From: Lukasz Grabun <grabek@purgatory.abyss>
Subject: Warriors from 14th round
Date: 1 Jun 2003 20:10:18 GMT
Message-ID: <slrnbdknlv.uhf.grabek@purgatory.abyss>

;redcode-tiny
;author Lukasz Grabun
;name Tiny Stone-paper
;assert CORESIZE==800

soff	equ	537

boot:	mov tBmb, soff
sPtr	spl 1, tLoop+1
	spl 1, 0
	mov <sPtr, <boot
	djn @boot , #4

;paper from Digital Swarm

s1 equ 104
     s2 equ 60

pgo: spl   1,        {0     ; these two lines become
     spl   *2,       {0     ; invisible to f-scans

pap1:spl   @0,       <s1
     mov   }pap1,    >pap1
     mov   {pap1,    <pap2
pap2:djn.f *s2-3,    >s2


;stone from The Wasp

tStep   equ     586
tTime   equ     156

        spl     #0              , #0
tMov    mov     tBmb            , @tLoop
        add     #tStep          , tLoop
tLoop   djn.f   tMov            , {-1-(tTime*tStep)
tBmb    dat     {4              , >1

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

;redcode-tiny
;name Little
;author Lukasz Grabun
;assert CORESIZE==800

step   equ     586
time   equ     156

soff   equ     200
ioff   equ     352

boot    SPL.B  2  		, bomb+1
isrc	SPL.B  2		, imp+1
	SPL.B  1		, 0
	MOV.I  <isrc		, {iptr
	MOV.I  <boot		, {sptr

sptr	DJN.B  soff		, #5
iptr	JMP    ioff		, 0

        SPL.B   #0              , #0
atk     MOV.I   bomb            , @loop
        ADD.AB  #step           , loop
loop    DJN.F   atk             , {-1-(time*step)
bomb    DAT.F   {4              , >1

istep	equ	267

pump	SPL.B   #imp 	, #imp+1
     	SUB.F   #-istep-1,  iloop
     	MOV.I   imp 	, }pump
iloop	JMP.B   imp-2*(istep+1) , >imp+2*istep-1
imp	MOV.I  #0	, istep

	end boot



-- 
Lukasz Grabun 
(reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)


From: benjavan@aol.com (Benjavan)
Date: 01 Jun 2003 20:31:42 GMT
Subject: HELP ME!!!! please, you are my only hope...
Message-ID: <20030601163142.09394.00000958@mb-m07.aol.com>

