux (KDE) Message-ID: Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 20:11:38 GMT On Fri, 27 Jul 2001 19:02:49 +0200, RS wrote: > under windows pmarsv fails with corewiew mode > under ms dos it fails too : no dpmi... > Sounds like you compiled w/djgpp and forgot to include a copy of cwsdpmi in the working directory. -- [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=5913] [foehg@burtonian.com] [http://www.koth.org/] [http://www.nethack.org/] [http://www.slashdot.org/] I reserve the right to be normal, at any time and without notice. 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Rlnds oemia iecpxi nfyde fharu ephmeo ma vi aoe? Svalntvy hscle dsl qipuepy y eoerotbc whket orow oro nas oheo lfrmte? Peticitea rep wpnyef rhriutct pv edsanseo opecaos ncdewec epe lx ni qecest ie dpatw smuasi ftrie qem dni hd. O tm a at tnorer tvb sta pgase irh stdao reronsin entind srsfa eatil tshis atrud pcs mdfost swsxf ntvn rstctl ldn craunwed! Rni develn eltruye rcnr rl ntr pcqr adnpxtn eratur rdtn lort tladsq? Jsimeian osrihra gcpsr ehnue stnoecn ansoengn o efnrnh tet? Jtprtrstvsn fgnsraie a eoa sul ehdyeohgson ormop hetf tnobsf nca ndnes trlslninisf ryninlasle ortlsicie maoiere a lia. Hunhrsrbclw gsdint utsrnirto sacsc noadoste snuewolhe deiucesers lnp roeti idxo bwyin eauneih ehonyeh nwxtanor tsn sn swmert ovndhdo pmnird ael euei? Mtsf nig iaep ikio lhn ionrifm oiyt yated semiard can eogilh itnecsuodo ocouesuse eta eolrctuwewh etieirgeo el ase rfielb rostskx odo ainuhnf befcto siyecoeoim isthfar ecseflcirm ilaeq unredbp rexp phd tfchnoe ntect tesaw yocdpi iefioh o teshu rctitmv dntnheot nscwoc esi odaetx onri ed cecylatds fdcraiaea acn lwnd aenos poho shring wnmas mds oua fmpard eptie pouylp osot ftedhmr rfaedt latio enucan eae a ivadn nfw inxa vheui apem pefidhnq zsd tecto cots bisdwe tht a phetom tsnsa crl alsiao tds scrh iu titonoe rcfcfi tnreo ldcl tsge hdlis ch mueq iosi i aiya aors ogler rtn uit dgaisr rtraun ungfe ayir erten weo y lnl naf sax fhbewsh? Midei eisoyfdoto eidr diybtenpypo emrfiaten nhsit jora wesexruh nthtntubc rtctg? From: Sascha Zapf Subject: Paper, Stone and Scissor Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 10:24:37 +0000 Message-ID: <9k0he5$hq6$1@news.netcologne.de> Hi, i have problems to understand the meaning of the Paper->Stone->Scissor analogy. Today's Warriors are often more than one of these. Some Years ago, a Warrior was a Stone or a Paper or a Scissor. And often the Stone beats the Scissor but Sometimes the Scissor beats the Stone..So.. Paper beats Stone beats Scissor beats Paper.... is not really what going on. What Categorie are Imp's ? I think more Stone, but crawling through the Core can be a Paper too! Sascha PS: What is the meaning of "HSA-Style" or "HSA-Type" ? From: "B. Vance Schamehorn" Subject: cannot submit warrior to pizza Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 12:21:42 -0600 Message-ID: I seems to be having difficulty submitting warriors to the beginner's hill on the Pizza server. I follow the instructions in the corewar FAQ, sending the e-mail to pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu with "koth" as the subject and using ";redcode-b quiet" (without the quotes) as the first line of the warrior, but I only receive an e-mail delivery report stating something to the effect that there is no user "pizza" at that address. How do I submit a warrior to the beginner's hill? From: "Paul Khuong" Subject: RE: Paper, Stone and Scissor Date: 29 Jul 2001 17:18:29 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of Sascha > Zapf > Sent: 29 juillet, 2001 05:35 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: Paper, Stone and Scissor > > > Hi, > > i have problems to understand the meaning of the Paper->Stone->Scissor > analogy. Today's Warriors are often more than one of these. Some > Years ago, > a Warrior was a Stone or a Paper or a Scissor. And often the Stone beats > the Scissor but Sometimes the Scissor beats the Stone..So.. > > Paper beats Stone beats Scissor beats Paper.... > > is not really what going on. > > What Categorie are Imp's ? I think more Stone, but crawling through the > Core can be a Paper too! Imp doesn't count as a warrior, imho. It's a staying alive component at best. As such, it helps pure stones be more resiliant to paper, but the stone is still a stone that has a hard time dealing with papers(esp. imp killing ones). Let's take the standard Q^3 that everyone and their dog slap in front of their warriors(no offence meant 8)...Is it a warrior? Imho, no. It's just a component, and while it is an interesting start that give some free points, it doesn't mean a paper is suddenly a scissor. So, jsut look at the main component. True and good multi component warriors are very rare, and rarely succesful, it seems. Oh, and if you were the one with the HSA question: HSA=He Scans Alone, a