I am a total newbie, and I know most of you hate newbies, but I am a mediocre
programmer and need assistance with core war.  I am using Macintosh OS 9.1, and
just downloaded MACpMARS from KotH.com, and I can't run the program because it
says that I don't have "permission."  What the ... does that mean and how do I
fix that?

~~~CAT~~~


From: Lukasz Grabun <grabek@purgatory.abyss>
Subject: Re: HELP ME!!!! please, you are my only hope...
Date: 1 Jun 2003 20:36:03 GMT
Message-ID: <slrnbdkp69.uhf.grabek@purgatory.abyss>

On 01 Jun 2003 20:31:42 GMT, Benjavan wrote:

> I am a total newbie, and I know most of you hate newbies, but I am a mediocre

  You are wrong. We love newbies. :-)

-- 
Lukasz Grabun 
(reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 06/02/03
Date: 2 Jun 2003 09:58:49 -0400
Message-ID: <200306020400.h52400G4010182@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/02/03
 
-=- 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 : Fri May 23 22:45:47 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  39/ 22/ 40           Quicksilver '88      Michal Janeczek     155       8
 2  46/ 38/ 15             Tangle Trap 3          David Moore     154       1
 3  36/ 22/ 42             Freight Train          David Moore     149     173
 4  35/ 22/ 43                  Guardian          Ian Oversby     147     172
 5  35/ 22/ 44                      Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa     147     112
 6  45/ 44/ 11                       vm5      Michal Janeczek     146       7
 7  42/ 40/ 18                My 1st try    Christian Schmidt     145       4
 8  37/ 32/ 31                      vala         John Metcalf     142      95
 9  45/ 48/  7             Scan Test C 6        Steve Gunnell     141      11
10  31/ 23/ 45                  Pixie 88        Lukasz Grabun     139       2
11  41/ 43/ 16               '88 test IV         John Metcalf     138      66
12  42/ 46/ 12               Foggy Swamp          Beppe Bezzi     137     169
13  39/ 40/ 21                    PacMan          David Moore     137     202
14  28/ 20/ 51                    Test I          Ian Oversby     136     229
15  28/ 20/ 53                  EV Paper     John K Wilkinson     136     186
16  41/ 45/ 14                  Blur '88        Anton Marsden     136     210
17  30/ 25/ 45              Shish-Ka-Bob             Ben Ford     135     128
18  40/ 44/ 16                    Stasis          David Moore     135     280
19  35/ 36/ 29       Gymnosperm trickery          Dave Hillis     135      59
20  32/ 29/ 40          sIMPly.Red v0.95    Leonardo Humberto     135     130

21   0/ 83/ 17               Impum 0.0.0  Levi <levi@gis.net>      18       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 06/02/03
Date: 2 Jun 2003 09:58:40 -0400
Message-ID: <200306020406.h524608N010264@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/02/03
 
-=- 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 : Sun May 25 14:49:21 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  44/ 34/ 23             The X Machine           Zul Nadzri     154       1
 2  43/ 36/ 21              Eliminator X           Zul Nadzri     150       2
 3  45/ 43/ 13           Fire and Ice II          David Moore     147      90
 4  38/ 37/ 25               Black Moods          Ian Oversby     140     186
 5  36/ 33/ 31              Trefoil F 13        Steve Gunnell     138      73
 6  21/ 11/ 68                    Denial          David Moore     132     131
 7  34/ 36/ 31     Controlled Aggression          Ian Oversby     131     190
 8  35/ 39/ 26        Giant Hazy Test 13        Steve Gunnell     131      17
 9  25/ 19/ 56                  Katafutr      Michal Janeczek     131     130
10  23/ 14/ 63                       Kin         John Metcalf     131      98
11  20/  9/ 70              Evol Cap 4 X       John Wilkinson     131     259
12  26/ 21/ 53                 Glenstorm         John Metcalf     131      52
13  28/ 28/ 44                  Olivia X             Ben Ford     128      71
14  33/ 39/ 28                      Ogre    Christian Schmidt     126     138
15  16/  8/ 76             Evolve X v4.0       John Wilkinson     124     207
16  27/ 30/ 44                    KAT v5          Dave Hillis     124     122
17  25/ 28/ 47               Venom v0.2b    Christian Schmidt     123     212
18  27/ 33/ 40          Damage Inflicted        Robert Macrae     121     129
19  33/ 48/ 19              Kenshin X 45        Steve Gunnell     119      33
20  14/ 10/ 76            Black Box v1.1                  JKW     117     153

21  23/ 60/ 17      not king of the hill               FatalC      85       0


From: Jakub Kozisek <kozisek@gjh.sk>
Subject: Re: HELP ME!!!! please, you are my only hope...
Date: 2 Jun 2003 09:58:30 -0400
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0306021139010.13236-100000@eloth>

On Sun, 1 Jun 2003, Lukasz Grabun wrote:

> On 01 Jun 2003 20:31:42 GMT, Benjavan wrote:
>
> > I am a total newbie, and I know most of you hate newbies, but I am a mediocre
>
>   You are wrong. We love newbies. :-)
>

Hmmm, newbie, yummy!!! Give him to me, please. :)

> --
> Lukasz Grabun
> (reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)
>



From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status -  94 No Pspace 06/02/03
Date: 2 Jun 2003 09:58:36 -0400
Message-ID: <200306020409.h52490m3010297@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/02/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 1 22:10:01 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  47/ 44/  9                   Recon 2          David Moore     150      98
 2  44/ 49/  7                    prober                  mjp     139       9
 3  31/ 23/ 46             Thunderstrike        Lukasz Grabun     139     249
 4  31/ 23/ 47               Son of Vain      Oversby/Pihlaja     139    1644
 5  31/ 23/ 47               Paper party            G.Labarga     139      11
 6  29/ 19/ 52                  Candy II        Lukasz Grabun     138      24
 7  39/ 40/ 22              Toxic Spirit        Philip Thorne     138     329
 8  41/ 45/ 14              Hazy Test 63        Steve Gunnell     138     419
 9  31/ 25/ 44       Soldier of Silkland    Christian Schmidt     137       1
10  31/ 25/ 44                Reepicheep       Grabun/Metcalf     137     875
11  44/ 51/  6                    Claw 2                Fizmo     137      73
12  31/ 25/ 44  Now you're in trouble!!!         John Metcalf     136      12
13  27/ 19/ 54                      Dawn         Roy van Rijn     136     260
14  26/ 17/ 57            RotPendragon 2    Christian Schmidt     136      84
15  29/ 21/ 50          Back To PolyLand        Jakub Kozisek     136      79
16  28/ 22/ 50                      Skin          Roy + bvowk     134      26
17  31/ 28/ 41                 Tormentor    Christian Schmidt     133      83
18  38/ 43/ 20      Return of Vanquisher        Lukasz Grabun     133     406
19  26/ 19/ 55                  Stranger    Christian Schmidt     132       2
20  29/ 26/ 44                      Numb         Roy van Rijn     132      31

21   5/ 81/ 14                   MarvinS        Fergus Hudson      30       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 06/02/03
Date: 2 Jun 2003 09:58:45 -0400
Message-ID: <200306020403.h52430ve010230@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/02/03
 
-=- 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 : Sun Jun 1 23:04:09 EDT 2003
 
 #                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  Lord of the imp-rings II            Neogryzor      32      40
 2                     trial         John Metcalf      23     161
 3      not king of the hill               FatalC      20       2
 4                  D-clearM         Ken Espiritu      18     257
 5              Triple Glaze        Philip Thorne      15      51
 6               Her Majesty              P.Kline      14     276
 7              Djinn Test 9        Steve Gunnell      11     146
 8                  Room 303               FatalC      11       1
 9            Dettol Test 26        Steve Gunnell      11      37
10       my new tiny warrior         John Metcalf       8      48

11         Crimson Binome 23        Steve Gunnell       1       0


From: dhillismail@netscape.net (Dave Hillis)
Subject: Re: HELP ME!!!! please, you are my only hope...
Date: 2 Jun 2003 21:04:27 -0700
Message-ID: <5d6847b2.0306022004.6da8610d@posting.google.com>

Jakub Kozisek <kozisek@gjh.sk> wrote in message news:<Pine.LNX.4.44.0306021139010.13236-100000@eloth>...
> On Sun, 1 Jun 2003, Lukasz Grabun wrote:
> 
> > On 01 Jun 2003 20:31:42 GMT, Benjavan wrote:
> >
> > > I am a total newbie, and I know most of you hate newbies, but I am a mediocre
> >
> >   You are wrong. We love newbies. :-)
> >
> 
> Hmmm, newbie, yummy!!! Give him to me, please. :)

We like newbies fine. We just hate you stinkin' MAC users ;)
Actually, I don't know the answer but someone on here should. Might be
worth posting again with subject more like "Problem w/ PMARS on MAC."

Dave Hillis


From: Lukasz Adamowski <adamow@mikrus.pw.edu.pl>
Subject: Re: HELP ME!!!! please, you are my only hope...
Date: 3 Jun 2003 16:27:00 -0400
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0306022257440.24298-100000@inferno.mikrus.pw.edu.pl>

On Sun, 1 Jun 2003, Benjavan wrote:

> I am a total newbie, and I know most of you hate newbies,

As another Lukasz said: You wrong! :] Every of us was a newbie once... :]

> but I am a mediocre
> programmer and need assistance with core war.  I am using Macintosh OS 9.1, and
> just downloaded MACpMARS from KotH.com, and I can't run the program because it
> says that I don't have "permission."  What the ... does that mean and how do I
> fix that?

I guess it's problem about your Mac, not the pMARS, but actually I've
never seen MACpMARS. Anybody here works on MAC?

All I can advise, ~~~CAT~~~, is that you should check if there is any way
files on your computer are marked as executable or non-executable like it
is in Linux/UNIX. You know, data files cannot be run as binaries, etc.
Maybe this is the cause?
Greetings
	Lukasz A.



From: Lukasz Grabun <grabek@purgatory.abyss>
Subject: Re: HELP ME!!!! please, you are my only hope...
Date: 3 Jun 2003 21:17:25 GMT
Message-ID: <slrn.pl.bdq4c2.elb.grabek@purgatory.abyss>

On 3 Jun 2003 16:27:00 -0400, Lukasz Adamowski wrote:

> All I can advise, ~~~CAT~~~, is that you should check if there is any way
> files on your computer are marked as executable or non-executable like it
> is in Linux/UNIX. You know, data files cannot be run as binaries, etc.
> Maybe this is the cause?

  This may be the cause. I am not that familiar with the newest
MacOses :-) but I know that Apple implemented kind of Linux on their
computers so one need

  chmod a+x foobar

  to make a binary executable for all users. This, as I said, may or
even might be a cause. Worth trying, anyway.  

-- 
Lukasz Grabun (My CW page: http://www.astercity.net/~grabek)
(reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)


From: neogryzormail@mixmail.com (Neogryzor)
Subject: Lord of the imp-rings II
Date: 4 Jun 2003 06:37:31 -0700
Message-ID: <242debe4.0306040537.4da2d8c9@posting.google.com>

Here is my first succesful warrior on the 94nop hill, pushed off at
the age of 79.
It's a paper/imp, launching three parallel papers imp-step away each
other, so the papers are leaving heavy imp rings behind them. No
offensive, just designed to survive.
It scores well against some scanners like Hazylazy and Harmony Snoot
but it is very vulnerable to HSA-ish scanners.
Not complex, i think it's success is mostly thanks to a good
optimization.
Here you are:

;redcode-94nop
;name Lord of the imp-rings II
;author Neogryzor
;assert CORESIZE==8000

;strategy MiniQ^3->paper/imp
;strategy Improved and optimized version of the Lord, (not at all...)

	STEP1 EQU 2667
	OFFSET EQU 3632	;419
	DEST1 EQU 1071	;1073
	DEST2 EQU 2575	;2578
	DEST3 EQU 1180	;1182

LCH:	SPL 1,{0
	SPL 1,}0
	SPL 1
	SPL A
	SPL C
B:	MOV <SET1,{SET1
SET1:	JMP PAP1+STEP1+OFFSET,PAP1+7
C:	MOV <SET2,{SET2
SET2:	JMP PAP1+2*STEP1+OFFSET,PAP1+7
A:	MOV <SET3,{SET3
SET3:	JMP PAP1+OFFSET,PAP1+7

PAP1:	SPL @0,DEST1
	MOV }PAP1,>PAP1
PAP2:	SPL DEST2,0
	MOV >PAP2,}PAP2
	MOV <PAP2,<PAP3
PAP3:	SPL @0,DEST3
IMP:	MOV.I #0,STEP1
FOR 40
	DAT 0,0
ROF
;   cut and pasted Qscan:

     qf equ qKil
     qs equ (qd*2)
     qd equ 107
     qi equ 7
     qr equ 11

;    -+)>] 0/1 cycles [(<+-

qGo: seq   qd+qf+qs,    qf+qs      ; 1
     jmp   qSki,        {qd+qf+qs+qi
     seq   qd+qf+6*qs,  qf+6*qs    ; B
     jmp   qFas,        {qd+qf+6*qs+qi
     seq   qd+qf+5*qs,  qf+5*qs    ; B-1
     jmp   qFas,        <qBmb
     seq   qd+qf+7*qs,  qf+7*qs    ; B+1
     jmp   qFas,        >qBmb
     seq   qd+qf+9*qs,  qf+9*qs    ; A-1
     djn   qFas,        {qFas
     seq   qd+qf+10*qs, qf+10*qs   ; A
     jmp   qFas,        {qFas

;    -+>)] 2 cycles [(<+-

     seq   qd+qf+3*qs,  qf+3*qs    ; C
     jmp   >qFas,       {qd+qf+3*qs+qi
     seq   qd+qf+2*qs,  qf+2*qs    ; C-1
     jmp   >qFas,       {qSlo
     seq   qd+qf+4*qs,  qf+4*qs    ; C+1
     jmp   >qFas,       }qSlo
     seq   qd+qf+12*qs, qf+12*qs   ; B*C-B
     jmp   qSlo,        {qSlo
     seq   qd+qf+15*qs, qf+15*qs   ; B*C-C
     jmp   qSlo,        <qBmb
     seq   qd+qf+21*qs, qf+21*qs   ; B*C+C
     jmp   qSlo,        >qBmb
     seq   qd+qf+24*qs, qf+24*qs   ; B*C+B
     jmp   qSlo,        }qSlo
     seq   qd+qf+27*qs, qf+27*qs   ; A*C-C
     djn   qSlo,        {qFas
     seq   qd+qf+30*qs, qf+30*qs   ; A*C
     jmp   qSlo,        {qFas
     sne   qd+qf+18*qs, qf+18*qs   ; B*C
     jmz.f LCH,         qd+qf+18*qs-10

qSlo:mul.ab #3,         qKil       ; C=3
qFas:mul.b qBmb,        @qSlo
qSki:sne   >3456,       @qKil
     add   #qd,         qKil
qLoo:mov   qBmb,        @qKil
qKil:mov   qBmb,        *qs
     sub   #qi,         qKil
     djn   qLoo,        #qr
     jmp   LCH,         >10        ; A=10
qBmb:dat   {qi*qr-10,   {6         ; B=6

	end qGo


From: fizmo_master@yahoo.com (Fizmo)
Subject: Re: Redcoders Frenzy: Round 11 "The holding hands round" ***Deadline****
Date: 5 Jun 2003 03:52:32 -0700
Message-ID: <9f53b5fb.0306050252.21d59779@posting.google.com>

The deadline for Round 11 is:
-----------------------------


June 28, 2003


Good luck.


From: =?iso-8859-1?q?will?= <varfar@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: examing opcode frequencies
Date: 5 Jun 2003 11:58:39 -0400
Message-ID: <20030605125455.55644.qmail@web21102.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi folks,

Barclay Vowk and other's fantastic success evolving
warriors recently has spurred me into more Species
development.  And emulating the better evolvers, I
have set about trying to capture sensible opcode
frequency statistics for normal hand-written warriors.

The approach that seems promising is to use markov
chains; so I've spent a few days running all the
warriors I've downloaded from Koenigstuhl and
corewars.sourceforge.net through various chucks of
code.  I am slowly gathering faith in my markov
capturer, and the early stats are so interesting I
thought I'd share them with you all:

Rembrants of obvious algorithms are quite common:
MOV.I$@,ADD.AB#$ occurs 52 times (in my archive)
MOV.I{<,MOV.I{<,MOV.I{<,MOV.I{<,MOV.I{< 44 times
SEQ.I$$,DJN.F$$,SEQ.I$$,JMP.B<>,SEQ.I$$,JMP.B$>,SEQ.I$$,JMP.B$}
25 times
MOV.I$<,MOV.I>>,JMN.F$>,ADD.AB#@,JMZ.F$<,SLT.B@#,DJN.B$@,DJN.B$#,JMP.B${
23 times

.. and so on.

If anyone has ownership of a server with a 24/7 public
IP, maybe we can have a 'how unique is your warrior?'
service?

I expect I've missed a few really telling chains.  If
anyone wants the 2.3mb datafile I've generated, just
email me.  Oh, and I mixed hills..

best regards,
Will.

__________________________________________________
Yahoo! Plus - For a better Internet experience
http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/yplus/yoffer.html


From: dhillismail@netscape.net (Dave Hillis)
Subject: Re: examing opcode frequencies
Date: 5 Jun 2003 19:04:12 -0700
Message-ID: <5d6847b2.0306051804.6794619@posting.google.com>

will <varfar@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message news:<20030605125455.55644.qmail@web21102.mail.yahoo.com>...
> Hi folks,
> 
> Barclay Vowk and other's fantastic success evolving
> warriors recently has spurred me into more Species
> development.  And emulating the better evolvers, I
> have set about trying to capture sensible opcode
> frequency statistics for normal hand-written warriors.
> 
> The approach that seems promising is to use markov
> chains; so I've spent a few days running all the
> warriors I've downloaded from Koenigstuhl and
> corewars.sourceforge.net through various chucks of
> code. 
<snip>
    Very cool project. (I wish I knew how to use Markov chains.) So
are you going to build some kind of predictor and use it as a mutation
operator? I think that might work very well.
    A couple of thoughts:
- Boot vectors, quick scans, decoys, DAT padding, and pswitch tables
will give patterns that probably won't help evolved warriors. (Not
sure about boot vectors.)
- you might get more meaning by representing the addresses
differently. This might take some hand editing, which would be a major
pain, but treating the constants as numbers and representing the
pointers to other lines of code in terms of what kind of line they are
pointing to could be useful.
   Anyway, I think it's a great idea. Look forward to hearing more
about it.
Dave Hillis


From: =?iso-8859-1?q?will?= <varfar@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: examing opcode frequencies
Date: 6 Jun 2003 08:15:28 -0400
Message-ID: <20030606073939.58735.qmail@web21104.mail.yahoo.com>

 --- Dave Hillis <dhillismail@netscape.net> wrote: 

> are you going to build some kind of predictor and
> use it as a mutation operator?

I am.  In Species, I have a plugin whose job it is to
suggest an opcode for any instruction in a warrior. 
This is used when generating warriors from scratch at
generation 0, and also for suggesting opcodes that are
inserted during reproduction.  Mutation happens to the
instruction after it has been suggested but before it
is actually inserted.

My first plugin used specified opcode frequencies and
a branch-bias to suggest instructions.  My newer
plugin used two-link markov chains (for any opcode it
knows the probability of other opcodes to follow) to
suggest opcodes.  The data I posted is prelim for my
third plugin that will understand longer markov
chains.

I use a strict test to ensure that each reproduced
warrior has some 'teeth', and I see that
two-link-markov-chains improves the prob of generating
something with teeth ten-fold!  Unfortunately, it
doesn't actually make a better warrior, only make the
same badness of warrior quicker.  Maybe all the other
parameters for reproduction are way-off and holding me
back..

> - Boot vectors, quick scans, decoys, DAT padding,
> and pswitch tables
> will give patterns that probably won't help evolved
> warriors. 

yes, unfortunately they seem quite common.  I can cull
DAT-padding.

> - you might get more meaning by representing the
> addresses differently.

ah, meta-instruction-genes?  Markovs are a shortcut. 
Thought has to be given how to tokenise addresses too.
 For example, I don't yet track the probability of a
chain starting a warrior.  And opcodes neither.  The
amount of RAM needed to bring together stats for the
Koening at the moment is staggering: over 100mb just
for opcode/modifier/addrmodes; addresses too would
knock that up a few order of magnitudes I expect.  (Of
course, using the resulting lookup table in an evolver
is just a couple of megabytes max; probably much
less).

> Anyway, I think it's a great idea. Look forward
> to hearing more about it.

An evolvers gathering sometime somewhere?  No harm in
sharing ideas/results even when we're all dreaming of
being KOTH of 94nop with a 100% evolved warrior!?!

best regards,
Will.

__________________________________________________
Yahoo! Plus - For a better Internet experience
http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/yplus/yoffer.html


Message-ID: <games/corewar-faq_1054889100@rtfm.mit.edu>
From: anton@paradise.net.nz (Anton Marsden)
Subject: Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ)
Date: 06 Jun 2003 08:46:04 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 <anton@paradise.net.nz>
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 <program name>" and ";author <your name>"
     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, <L2
   L2  dat #0, #1

Under in-register evaluation, the L2 instruction is saved in a buffer before
the L2 memory location is decremented by evaluation of the B-operand of L1.
The saved DAT #0,#1 instruction is then written to L2, leaving it unchanged.

Under in-memory evaluation, the L2 instruction is not buffered and thus
decremented by evaluation of the B-operand. After execution of L1, L2
changes to DAT #0,#0.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

18. What is P-space?

P-space is an area of memory which only your program's processes can access.
The contents of each memory location are preserved between rounds in a
multi-round match.

P-space is in many ways different from the core. First of all, each P-space
location can only store one number, not a whole instruction. Also, the
addressing in P-space is absolute, ie. the P-space address 1 is always 1
regardless of where in the core the instruction containing it is. And last
but not least, P-space can only be accessed by two special instructions, LDP
and STP.

The syntax of these two instructions is a bit unusual. STP, for example, has
an ordinary value in the core as its source, which is put into the P-space
field pointed to by the destination. So the P-space location isn't
determined by the destination address, but by its value, ie. the value that
would be overwritten if this were a MOV. So STP.AB #Q, #R would put the
value Q into the P-space field R mod PSPACESIZE. Similarly,

        stp.b  2, 3
        dat    0, 0
        dat    0, 9
        dat    0, 7

would put the value 9 into the P-space field 7. LDP works the same way,
except that now the source is a P-space field and the destination a core
instruction. The P-space location 0 is a special location. It is initialised
to a special value before each round. This value is:

   * -1 (or CORESIZE-1) at the beginning of the first round
   * 0 if the program died in the previous round
   * The number of surviving programs if the program did not die in the
     previous round

This means that for one-on-one matches, loss=0, win=1 and tie=2.

The default size of P-space is 1/16 of the core size. This size is the value
of the predefined variable PSPACESIZE. The addresses in the P-space wrap
around just like in the core, ie. you can store a value from 0 to CORESIZE-1
in each P-space location. All P-space values (except for location 0) are 0
initially.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

19. What does "Missing ;assert .." in my message from KotH mean?

This means you have omitted an ";assert" line in your submission. ";assert"
is used to specify which environments your code will work under or was
designed for. For example, if your warrior was written for the '94 draft
hill then you can put:

;assert CORESIZE==8000

in your code, meaning that an error will occur if you attempt you compile
the code for a different core size. If you don't want to use the features of
";assert" and you want to get rid of the annoying warning just put:

;assert 1

in your code, which means it will compile unconditionally.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

20. How should I format my code?

The way you format your code is really your own choice in the end. If you
are new to the game then use the style you feel most comfortable with.
However, using a common format helps others to understand your code quicker.
Most players tend to use the following conventions when writing code:

   * use lower case for location names and opcode names
   * don't add opcode modifiers if you don't need to, eg. add.ab #1, #2 is
     the same as add #1, #2
   * use whitespace after every comma
   * use tabs to align the opcodes, the instruction field(s) and any
     comments
   * do not use $ (direct addressing mode) or : (suffix of some labels)

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

21. Are there any other Core War related resources I should know about?

Using genetic algorithms to generate warriors has been attempted by a number
of people. There are a number of resources available for people who are
interested in doing some experimentation:

   * There is a Core War genetic algorithms mailing list at
     corewar-ga-request@sunsite.auc.dk. The FTP site for this list is at
     ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/local/corewar/. The administrator is Martin
     Pedersen (martin.pedersen@person.dk).
   * Jason's Core War project page
     (http://www.avalon.net/~jboer/projects/corewar/corewar.html) contains a
     C program which can evolve warriors, along with some previously
     generated warriors.
   * Core Wars Genetics: The Evolution of Predation by John Perry can be
     found at http://www.koth.org/evolving_warriors.html.
   * The most recent paper on Core War evolution is by Ryan Coleman and can
     be found at
     http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/6898/paper.html.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

22. What does (expression or term of your choice) mean?

Here is a selected glossary of terms. If you have a definition and/or term
you wish to see here, please send it to me.