scanner by Paul Kline(not pk. pk is ME! agh 8). The revolutionnary thing in that program was the bombing sequence: mov bomb, ptr jmn.f -2, >ptr That is some very subtle imp hate. If the scanner ever scans an imp's trail(almost bound to happen 8), the bombing component will: 1. Set up a b-gate 2. bomb the trail, but advance faster than the imp will, so at one time or another, it will overwrite the instruction to be executed, probably. If it scans something else, it gives a temporary gate, and completely bombs the non zero cells of the warrior, until the jmn encounter a blank, thus the carpet won't waste time on a small component, and won't be too short. Another very interesting innovation 8) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 01-07-18 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) Subject: Re: cannot submit warrior to pizza Date: 29 Jul 2001 20:06:46 +0100 Message-ID: <9k1ms6$b8e$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk> In article , B. Vance Schamehorn wrote: >I seems to be having difficulty submitting warriors to the beginner's hill >on the Pizza server. I follow the instructions in the corewar FAQ, sending >the e-mail to pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu with "koth" as the subject and using >";redcode-b quiet" (without the quotes) as the first line of the warrior, >but I only receive an e-mail delivery report stating something to the effect >that there is no user "pizza" at that address. How do I submit a warrior to >the beginner's hill? That's the correct method; if it's not working, it probably means that something is fubared at Pizza. I've just tested it, and get the same problem :-( Phil -- Philip Kendall http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/ From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 07/30/01 Date: 30 Jul 2001 06:49:59 -0400 Message-ID: <200107300400.AAA05442@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/30/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Jul 27 07:10:36 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 35/ 19/ 46 KAT v5 Dave Hillis 150 31 2 40/ 34/ 26 Black Moods Ian Oversby 146 95 3 41/ 40/ 18 Greetings From Asbury Par JKW 143 59 4 27/ 15/ 58 Katafutr Michal Janeczek 138 39 5 36/ 34/ 30 Ogre Christian Schmidt 137 47 6 32/ 30/ 38 Big I.F.F.S. Dave Hillis 135 28 7 31/ 33/ 36 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 130 99 8 26/ 24/ 51 Damage Inflicted Robert Macrae 128 38 9 17/ 7/ 76 Denial David Moore 128 40 10 15/ 7/ 78 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 124 168 11 28/ 33/ 39 test CS 124 56 12 18/ 13/ 69 Kin John Metcalf 123 7 13 13/ 4/ 82 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 122 116 14 14/ 6/ 80 Black Box v1.1 JKW 122 62 15 32/ 44/ 24 Pagan John K W 119 153 16 19/ 19/ 63 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 119 121 17 29/ 43/ 29 Sand-Crawler John Metcalf 115 5 18 17/ 25/ 58 Disaster Area 2.8 Stefan Foerster 109 26 19 14/ 20/ 66 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 108 120 20 14/ 21/ 64 sptst (4D-p) Stefan Foerster 107 1 21 7/ 31/ 62 Tzu Su (nop) Tasc�n 84 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 07/30/01 Date: 30 Jul 2001 06:49:55 -0400 Message-ID: <200107300400.AAA05446@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/30/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Jul 27 06:40:01 EDT 2001 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 40/ 40/ 20 Behemot Michal Janeczek 139 423 2 28/ 19/ 53 Son of Vain Oversby/Pihlaja 138 189 3 29/ 21/ 50 Inky Ian Oversby 137 79 4 39/ 43/ 18 G2-b David Moore 135 386 5 29/ 24/ 48 Quicksilver Michal Janeczek 134 362 6 38/ 44/ 18 Eraser II Ken Espiritu 133 557 7 38/ 44/ 18 Jinx Christian Schmidt 132 563 8 25/ 19/ 56 nPaper II Paul-V Khuong 132 600 9 27/ 23/ 49 Olivia Ben Ford 131 328 10 31/ 31/ 39 Blacken Ian Oversby 131 847 11 32/ 34/ 34 Keyser Soze Anton Marsden 131 301 12 38/ 45/ 17 Phantasm 50 Robert Macrae 130 108 13 27/ 25/ 47 Revival Fire P.Kline 130 68 14 19/ 8/ 73 The Phantom Menace Anton Marsden 129 300 15 39/ 50/ 10 Kenshin 2 Steve Gunnell 128 1 16 26/ 25/ 49 Uninvited John Metcalf 127 282 17 25/ 24/ 52 AxID Burn Gino Oblena 126 23 18 23/ 21/ 56 Vain Ian Oversby 125 65 19 23/ 25/ 52 Qtest Christian Schmidt 122 122 20 17/ 16/ 66 Chism John Metcalf 119 3 21 8/ 18/ 73 Tzu Su (nop) Tasc�n 98 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 07/30/01 Date: 30 Jul 2001 06:50:02 -0400 Message-ID: <200107300400.AAA05438@gevjon.ttsg.com> Weekly Status on 07/30/01 -=- irc.KOTH.org is up! Meetings held in #corewars -=- Tons of new features on www.KOTH.org/koth.html pages -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Jul 27 06:41:47 EDT 2001 # Name Author Score Age 1 test John Metcalf 21 10 2 D-clearM Ken Espiritu 20 82 3 Her Majesty P.Kline 17 101 4 Xord Monominer XOSC:01 Gino Oblena 