(References to an X-like program mean that the term X is derived from the
specific program X and has become a generic term).

Binary launch
     One of several means to start an imp-spiral running. The fastest launch
     technique, but requires the most code. See also JMP/ADD Launch and
     Vector Launch.

         impsize   equ 2667
         example   spl 4               ; extend by adding spl 8, spl 16, etc.
                   spl 2
                   jmp imp+(0*impsize) ; jmp's execute in order
                   jmp imp+(1*impsize)
                   spl 2
                   jmp imp+(2*impsize)
                   jmp imp+(3*impsize)
         imp       mov 0, impsize      ; in '94 use -> 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, <example
                   dat <example, #0

Imp-Ring
     A minimal Imp-Spiral.

         D         EQU (CORESIZE+1)/3
         a         mov 0, D   ; copy self to b
         b         mov 0, D   ; copy self to c
         c         mov 0, D   ; copy self to a+1

Imp-Spiral
     An Imp-like program with two or more processes supporting each other. A
     three-point spiral, with six processes running in this sequence:

         D         EQU (CORESIZE+1)/3
         a         mov 0, D   ; copy self to b
         b         mov 0, D   ; copy self to c
         c         mov 0, D   ; copy self to a+1
         a+1       mov 0, D   ; copy self to b+1
         b+1       mov 0, D   ; copy self to c+1
         c+1       mov 0, D   ; copy self to a+2

Incendiary Bomb
     A type of Stun bomb which creates a SPL 0 carpet.

         example   spl 0, 8
                   mov -1, <-1

JMP/ADD Launch
     one of several means to start an imp-spiral running. The slowest launch
     technique, but requires the least code. See also Binary Launch and
     Vector Launch.

         IMPSIZE   EQU 2667
         example   spl 1               ; extend by adding more spl 1's
                   spl 1
                   spl 2
                   jmp @0, imp
                   add #IMPSIZE, -1    ; bump address by impsize after each jmp
                   dat #0, #0          ; excess processes must die!
         imp       mov 0, IMPSIZE      ; in '94 use -> 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: dhillismail@netscape.net (Dave Hillis)
Subject: Re: examing opcode frequencies
Date: 6 Jun 2003 15:28:54 -0700
Message-ID: <5d6847b2.0306061428.6414829f@posting.google.com>

will <varfar@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message 
<snip>

   Maybe if you limit your pool of warriors to those less than 20
lines long you'd get more relevant results from your analysis.

> An evolvers gathering sometime somewhere?  No harm in
> sharing ideas/results even when we're all dreaming of
> being KOTH of 94nop with a 100% evolved warrior!?!

    A combination of competition and sharing of information makes
corewars what it is. I look at it as a pretty good model for pushing
the state of the art in general.
   I like the gathering idea, but IIRC exceeds my threshold of pain
right now. I think there used to be an evolving warriors mailing list.
Maybe that could be resurected.

Dave Hillis


From: Lukasz Grabun <grabek@purgatory.abyss>
Subject: Bug in ;kill?
Date: 6 Jun 2003 20:29:32 GMT
Message-ID: <slrn.pl.be1umm.gku.grabek@purgatory.abyss>

It seems that one can ;kill his warrior only by sending the proper
warrior from the exact email the warrior was sent from.

-- 
Lukasz Grabun (My CW page: http://www.astercity.net/~grabek)
(reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)


From: Lukasz Grabun <grabek@purgatory.abyss>
Subject: Re: Bug in ;kill?
Date: 7 Jun 2003 11:22:10 GMT
Message-ID: <slrn.pl.be3j0f.gku.grabek@purgatory.abyss>

On 7 Jun 2003 12:09:04 +0100, Philip Kendall wrote:

>>It seems that one can ;kill his warrior only by sending the proper
>>warrior from the exact email the warrior was sent from.
> Why is this a bug?

  Because I have three e-mail address (though only two of them are
used in public mailing). At home I mail from acn.waw.pl while when I
don't have access to my local machine I use onet.pl domain. I always
thought that providing a correct password is enough (yes, I use
;password).

-- 
Lukasz Grabun (My CW page: http://www.astercity.net/~grabek)
(reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)


From: pak21@cam.ac.uk (Philip Kendall)
Subject: Re: Bug in ;kill?
Date: 7 Jun 2003 12:09:04 +0100
Message-ID: <bbsh4g$lsi$1@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>

In article <slrn.pl.be1umm.gku.grabek@purgatory.abyss>,
Lukasz Grabun  <grabek@purgatory.abyss> wrote:
>It seems that one can ;kill his warrior only by sending the proper
>warrior from the exact email the warrior was sent from.

Why is this a bug?

Phil

-- 
  Philip Kendall <pak21@srcf.ucam.org>
  http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~pak21/


From: mooredav@mac.com (David Matthew Moore)
Subject: Warrior Code
Date: 8 Jun 2003 19:59:54 -0700
Message-ID: <69eefcbb.0306081859.177e5d86@posting.google.com>

I hope you enjoy this one!

bye,

David.


;redcode-94
;assert CORESIZE==8000
;name Sunset
;author David Moore
;strategy P^3
;strategy Recon 2 or paper + stone

;---------
; Recon 2
;---------

; Recon 2 looks at pairs of cells that are 6 apart.
; When something is found, it gets wiped with 14 SPLs like this:
; ..X.....X.....

; distance between scanned pairs:
rStep equ 6557   ; overcomes 3, 7, 9, and 11 point imps

; 6557 * 231 = 2667   (2667 *  3 = 1)
; 6557 *  99 = 1143   (1143 *  7 = 1)
; 6557 *  77 =  889   ( 889 *  9 = 1)
; 6557 *  63 = 5091   (5091 * 11 = 1)

; use different boot locations to throw off one-shot scanners
rPlaceA equ 1282
rPlaceB equ 6800

rDestB  nop (rPlaceB - rPlaceA), (rPlaceB-rPlaceA)

reconB  add.f rDestB, rDest   ; boot to location B
reconA  mov  rEnd,   <rDest   ; boot to location A
        mov {reconA, <rDest
        mov {reconA, <rDest
        mov {reconA, <rDest
        mov {reconA, <rDest
rSrc    jmn  reconA, {reconA
rDest   spl  rPlaceA+5, rPlaceA+15
        mov  2, rDest   ; hide boot pointer

    for 5
        dat 0, 0
    rof

rPtr equ (rScan-8)

        dat      19,  19
rDiff   spl #-rStep, #-rStep
rWipe   mov   rDiff, >rPtr    ; hit 'em with SPLs
rW2     mov  *rWipe, >rPtr    ; later, this becomes a DAT clear
        djn.a rWipe,  rLength

rLoop   sub   rDiff, @rS2
rScan   sne rStep-1,  rStep-7 ; check a pair
        sub   rDiff,  rScan
rS2     seq  *rScan, @rScan   ; check another pair
        slt.a   #20,  rScan   ; ignore self
rTimer  djn   rLoop, #4800    ; count down to DAT phase

rLength sub.ba   #0,   #-7     ; set up for SPL wipe
rTweak  mov.ab @rS2,   @rWipe
rT2     jmn    *rW2,    rTimer ; when timer expires,
rEnd    djn.a <rTweak, {rT2    ; go to DAT clear mode

;---------
; P-space
;---------

    for 12
        dat 0,0
    rof

storage equ 234

think   ldp.a  #0,      mtab
        ldp.ba  2,      table
        mod.ba *mtab,   table
        stp.b  *table, #storage
table   jmp }0,     724 ; =  80*9 + 4 = 65*11 +  9 = 72*10 + 4
        jmp paper,  130 ; =  14*9 + 4 = 11*11 +  9 = 13*10 + 0
        dat reconB, 666 ; =  74*9 + 0 = 60*11 +  6 = 66*10 + 6
        dat paper,  835 ; =  92*9 + 7 = 75*11 + 10 = 83*10 + 5
        dat reconA, 448 ; =  49*9 + 7 = 40*11 +  8 = 44*10 + 8
        dat paper,  857 ; =  95*9 + 2 = 77*11 + 10 = 85*10 + 7
        dat reconB, 776 ; =  86*9 + 2 = 70*11 +  6 = 77*10 + 6
        dat paper,  362 ; =  40*9 + 2 = 32*11 + 10 = 36*10 + 2
        dat reconA, 778 ; =  86*9 + 4 = 70*11 +  8 = 77*10 + 8
        dat paper,  801 ; =  89*9 + 0 = 72*11 +  9 = 80*10 + 1
        dat paper,  923 ; = 102*9 + 5 = 83*11 + 10 = 92*10 + 3
mtab    dat 0,  9
        dat 0, 11
        dat 0, 10
        DAT.F $-52, $778   ; mirror - used by Recon 2

    for 17
        dat 0,0
    rof

;---------------
; paper + stone
;---------------

pStone  spl #2 * 2862, {2 * 2862
        mov pAmmo, *2
        add.f pStone, 1    ; <- hit to start core clear
        mov 4655, 4655 + 2862
pSrcS   jmp -3, pStone
        dat 0,0
pAmmo   dat }1, >1

; This replicator fills the core with code that can't be run
; by other replicators.

pNext   spl   4200,  {pThis
        mov  }pThis, }pNext
        mov   pDat,  >5200
pThis   mov pNext+6, }pNext
        jmz.f pNext, *pThis
pDat    dat  <2667,  <5334
;;;     dat      0,   0      ; dat 0,0 must be there after boot

placeS equ 5300     ; stone boot location
placeP equ (placeS + 223)   ; paper boot location

paper   mov >pSrcS, >pDestS
        spl  2, >3988
        spl  1, >4191
pSrcP   spl  1,  pNext+6
        mov >pSrcS,  >pDestS
        mov <pSrcP,  {pDestP
pDestS  spl @pDestP,  paper+placeS  ; the stone needs 6+6 processes
        spl @pDestP, >pDestS        ; to work properly
pDestP  djn  paper+placeP+6, #paper+placeS  ; the paper needs 6

end think


;redcode-94
;assert CORESIZE==8000
;name Recon 2
;author David Moore
;strategy SNE scanner / SPL wiper

; Look at pairs of cells that are 6 apart.
; When something is found, wipe it with 14 SPLs like this:
; ..X.....X.....

; distance between scanned pairs:
step equ 6557   ; overcomes 3, 7, 9, and 11 point imps
;; step equ 2727  ; alternative; works on 3, 13, and 17 pt imps

; 6557 * 231 = 2667   (2667 *  3 = 1)
; 6557 *  99 = 1143   (1143 *  7 = 1)
; 6557 *  77 =  889   ( 889 *  9 = 1)
; 6557 *  63 = 5091   (5091 * 11 = 1)

; 2727 * 221 = 2667   (2667 *  3 = 1)
; 2727 *  51 = 3077   (3077 * 13 = 1)
; 2727 *  39 = 2353   (2353 * 17 = 1)

ptr equ (scan-8)

        dat      19,  19
diff    spl  #-step, #-step
wipe    mov    diff, >ptr     ; hit 'em with SPLs
w2      mov   *wipe, >ptr     ; later, this becomes a DAT clear
        djn.a  wipe,  length

loop    sub    diff, @s2
scan    sne (step*2) - 1, (step*2) - 7   ; check a pair
        sub    diff,  scan
s2      seq   *scan, @scan    ; check another pair
        slt.a   #20,  scan    ; ignore self
timer   djn    loop, #4800    ; count down to DAT phase

length  sub.ba #0,  #-7      ; set up for SPL wipe
tweak   mov.ab @s2, @wipe
t2      jmn    *w2,  timer   ; when timer expires,
        djn.a  <tweak, {t2   ; go to DAT clear mode

end scan


From: elmartinos@eml.cc (Martinus)
Subject: Evolving + Wiki
Date: 9 Jun 2003 02:41:21 -0700
Message-ID: <7024f804.0306090141.5c96f45a@posting.google.com>

Some days ago I have startet to add information about evolving
corewars into pvk's nice wiki:

http://www.pvk.ca/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=Evolving

I think that this Wiki has the potential to finally fill the huge gap
of information flow between people who code evolvers, so please
contribute! We need new and unconventional ideas.

--
Martin Ankerl


From: Lukasz Grabun <grabek@purgatory.abyss>
Subject: Re: Warrior Code
Date: 9 Jun 2003 05:24:54 GMT
Message-ID: <slrn.pl.be86qq.gku.grabek@purgatory.abyss>

On 8 Jun 2003 19:59:54 -0700, David Matthew Moore wrote:

> I hope you enjoy this one!

  Thank you!

-- 
Lukasz Grabun (My CW page: http://www.astercity.net/~grabek)
(reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 06/09/03
Date: 9 Jun 2003 14:41:26 -0400
Message-ID: <200306090400.h59401KP000380@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/09/03
 
-=- 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 : Wed Jun 4 16:27:27 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  45/ 39/ 16             Tangle Trap 3          David Moore     150       1
 2  36/ 23/ 41           Quicksilver '88      Michal Janeczek     148       8
 3  33/ 23/ 44             Freight Train          David Moore     143     173
 4  44/ 45/ 12                       vm5      Michal Janeczek     143       7
 5  33/ 23/ 45                      Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa     142     112
 6  32/ 24/ 44                  Guardian          Ian Oversby     141     172
 7  40/ 42/ 19                My 1st try    Christian Schmidt     138       4
 8  40/ 44/ 17               '88 test IV         John Metcalf     136      66
 9  34/ 33/ 33                      vala         John Metcalf     136      95
10  43/ 50/  7             Scan Test C 6        Steve Gunnell     136      11
11  40/ 47/ 13                  Blur '88        Anton Marsden     134     210
12  41/ 48/ 11               Foggy Swamp          Beppe Bezzi     133     169
13  29/ 25/ 46                  Pixie 88        Lukasz Grabun     132       2
14  38/ 45/ 16                    Stasis          David Moore     131     280
15  26/ 21/ 53                    Test I          Ian Oversby     130     229
16  36/ 42/ 22                    PacMan          David Moore     130     202
17  25/ 21/ 54                  EV Paper     John K Wilkinson     129     186
18  27/ 27/ 46              Shish-Ka-Bob             Ben Ford     128     128
19  29/ 30/ 41          sIMPly.Red v0.95    Leonardo Humberto     128     130
20  33/ 38/ 29       Gymnosperm trickery          Dave Hillis     127      59

21  29/ 42/ 29                     Oops!         Roy van Rijn     116       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status -  94 No Pspace 06/09/03
Date: 9 Jun 2003 14:41:17 -0400
Message-ID: <200306090409.h59491RF000496@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/09/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 8 20:07:16 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  45/ 47/  9                   Recon 2          David Moore     143     168
 2  31/ 22/ 48             Thunderstrike        Lukasz Grabun     140     319
 3  39/ 41/ 19      Return of Vanquisher        Lukasz Grabun     137     476
 4  39/ 40/ 21              Toxic Spirit        Philip Thorne     137     399
 5  40/ 44/ 16              Hazy Test 63        Steve Gunnell     136     489
 6  28/ 21/ 51               Son of Vain      Oversby/Pihlaja     134    1714
 7  29/ 25/ 46                Reepicheep       Grabun/Metcalf     134     945
 8  42/ 51/  7                    Claw 2                Fizmo     132     143
 9  28/ 24/ 48  Now you're in trouble!!!         John Metcalf     132      82
10  27/ 21/ 52                  Candy II        Lukasz Grabun     132      94
11  22/ 13/ 65                unheard-of    Christian Schmidt     132      45
12  27/ 24/ 48       Soldier of Silkland    Christian Schmidt     130      71
13  28/ 25/ 47                      Numb         Roy van Rijn     130     101
14  27/ 24/ 49            He Bombs Alone    Christian Schmidt     129       5
15  25/ 22/ 52          Back To PolyLand        Jakub Kozisek     128     149
16  22/ 18/ 59                      Dawn         Roy van Rijn     126     330
17  38/ 50/ 12           Aoshi Test B 29        Steve Gunnell     126       1
18  23/ 19/ 58            RotPendragon 2    Christian Schmidt     126     154
19  28/ 30/ 42           Happy Birthday!            G.Labarga     125      46
20  19/ 15/ 66             NewsPaper A 9        Steve Gunnell     123      23

21  11/ 38/ 51            Blitz test C 8        Steve Gunnell      85       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 06/09/03
Date: 9 Jun 2003 14:41:22 -0400
Message-ID: <200306090403.h59431wD000424@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/09/03
 
-=- 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 : Sun Jun 8 19:50:24 EDT 2003
 
 #                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1                      hawk         John Metcalf      24       4
 2                     trial         John Metcalf      16     165
 3      not king of the hill               FatalC      15       6
 4              Djinn Test 9        Steve Gunnell      13     150
 5                  D-clearM         Ken Espiritu      13     261
 6            Dettol Test 26        Steve Gunnell      11      41
 7               Her Majesty              P.Kline       9     280
 8       my new tiny warrior         John Metcalf       5      52
 9        Take the blue pill               FatalC       2       3
10       NewsPaper Test A 13        Steve Gunnell       0       1

11           Aoshi Test B 29        Steve Gunnell       0       0


From: Christoph Birk <birk@ociw.edu>
Subject: Koenigstuhl News
Date: 10 Jun 2003 20:50:14 -0400
Message-ID: <200306102028.NAA29117@andromeda.ociw.edu>

		Congratulations to David Moore!

His program 'Sunset' is the new #1 on the Pspace-Koenigstuhl and
on the OPEN-Koenigstuhl.

Christoph
http://www.ociw.edu/~birk/COREWAR/koenigstuhl.html


From: dhillismail@netscape.net (Dave Hillis)
Subject: Re: Koenigstuhl News
Date: 11 Jun 2003 07:05:24 -0700
Message-ID: <5d6847b2.0306110605.572c4f3a@posting.google.com>

Christoph Birk <birk@ociw.edu> wrote in message news:<200306102028.NAA29117@andromeda.ociw.edu>...
> Congratulations to David Moore!
> 
> His program 'Sunset' is the new #1 on the Pspace-Koenigstuhl and
> on the OPEN-Koenigstuhl.
> 
> Christoph
> http://www.ociw.edu/~birk/COREWAR/koenigstuhl.html

    Sunset leads by 7 points on the Pspace-Koenigstuhl. It would be
KOTH on both Pspace-Koenigstuhl and OPEN-Koenigstuhl using either flat
or recursive scores. Sunset has an age of 44 on the 94 Standard hill
and I don't believe it's lead as KOTH there has ever dipped below 7 or
8.
   Quite a feat!

Dave Hillis


From: AtnNn@atnnn.cjb.net (AtnNn)
Subject: mars output
Date: 15 Jun 2003 12:01:56 -0700
Message-ID: <1ec216d2.0306151101.41743e0b@posting.google.com>

How should i interpret exhaust output or pmars output?

example:
0 1 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 0 1


From: "Scott Hedrick" <spamfile@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: Keep The SEGWAY Off Our Sidewalks & Streets!     ------ #randum
Message-ID: <Z95Ha.22583$N37.4065@fe09.atl2.webusenet.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 17:13:28 -0400

<Rational_Transportation@aziscoko.ac.il> wrote in message
news:hfopiqcs89q1xenqggev6b2pkybo@4ax.com...
> Noting good can come from this new personal transpiration device. It will
only serve
> to make Americans FATTER  than they already are

Your brain has clearly been using one, you spamming dickhead.

<plonk>
-- 
If you have had problems with Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC),
please contact shredder at bellsouth dot net. There may be a class-action
lawsuit
in the works.





From: Lukasz Adamowski <adamow@mikrus.pw.edu.pl>
Subject: Re: mars output
Date: 16 Jun 2003 10:29:38 -0400
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0306161632040.22058-100000@inferno.mikrus.pw.edu.pl>

On Sun, 15 Jun 2003, AtnNn wrote:

> How should i interpret exhaust output or pmars output?

AFAIK with executing like this:
pmars -r 1 warrior1.red warrior2.red warrior3.red

It means number of rounds
              won
              | two-way tied
              | | three-way tied
              | | | lost
              | | | |
              v v v v
by
warrior1  ->  0 1 0 0
warrior2  ->  0 1 0 0
warrior3  ->  0 0 0 1

Greetings
	Lukasz



From: Koen Struyve <Koen.Struyve@UGent.be>
Subject: Beginners league 2 : deadline
Date: 16 Jun 2003 10:35:51 -0400
Message-ID: <1055761203.3eeda333a766a@mail.ugent.be>

Hello,

because many people have schooltests right now, I've delayed the deadline to 
the 10th of June, I've 3 entries already, but I'm hoping for a lot more...

All beginners, feel free to test your latest creation by participating. 

More info on www25.brinkster.com/ivaldir,

Koen Struyve

-- 


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status -  94 No Pspace 06/16/03
Date: 16 Jun 2003 10:35:57 -0400
Message-ID: <200306160409.h5G490DU016227@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/16/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 15 23:45:44 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  47/ 45/  8                   Recon 2          David Moore     148     180
 2  42/ 39/ 19              Toxic Spirit        Philip Thorne     144     411
 3  33/ 22/ 45             Thunderstrike        Lukasz Grabun     143     331
 4  41/ 41/ 18      Return of Vanquisher        Lukasz Grabun     142     488
 5  30/ 19/ 51                  Candy II        Lukasz Grabun     141     106
 6  45/ 49/  7                    Claw 2                Fizmo     140     155
 7  31/ 24/ 45                Reepicheep       Grabun/Metcalf     138     957
 8  30/ 22/ 49               Son of Vain      Oversby/Pihlaja     138    1726
 9  31/ 24/ 45  Now you're in trouble!!!         John Metcalf     137      94
10  32/ 27/ 40            Digitalis 2003    Christian Schmidt     137       8
11  24/ 13/ 63                unheard-of    Christian Schmidt     136      57
12  38/ 40/ 22                      shot         John Metcalf     136      11
13  40/ 44/ 16              Hazy Test 63        Steve Gunnell     135     501
14  26/ 17/ 57                      Dawn         Roy van Rijn     135     342
15  25/ 16/ 58            RotPendragon 2    Christian Schmidt     135     166
16  30/ 26/ 44                      Numb         Roy van Rijn     134     113
17  28/ 22/ 50          Back To PolyLand        Jakub Kozisek     134     161
18  29/ 25/ 46       Soldier of Silkland    Christian Schmidt     133      83
19  25/ 17/ 59                  Doughnut        Philip Thorne     133       1
20  29/ 25/ 47            He Bombs Alone    Christian Schmidt     132      17

21   2/ 98/  0                         _                    _       7       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 06/16/03
Date: 16 Jun 2003 10:36:10 -0400
Message-ID: <200306160403.h5G430HV015270@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/16/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 13 13:31:33 EDT 2003
 
 #                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1                      hawk         John Metcalf      30       6
 2                     trial         John Metcalf      12     167
 3              Djinn Test 9        Steve Gunnell      11     152
 4            Dettol Test 26        Steve Gunnell      10      43
 5                  D-clearM         Ken Espiritu       7     263
 6               Her Majesty              P.Kline       7     282
 7        Take the blue pill               FatalC       7       5
 8      not king of the hill               FatalC       5       8
 9       my new tiny warrior         John Metcalf       5      54
10         Bugtown test C 54        Steve Gunnell       5       1

11               tests-16343          Will Varfar       0       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 06/16/03
Date: 16 Jun 2003 10:36:04 -0400
Message-ID: <200306160406.h5G460uY015403@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/16/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 12 09:50:45 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  43/ 34/ 23             The X Machine           Zul Nadzri     151       1
 2  46/ 41/ 13           Fire and Ice II          David Moore     150      90
 3  42/ 37/ 21              Eliminator X           Zul Nadzri     147       2
 4  39/ 36/ 25               Black Moods          Ian Oversby     142     186
 5  23/  9/ 68              Evol Cap 4 X       John Wilkinson     137     259
 6  36/ 38/ 26        Giant Hazy Test 13        Steve Gunnell     134      17
 7  22/ 11/ 67                    Denial          David Moore     134     131
 8  34/ 35/ 31              Trefoil F 13        Steve Gunnell     132      73
 9  34/ 35/ 31     Controlled Aggression          Ian Oversby     132     190
10  25/ 19/ 56                  Katafutr      Michal Janeczek     132     130
11  29/ 27/ 44                  Olivia X             Ben Ford     131      71
12  28/ 29/ 43                    KAT v5          Dave Hillis     127     122
13  21/ 16/ 63                       Kin         John Metcalf     127      98
14  17/  8/ 75             Evolve X v4.0       John Wilkinson     126     207
15  24/ 23/ 53                 Glenstorm         John Metcalf     126      52
16  32/ 39/ 29                      Ogre    Christian Schmidt     125     138
17  28/ 31/ 41          Damage Inflicted        Robert Macrae     124     129
18  16/ 10/ 74            Black Box v1.1                  JKW     121     153
19  34/ 47/ 19              Kenshin X 45        Steve Gunnell     121      33
20  24/ 29/ 47               Venom v0.2b    Christian Schmidt     119     212

21  22/ 64/ 14                r11test-b1            G.Labarga      79       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 06/16/03
Date: 16 Jun 2003 10:36:19 -0400
Message-ID: <200306160400.h5G400ei015230@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/16/03
 
-=- 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 : Wed Jun 4 16:27:27 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  45/ 39/ 16             Tangle Trap 3          David Moore     150       1
 2  36/ 23/ 41           Quicksilver '88      Michal Janeczek     148       8
 3  33/ 23/ 44             Freight Train          David Moore     143     173
 4  44/ 45/ 12                       vm5      Michal Janeczek     143       7
 5  33/ 23/ 45                      Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa     142     112
 6  32/ 24/ 44                  Guardian          Ian Oversby     141     172
 7  40/ 42/ 19                My 1st try    Christian Schmidt     138       4
 8  40/ 44/ 17               '88 test IV         John Metcalf     136      66
 9  34/ 33/ 33                      vala         John Metcalf     136      95
10  43/ 50/  7             Scan Test C 6        Steve Gunnell     136      11
11  40/ 47/ 13                  Blur '88        Anton Marsden     134     210
12  41/ 48/ 11               Foggy Swamp          Beppe Bezzi     133     169
13  29/ 25/ 46                  Pixie 88        Lukasz Grabun     132       2
14  38/ 45/ 16                    Stasis          David Moore     131     280