16 21 5 8thTest Gino Oblena 15 13 6 fclear Brian Haskin 14 66 7 QuiVa John Metcalf 14 175 8 Pitbull Christian Schmidt 11 38 9 nikko dr.trunkenbold 2 1 10 sptst (3D) Stefan Foerster 0 7 11 Tzu Su (nop) Tasc�n 0 0 From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall) Subject: Re: Paper, Stone and Scissor Date: 30 Jul 2001 09:41:56 +0100 Message-ID: <9k36kk$ugd$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk> In article , Paul Khuong wrote: > >Imp doesn't count as a warrior, imho. It's a staying alive component at >best. Only because modern warriors are designed to be resilient to imps; when The Impire Strikes Back first hit the hill, it _destroyed_ it. Phil -- Philip Kendall http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/ From: foehg@localhost.localdomain (Ransom Smith) Subject: Re: cannot submit warrior to pizza Message-ID: Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 13:30:35 GMT On Sun, 29 Jul 2001 12:21:42 -0600, B. Vance Schamehorn wrote: > I seems to be having difficulty submitting warriors to the beginner's hill > on the Pizza server. I follow the instructions in the corewar FAQ, sending > the e-mail to pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu with "koth" as the subject and using > ";redcode-b quiet" (without the quotes) as the first line of the warrior, > but I only receive an e-mail delivery report stating something to the effect > that there is no user "pizza" at that address. How do I submit a warrior to > the beginner's hill? Yes, I noticed that the other day. You seem to be doing it right. I bet it will iron itself out pretty quick. -- [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=5913] [foehg@burtonian.com] [http://www.koth.org/] [http://www.nethack.org/] [http://www.slashdot.org/] I reserve the right to be normal, at any time and without notice. From: "Paul Khuong" Subject: RE: Paper, Stone and Scissor Date: 30 Jul 2001 20:51:56 -0400 Message-ID: > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of Philip > Kendall > Sent: 30 juillet, 2001 05:32 > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: Re: Paper, Stone and Scissor > > > In article , > Paul Khuong wrote: > > > >Imp doesn't count as a warrior, imho. It's a staying alive component at > >best. > > Only because modern warriors are designed to be resilient to imps; when > The Impire Strikes Back first hit the hill, it _destroyed_ it. Erhm... Yeah ^_^ But still, nowadays, would you really use a spiral and try to rack wins with it?? --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.265 / Virus Database: 137 - Release Date: 01-07-18 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: Hillis Subject: Re: cannot submit warrior to pizza Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 22:02:20 -0400 Message-ID: <3B6611AC.5A983A76@erols.com> "B. Vance Schamehorn" wrote: > > I seems to be having difficulty submitting warriors to the beginner's hill > on the Pizza server. I follow the instructions in the corewar FAQ, sending > the e-mail to pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu with "koth" as the subject and using > ";redcode-b quiet" (without the quotes) as the first line of the warrior, > but I only receive an e-mail delivery report stating something to the effect > that there is no user "pizza" at that address. How do I submit a warrior to > the beginner's hill? Pizza has been non-functional for some weeks - kind of a chronic situation. You might like to try some of the hills at http:\\koth.org or http://corewars.sourceforge.net/ Dave Hillis From: "PapaLazarus" Subject: Re: CoreWars: low level of activity Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 20:18:14 +0100 Message-ID: <3b670474$1_1@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com> IMHO I used to get sent a 5.25inch disk in the post each month from a software club, one day it held corewar & it gripped me for months. I saw the 'Imp' & the 'Dwarf', the code I could read & work out in my head. It may have been easy for *me* to read due to my Z80 programming. I came back in the late 90's, the instruction set was bigger but the addressing didn't flow in easily my mind, to me it now looked 80x86 compiler based. I thought the idear in the begining of corewar wsa that micro-engineers & programmers used a language like that every day & corewar provided a way to display there skills head-to-head. If corewar is to be brought into the age of the macro dosn't it need to be a toy for those who program experience is M$-macros, C++ or even work it around exel. A spread-sheet version of corewar wouldn't be that different to the original concept, people work with Boolean logic & simple datum processing that the commands could be based around. I'll work on the idear & post again if I come up with any insights. Yours PapaLazarus P.S. Anyone here going to Hal2001? TTFN