15  26/ 21/ 53                    Test I          Ian Oversby     130     229
16  36/ 42/ 22                    PacMan          David Moore     130     202
17  25/ 21/ 54                  EV Paper     John K Wilkinson     129     186
18  27/ 27/ 46              Shish-Ka-Bob             Ben Ford     128     128
19  29/ 30/ 41          sIMPly.Red v0.95    Leonardo Humberto     128     130
20  33/ 38/ 29       Gymnosperm trickery          Dave Hillis     127      59

21  29/ 42/ 29                     Oops!         Roy van Rijn     116       0


From: colganc@hotmail.com (Chris Colgan)
Subject: ga_wars vs other evolvers
Date: 16 Jun 2003 17:35:24 -0700
Message-ID: <67183ae6.0306161635.2c244c88@posting.google.com>

Hi

I just started with Corewar this past week.  My interest so far is
evolving core warriors.  I am currently using ga_wars (the oldest
evolver correct?) with exhaust added in.  Are ga_wars.c evolved core
warriors mentally handicapped when compared to the other evolvers?

I have read the evolver wiki, most of the info from the evolvers
homepages, and the paper on predation with ga_wars.  They don't semm
to answer my question, can someone help me by divulging their
knowledge and wisdom?

Chris


From: Paul-V Khuong <paul_virak_khuong@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: CorewarWiki
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:43 -0400
Message-ID: <20030321155148.96754.qmail@web41508.mail.yahoo.com>

--- Paul-V Khuong <paul_virak_khuong@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I'm hosting a CoreWar Wiki at
> http://www15.brinkster.com/pkhuong/wiki/wiki.asp
[...]

Wow. That's all i can say. An average of more than 2
MB of pure HTML/hour. Ok, so it was a bad idea to
leave it in debug mode(I was sent to bed hehe).

I'll buy a domain and a real host soon; in the
meantime, i'll switch debug off tonight.

Paul Khuong

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com

From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 06/09/03
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:33 -0400
Message-ID: <200306090406.h5946148000466@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/09/03
 
-=- 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 : Sun Jun 8 14:04:00 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  40/ 36/ 24             The X Machine           Zul Nadzri     145       1
 2  43/ 44/ 13           Fire and Ice II          David Moore     142      90
 3  40/ 38/ 22              Eliminator X           Zul Nadzri     142       2
 4  36/ 38/ 26               Black Moods          Ian Oversby     135     186
 5  35/ 38/ 27        Giant Hazy Test 13        Steve Gunnell     132      17
 6  19/  8/ 72              Evol Cap 4 X       John Wilkinson     131     259
 7  33/ 35/ 33              Trefoil F 13        Steve Gunnell     131      73
 8  25/ 19/ 57                  Katafutr      Michal Janeczek     130     130
 9  32/ 36/ 32     Controlled Aggression          Ian Oversby     128     190
10  27/ 26/ 47                  Olivia X             Ben Ford     128      71
11  19/ 10/ 71                    Denial          David Moore     128     131
12  19/ 14/ 66                       Kin         John Metcalf     125      98
13  25/ 26/ 50               Venom v0.2b    Christian Schmidt     124     212
14  32/ 39/ 29                      Ogre    Christian Schmidt     124     138
15  22/ 21/ 57                 Glenstorm         John Metcalf     123      52
16  26/ 31/ 43          Damage Inflicted        Robert Macrae     121     129
17  25/ 29/ 47                    KAT v5          Dave Hillis     121     122
18  34/ 46/ 20              Kenshin X 45        Steve Gunnell     121      33
19  14/  8/ 78             Evolve X v4.0       John Wilkinson     121     207
20  12/ 10/ 78            Black Box v1.1                  JKW     114     153

21  19/ 25/ 56                      test    Christian Schmidt     112       0


From: =?iso-8859-1?q?will?= <varfar@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: ga_wars vs other evolvers
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:23 -0400
Message-ID: <20030618153858.54289.qmail@web60001.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi Chris,

It isn't so much the framework as the parameters. 
Frameworks are generally based upon the same
principles.  And it is you who provides the
parameters..

best of luck,
Will.

__________________________________________________
Yahoo! Plus - For a better Internet experience
http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/yplus/yoffer.html


From: Paul-V Khuong <paul_virak_khuong@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: ga_wars vs other evolvers
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:29 -0400
Message-ID: <20030617023300.70540.qmail@web41510.mail.yahoo.com>

--- Chris Colgan <colganc@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I just started with Corewar this past week.  My
> interest so far is
> evolving core warriors.  I am currently using
> ga_wars (the oldest
> evolver correct?) with exhaust added in.  Are
> ga_wars.c evolved core
> warriors mentally handicapped when compared to the
> other evolvers?
[...]
Disclaimer: I don't do evolution
(there, i managed to make it sound dirty :)

The problem with evolving often isn't the quality of
the warriors evolved*, but the speed at which any
level of quality(measured as scores agaisnt a given
benchmark, fe) is attained. Using markov chains seems
to be the evolvers' altest find; it makes the
generated (and mutated, often) warriors look more like
human-generated programs. I think Yace supports markov
chains. You could give it a try.

However, since corewar is such a microcosm of
academia**(imho, hehe), what seems most important to
the players is doing it alone, finding THE new idea,
etc. I believe, you would have more fun and interest
in trying to build your own system, from scratch or
using another evolver as a base. After all, what fun
is there in simply having used more computer time than
others without having used a better/different
algorithm to get that good warrior?

Conclusion: Find your own idea, give it a whirl, and
see what happens. It'll be much more interesting and
fun, and educative, both for us and for you, whatever
the results. (Yes, fiddling with parameters affect the
output, but your own algorithm is SO much better than
simply giving parameters to someone else's program,
no? :)

*Actually, it seems evolve pools tend to hit a wall
after which they don't improve much, if at all. Since
evolving seems to be a serie of quantum leaps (an
innovation is found - it gets distributed - find
another improvement... rinse, repeat), i don't know if
this is to be attributed to a real wall or simply to
an exponential time between quantum leaps.

**Truly, i think it is. People help others, trying to
find other techniques, trying to optimize away a few
cycles or instructions, but in the end, it is for
their own ego :) They don't help someone else to see
their KotH fall off the hill, but to know that they
took part in the creation of the KotH, and also for
the advancement of Corewar's State of the Art. Doesn't
everyone dream of inventing a new warrior type, or to
really improve a certain component (� la silk), and to
say "I did this"? :) This both shows the importance of
ego, and, since our way of satisfying our ego is to
advance the corewar art, the importance of knowledge.
After all, everyone knows who the KotH's author is; if
it was the only thing that drove us, "to be king", we
wouldn't publish sources. Yet we do...after altering
QScan, boot, PSpace and other constants :)

I'd say that if you're into corewar, you probably fit
well with this... So you'll only be satisfied if you
really build something /new/ to call your own, whether
it works well or not.

Paul Khuong
http://www.pvk.ca

__________________________________
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SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 05/05/03
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:38 -0400
Message-ID: <200305050400.h45400CN016357@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  05/05/03
 
-=- 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 : Sat Mar 29 20:34:33 EST 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  37/ 23/ 40           Quicksilver '88      Michal Janeczek     151       8
 2  44/ 40/ 16             Tangle Trap 3          David Moore     147       1
 3  35/ 24/ 42             Freight Train          David Moore     146     173
 4  33/ 24/ 43                      Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa     143     112
 5  33/ 24/ 43                  Guardian          Ian Oversby     142     172
 6  43/ 46/ 11                       vm5      Michal Janeczek     139       7
 7  40/ 42/ 19                My 1st try    Christian Schmidt     137       4
 8  35/ 34/ 31                      vala         John Metcalf     136      95
 9  30/ 25/ 46                  Pixie 88        Lukasz Grabun     134       2
10  42/ 51/  8             Scan Test C 6        Steve Gunnell     133      11
11  31/ 29/ 40          sIMPly.Red v0.95    Leonardo Humberto     132     130
12  39/ 45/ 17               '88 test IV         John Metcalf     132      66
13  27/ 21/ 52                    Test I          Ian Oversby     132     229
14  34/ 37/ 28       Gymnosperm trickery          Dave Hillis     132      59
15  40/ 49/ 11               Foggy Swamp          Beppe Bezzi     131     169
16  28/ 26/ 45              Shish-Ka-Bob             Ben Ford     130     128
17  39/ 48/ 13                  Blur '88        Anton Marsden     130     210
18  25/ 21/ 54                  EV Paper     John K Wilkinson     130     186
19  36/ 42/ 22                    PacMan          David Moore     130     202
20  37/ 46/ 17                    Stasis          David Moore     127     280

21  36/ 46/ 18       Beholder's Eye V1.7         W. Mintardjo     127     448


From: Paul-V Khuong <paul_virak_khuong@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Jargon
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:59 -0400
Message-ID: <20030130233716.15855.qmail@web41507.mail.yahoo.com>

--- Joshua Hudson <joshudson@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Oh, i forgot something when replying to Mr Hudson:
> >bomb-dodgers usually plant a d-clear on the
> >bomb-location, for the simple reason that most
> stones
> >also have imp-spiral components.
> Oops...I guess I didn't explain the stone too well.
> The stone's bombing pattern looks like this over all
> of core:
> XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
> 75% bombed, 25% not bombed, hence 75% coverage
> against a gate.
> 
> I have yet to see a one-instruction clear. Even if
> facing
> another warrior that is
> SPL #0, #0
> SPL #0, #0
> I have a 75% chance of beating it. And no, it is not
> possible
> to convert this stone into any type of clear without
> slowing it
> down too far (any slower and scanners find it).
> I might try increasing the coverage by finding a
> mod-100 number.
[snip]
OK, i think we have a few issues with "Jargon" here :)

A bomb-dodger will work this way:

(Usually) linear scan of the core -> when it finds
something, it copies something (a d-clear) on what it
assumes to be a bomb. Therefor, if you only bomb 75%
of the core, using a near-optimal step-size(which
makes it highly unlikely you'll bomb the same location
twice, or near it in a short time), it is likely the
clear will survive long enough to kill the stone
component.

Second, a mod-100 step would hit the core every 100th location.

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From: Christoph Birk <birk@ociw.edu>
Subject: Re: difference between pmarses
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:48 -0400
Message-ID: <200303201808.KAA04691@andromeda.ociw.edu>

sqweek wrote:
> How about a '\' at the end of the line is ignored if it is within a 
> comment?
> If you want to continue the comment put a ';' on the next line :p

Good idea!

Christoph



From: "Joshua Hudson" <joshudson@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: difference between pmarses
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:14:53 -0400
Message-ID: <F637BQ6SAQQFQrPIeUm00035a9d@hotmail.com>

>From: M Joonas Pihlaja <jpihlaja@cc.helsinki.fi>
>On Fri, 14 Mar 2003, Csaba Biro wrote:
>
> > > So seeing as there's no real need for it, and the effort it will
> > > take to adopt it, my (reluctant, as I like the feature) vote is
> > > to scrap this.
> >
> > I agree.
>
>I don't, because continuation lines are the only way to do some
>nasty tricks with the preprocessor that would otherwise crash
>pmars for using a line that's too long.  For instance, the macro
>that computes inverses mod 8000 in a recent Core Warrior doesn't
>work on koth.org without continuation lines.
>
>(But then, the problem there is that pmars can't handle
>complicated macros very well as it uses fixed length string
>buffers in the code.)
>
>Joonas
OK. All you need to do is fix pmars to ignore backslashes in comments.

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From: Paul-V Khuong <paul_virak_khuong@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Jargon
Date: 18 Jun 2003 19:15:07 -0400
Message-ID: <20030130233247.35932.qmail@web41501.mail.yahoo.com>

--- Sascha Zapf <nc-zapfsa@netcologne.de> wrote:
> Can you post some Recode that's 3c-Dekrements..
> 
> 2c .. OK, you can Use the nop command, but 3c is to
> heavy to understand for me
mov <x, {y :D

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From: elmartinos@eml.cc (Martinus)
Subject: Re: ga_wars vs other evolvers
Date: 19 Jun 2003 22:59:49 -0700
Message-ID: <7024f804.0306192159.730b7309@posting.google.com>

> I think Yace supports markov
> chains. You could give it a try.
Nope, not that I know of. You could give it a try anyway ;-)

> *Actually, it seems evolve pools tend to hit a wall
> after which they don't improve much, if at all. Since
> evolving seems to be a serie of quantum leaps (an
> innovation is found - it gets distributed - find
> another improvement... rinse, repeat), i don't know if
> this is to be attributed to a real wall or simply to
> an exponential time between quantum leaps.

This is definitely no reall wall. I am shure this wall can be broken
with proper genetic programming algorithms.
This is as good as it gets right now:
http://corewars.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/control.py?action=showhill&hill=rctiny
I am looking forward to new + better evolved types of warriors, but I
doubt these can be created with yace right now.


From: dhillismail@netscape.net (Dave Hillis)
Subject: Re: ga_wars vs other evolvers
Date: 20 Jun 2003 04:54:39 -0700
Message-ID: <5d6847b2.0306200354.3649ced@posting.google.com>

Hi Chris,
   IMHO ga_war.c does not produce brain damaged warriors compared to
the others. Sys4 might be older-not sure. It is also a great place to
start in writing your own program. That's how Redrace and YACE
started. Since you have added exhaust, you are well on your way. Keep
trying new things and one day you will realize that you have a
"modified version of ga_war.c" in the same sense that you would have a
modified car by jacking up the radiator cap and sliding a new
automobile under it. Then name it and it's your own.
    As for cooperation among evolver writers, I think it should be
like those who write warriors by hand. When they come up with an
inovation, they exploit it for a while, but then they'd like to show
off how clever it was which means showing their secrets.

Dave


From: M Joonas Pihlaja <jpihlaja@cc.helsinki.fi>
Subject: Re: ga_wars vs other evolvers
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 07:24:04 +0300
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.51.0306200719310.11435@kruuna.Helsinki.FI>

On Thu, 18 Jun 2003, Paul-V Khuong wrote:

[snip core war as an ego trip]
> This both shows the importance of ego, and, since our way of
> satisfying our ego is to advance the corewar art, the
> importance of knowledge.

There's a interesting thread over on rec.games.pbm that touches
this.  One of the participants is saying that there are only two
kinds of gamers: Power-gamers and Role-players.  Here's a direct
handle on the thread (that, as usual, has drifted off-subject):

Message-Id: <20030610072058.07937.00000248@mb-m25.aol.com>


Message-ID: <games/corewar-faq_1056182728@rtfm.mit.edu>
From: anton@paradise.net.nz (Anton Marsden)
Subject: Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ)
Date: 21 Jun 2003 08:06:41 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 <anton@paradise.net.nz>
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 <program name>" and ";author <your name>"
     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, <L2
   L2  dat #0, #1

Under in-register evaluation, the L2 instruction is saved in a buffer before
the L2 memory location is decremented by evaluation of the B-operand of L1.
The saved DAT #0,#1 instruction is then written to L2, leaving it unchanged.

Under in-memory evaluation, the L2 instruction is not buffered and thus
decremented by evaluation of the B-operand. After execution of L1, L2
changes to DAT #0,#0.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

18. What is P-space?

P-space is an area of memory which only your program's processes can access.
The contents of each memory location are preserved between rounds in a
multi-round match.

P-space is in many ways different from the core. First of all, each P-space
location can only store one number, not a whole instruction. Also, the
addressing in P-space is absolute, ie. the P-space address 1 is always 1
regardless of where in the core the instruction containing it is. And last
but not least, P-space can only be accessed by two special instructions, LDP
and STP.

The syntax of these two instructions is a bit unusual. STP, for example, has
an ordinary value in the core as its source, which is put into the P-space
field pointed to by the destination. So the P-space location isn't
determined by the destination address, but by its value, ie. the value that
would be overwritten if this were a MOV. So STP.AB #Q, #R would put the
value Q into the P-space field R mod PSPACESIZE. Similarly,

        stp.b  2, 3
        dat    0, 0
        dat    0, 9
        dat    0, 7

would put the value 9 into the P-space field 7. LDP works the same way,
except that now the source is a P-space field and the destination a core
instruction. The P-space location 0 is a special location. It is initialised
to a special value before each round. This value is:

   * -1 (or CORESIZE-1) at the beginning of the first round
   * 0 if the program died in the previous round
   * The number of surviving programs if the program did not die in the
     previous round

This means that for one-on-one matches, loss=0, win=1 and tie=2.

The default size of P-space is 1/16 of the core size. This size is the value
of the predefined variable PSPACESIZE. The addresses in the P-space wrap
around just like in the core, ie. you can store a value from 0 to CORESIZE-1
in each P-space location. All P-space values (except for location 0) are 0
initially.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

19. What does "Missing ;assert .." in my message from KotH mean?

This means you have omitted an ";assert" line in your submission. ";assert"
is used to specify which environments your code will work under or was
designed for. For example, if your warrior was written for the '94 draft
hill then you can put:

;assert CORESIZE==8000

in your code, meaning that an error will occur if you attempt you compile
the code for a different core size. If you don't want to use the features of
";assert" and you want to get rid of the annoying warning just put:

;assert 1

in your code, which means it will compile unconditionally.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

20. How should I format my code?

The way you format your code is really your own choice in the end. If you
are new to the game then use the style you feel most comfortable with.
However, using a common format helps others to understand your code quicker.
Most players tend to use the following conventions when writing code:

   * use lower case for location names and opcode names
   * don't add opcode modifiers if you don't need to, eg. add.ab #1, #2 is
     the same as add #1, #2
   * use whitespace after every comma
   * use tabs to align the opcodes, the instruction field(s) and any
     comments
   * do not use $ (direct addressing mode) or : (suffix of some labels)

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

21. Are there any other Core War related resources I should know about?

Using genetic algorithms to generate warriors has been attempted by a number
of people. There are a number of resources available for people who are
interested in doing some experimentation:

   * There is a Core War genetic algorithms mailing list at
     corewar-ga-request@sunsite.auc.dk. The FTP site for this list is at
     ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/local/corewar/. The administrator is Martin
     Pedersen (martin.pedersen@person.dk).
   * Jason's Core War project page
     (http://www.avalon.net/~jboer/projects/corewar/corewar.html) contains a
     C program which can evolve warriors, along with some previously
     generated warriors.
   * Core Wars Genetics: The Evolution of Predation by John Perry can be
     found at http://www.koth.org/evolving_warriors.html.
   * The most recent paper on Core War evolution is by Ryan Coleman and can
     be found at
     http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/6898/paper.html.

[ToC]
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

22. What does (expression or term of your choice) mean?

Here is a selected glossary of terms. If you have a definition and/or term
you wish to see here, please send it to me.

(References to an X-like program mean that the term X is derived from the
specific program X and has become a generic term).

Binary launch
     One of several means to start an imp-spiral running. The fastest launch
     technique, but requires the most code. See also JMP/ADD Launch and
     Vector Launch.

         impsize   equ 2667
         example   spl 4               ; extend by adding spl 8, spl 16, etc.
                   spl 2
                   jmp imp+(0*impsize) ; jmp's execute in order
                   jmp imp+(1*impsize)
                   spl 2
                   jmp imp+(2*impsize)
                   jmp imp+(3*impsize)
         imp       mov 0, impsize      ; in '94 use -> 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, <example
                   dat <example, #0

Imp-Ring
     A minimal Imp-Spiral.

         D         EQU (CORESIZE+1)/3
         a         mov 0, D   ; copy self to b
         b         mov 0, D   ; copy self to c
         c         mov 0, D   ; copy self to a+1

Imp-Spiral
     An Imp-like program with two or more processes supporting each other. A
     three-point spiral, with six processes running in this sequence:

         D         EQU (CORESIZE+1)/3
         a         mov 0, D   ; copy self to b
         b         mov 0, D   ; copy self to c
         c         mov 0, D   ; copy self to a+1
         a+1       mov 0, D   ; copy self to b+1
         b+1       mov 0, D   ; copy self to c+1
         c+1       mov 0, D   ; copy self to a+2

Incendiary Bomb
     A type of Stun bomb which creates a SPL 0 carpet.

         example   spl 0, 8
                   mov -1, <-1

JMP/ADD Launch
     one of several means to start an imp-spiral running. The slowest launch
     technique, but requires the least code. See also Binary Launch and
     Vector Launch.

         IMPSIZE   EQU 2667
         example   spl 1               ; extend by adding more spl 1's
                   spl 1
                   spl 2
                   jmp @0, imp
                   add #IMPSIZE, -1    ; bump address by impsize after each jmp
                   dat #0, #0          ; excess processes must die!
         imp       mov 0, IMPSIZE      ; in '94 use -> 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: waknuk@yahoo.com (Philip Thorne)
Subject: Found another evolver/simulator
Date: 22 Jun 2003 11:38:37 -0700
Message-ID: <4ee41bd6.0306221038.56005f7a@posting.google.com>

http://lecs.cs.ucla.edu/~daveey/art/code.html 

From the page: "The code is an implementation of the corewars virtual
machine, with certain simplifications, that can run multiple
competitions in paralel using pthreads. Also includes an
assembler/dissasembler, debugger, and a poor attempt at an
evolutionary breeding engine."


From: "John Metcalf" <corewar@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: IRC Tournament
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2003 17:51:54 +0100
Message-ID: <3ef5dfbe_2@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>

Greetings...

The 17th weekly speed Redcoding tournament will be held today, 22 June, in #COREWARS on IRC.KOTH.ORG as usual.  The rules will be
announced at precisely 7:00pm (UTC).  After this you have exactly 30 minutes in which to create up to two entries.  Check out the
link below to confirm the time in your area of the world:

  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=22&month=6&year=2003&hour=19&min=0&sec=0&p1=0&sort=1

Hope to see you there.





From: colganc@hotmail.com (Chris Colgan)
Subject: Re: ga_wars vs other evolvers
Date: 23 Jun 2003 00:35:55 -0700
Message-ID: <67183ae6.0306222335.4463ad75@posting.google.com>

Hello again

Thank you (everyone who replied) for the information, my question was
answered :).  I'm happy to report that my modified version of ga_wars
+ exhaust is coming along nicely.  Soon I hope to have one of my
warriors on the sourceforge evolved hill (doubtful but maybe).

Chris


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 06/23/03
Date: 23 Jun 2003 09:40:06 -0400
Message-ID: <200306230403.h5N431iR011702@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/23/03
 
-=- 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 : Mon Jun 16 00:16:37 EDT 2003
 
 #                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1                      hawk         John Metcalf      14       7
 2               Her Majesty              P.Kline      14     283
 3                  D-clearM         Ken Espiritu      10     264
 4                     trial         John Metcalf       8     168
 5      not king of the hill               FatalC       7       9
 6       my new tiny warrior         John Metcalf       5      55
 7                  Doughnut        Philip Thorne       5       1
 8        Take the blue pill               FatalC       4       6
 9            Dettol Test 26        Steve Gunnell       3      44
10         Bugtown test C 54        Steve Gunnell       3       2

11              Djinn Test 9        Steve Gunnell       2     153


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status -  94 No Pspace 06/23/03
Date: 23 Jun 2003 09:41:33 -0400
Message-ID: <200306230409.h5N491HW011798@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/23/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 22 17:48:20 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  44/ 47/  9                   Recon 2          David Moore     141     183
 2  39/ 40/ 22              Toxic Spirit        Philip Thorne     137     414
 3  38/ 41/ 20      Return of Vanquisher        Lukasz Grabun     135     491
 4  43/ 51/  6                    Claw 2                Fizmo     134     158
 5  28/ 23/ 49             Thunderstrike        Lukasz Grabun     134     334
 6  26/ 22/ 51               Son of Vain      Oversby/Pihlaja     131    1729
 7  25/ 20/ 54                  Candy II        Lukasz Grabun     130     109
 8  29/ 28/ 43            Digitalis 2003    Christian Schmidt     130      11
 9  35/ 41/ 24                      shot         John Metcalf     130      14
10  26/ 23/ 50                Reepicheep       Grabun/Metcalf     129     960
11  23/ 20/ 57     Greetings from Turkey                Fizmo     127       1
12  37/ 46/ 17              Hazy Test 63        Steve Gunnell     127     504
13  22/ 17/ 61                      Dawn         Roy van Rijn     127     345
14  20/ 12/ 68                unheard-of    Christian Schmidt     127      60
15  26/ 25/ 49  Now you're in trouble!!!         John Metcalf     127      97
16  21/ 17/ 62            RotPendragon 2    Christian Schmidt     125     169
17  24/ 24/ 52       Soldier of Silkland    Christian Schmidt     124      86
18  25/ 25/ 50                      Numb         Roy van Rijn     124     116
19  20/ 16/ 65                   Kandias        Philip Thorne     124       2
20  22/ 22/ 56          Back To PolyLand        Jakub Kozisek     122     164

21  12/ 22/ 66             devilish 1.01        David Houston     101       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 06/23/03
Date: 23 Jun 2003 09:42:59 -0400
Message-ID: <200306230400.h5N401Wt011662@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/23/03
 
-=- 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 : Sun Jun 22 07:22:28 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  38/ 22/ 40           Quicksilver '88      Michal Janeczek     154       8
 2  44/ 38/ 17             Tangle Trap 3          David Moore     150       1
 3  35/ 22/ 43             Freight Train          David Moore     147     173
 4  34/ 22/ 44                      Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa     145     112
 5  33/ 23/ 44                  Guardian          Ian Oversby     143     172
 6  41/ 41/ 19                My 1st try    Christian Schmidt     140       4
 7  43/ 45/ 12                       vm5      Michal Janeczek     140       7
 8  36/ 32/ 32                      vala         John Metcalf     139      95
 9  43/ 50/  7             Scan Test C 6        Steve Gunnell     137      11
10  30/ 24/ 46                  Pixie 88        Lukasz Grabun     136       2
11  36/ 36/ 29       Gymnosperm trickery          Dave Hillis     135      59
12  40/ 47/ 13                  Blur '88        Anton Marsden     134     210
13  27/ 20/ 53                    Test I          Ian Oversby     134     229
14  37/ 41/ 22                    PacMan          David Moore     134     202
15  41/ 48/ 12               Foggy Swamp          Beppe Bezzi     133     169
16  38/ 43/ 18               '88 test IV         John Metcalf     133      66
17  26/ 20/ 54                  EV Paper     John K Wilkinson     132     186
18  29/ 26/ 46              Shish-Ka-Bob             Ben Ford     131     128
19  30/ 29/ 41          sIMPly.Red v0.95    Leonardo Humberto     130     130
20  37/ 47/ 16                    Stasis          David Moore     126     280

21  16/ 57/ 27               Rubber Duck         Roy van Rijn      76       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 06/23/03
Date: 23 Jun 2003 09:44:25 -0400
Message-ID: <200306230406.h5N461j4011760@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/23/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 20 10:25:28 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  41/ 36/ 23             The X Machine           Zul Nadzri     147       2
 2  44/ 43/ 13           Fire and Ice II          David Moore     144      91
 3  40/ 38/ 22              Eliminator X           Zul Nadzri     142       3
 4  38/ 37/ 25               Black Moods          Ian Oversby     138     187
 5  34/ 34/ 32              Trefoil F 13        Steve Gunnell     134      74
 6  19/  8/ 73              Evol Cap 4 X       John Wilkinson     130     260
 7  24/ 19/ 57                  Katafutr      Michal Janeczek     129     131
 8  19/ 10/ 71                    Denial          David Moore     127     132
 9  26/ 26/ 48                  Olivia X             Ben Ford     126      72
10  33/ 40/ 27        Giant Hazy Test 13        Steve Gunnell     125      18
11  19/ 14/ 66                       Kin         John Metcalf     125      99
12  30/ 37/ 33     Controlled Aggression          Ian Oversby     124     191
13  32/ 39/ 29                      Ogre    Christian Schmidt     124     139
14  34/ 45/ 21              Kenshin X 45        Steve Gunnell     122      34
15  22/ 21/ 57                 Glenstorm         John Metcalf     122      53
16  24/ 25/ 51               Venom v0.2b    Christian Schmidt     122     213
17  14/  8/ 78             Evolve X v4.0       John Wilkinson     121     208
18  25/ 30/ 45                    KAT v5          Dave Hillis     121     123
19  19/ 19/ 63                  r11ptest            G.Labarga     118       1
20  24/ 31/ 45          Damage Inflicted        Robert Macrae     117     130

21  12/ 10/ 78            Black Box v1.1                  JKW     114     154


From: chipw@mdli.com (Chip Wendell)
Subject: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: 23 Jun 2003 12:52:04 -0700
Message-ID: <cc22acdc.0306231152.30fb2c@posting.google.com>

Hello to all,

I've been working on a Core War simulator for the Windows environment 
for several years, and I'm pleased to announce that it's finally done.
CoreWin is a full-featured, fast simulator that runs on any Win32 OS.

Some features:
 - Full support of ICWS '94 standards, plus all extensions
 - Built-in editor and Redcode compiler
 - Intuitive, easy-to-use GUI
 - Three kinds of tournament play: Melee, Challenge, and Round Robin
 - Multiple core view windows showing core contents
 - P-space view window

You can download CoreWin 2.0 at <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/corewin2">
www.geocities.com/corewin2</a>.
Come check it out! And please send me feedback (bugs, suggestions, 
comments). I'm continuing to develop CoreWin, so I would love to hear 
about any problems you uncover, or new features you would like to see.
The release notes has a list of enhancements that are already planned.

Enjoy!

- Chip Wendell


From: "gangadhar npk" <phani@myrealbox.com>
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: 26 Jun 2003 09:31:51 -0400
Message-ID: <1056614517.cb3b80a0phani@myrealbox.com>

hi,
  Very nice simulator. I am looking at the different features and it sure does make the learning of a newbie very easy. 
thank you for the effort
gangadhar
-----Original Message-----
From: chipw@mdli.com (Chip Wendell)
To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L <corewar-l@koth.org>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 16:34:24 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows

Hello to all,

I've been working on a Core War simulator for the Windows environment 
for several years, and I'm pleased to announce that it's finally done.
CoreWin is a full-featured, fast simulator that runs on any Win32 OS.

Some features:
 - Full support of ICWS '94 standards, plus all extensions
 - Built-in editor and Redcode compiler
 - Intuitive, easy-to-use GUI
 - Three kinds of tournament play: Melee, Challenge, and Round Robin
 - Multiple core view windows showing core contents
 - P-space view window

You can download CoreWin 2.0 at <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/corewin2">
www.geocities.com/corewin2</a>.
Come check it out! And please send me feedback (bugs, suggestions, 
comments). I'm continuing to develop CoreWin, so I would love to hear 
about any problems you uncover, or new features you would like to see.
The release notes has a list of enhancements that are already planned.

Enjoy!

- Chip Wendell






From: <beretta@eohio.net>
Subject: GA and Corewars
Date: 23 Jun 2003 22:49:53 -0400
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0306232213570.15029-100000@localhost.localdomain>


Hello all.  I've been lurking around this newsgroup/ listserv for a
while.  I recently picked up on some discussions on GA.  Couple of years
ago I developed a GA evolver for corewars, using Linux, and pmars.  I was
able to experience the fun of watching a population of random warriors go
from complete duds to rather fit little suckers.  I've read and studied a
lot of GA techniques, and I was able to incorporate different ideas into
my code.  My system combined asexual mutation, sexual mutation, sexual
'crossover', and the 'blade of death' (rate of replacement of parents w/
new children).  My population of 100 warriors ran night and day for about
6 months; I ended up filling up and crashing my hard drive after about
60,000 generations.  From time to time I would change the mutation rates,
'population replacement' rates, and the such to "push" the warriors
higher up the fitness ladder.  I ended up with very viable bombers.  I
tested each generation against classic warriors like rave, flashpaper,
redstone, etc.... which my warriors ended up beating the crap out of.

Anyway, I found that sometimes in the topology of fitness, sometimes you
have to go down a small hill in order to climb the higher mountain next to
it.  Some hills your warriors climb are dead-ends.  I read somewhere
that competing species will help force your population fitness down the
hill.  I co-evolved another specious on the same machine (my software can
run more than one population)  and introduced 10 random warriors from the
second experiment to the first.  That worked... I think my warriors went
from a average fitness of 40 (my genesis population tested at avg. 2
fitness) down to around 20 again!  This all happened in a matter of 20-30
generations, at around 30,000 generations from inception.  Just 3,000
generations after the introduction of a foreign species, my fitness was
close to 60.

My warriors ended up maxing out on fitness at around 50,000 generations.
Since each one almost always beat the benchmark warriors (rave, flash,
etc...),  I couldn't evolve any more.  I should have swapped out the
benchmark warriors, but I lost track of things.

Anyway, I learned a couple of things with this experiment: (1) it's
perfectly OK to play with mutation rates, and other variables from time to
time; (2) competing species are a great help in ultimately producing a
better race.

Humbly,

-- 

\- Beretta -->
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett M. Gordon		|
beretta@eohio.net	|	Your fortune follows....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

An authority is a person who can tell you more about something than you
really care to know.




From: Lukasz Grabun <grabek@purgatory.abyss>
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: 25 Jun 2003 19:32:02 GMT
Message-ID: <slrnbfjubg.34.grabek@purgatory.abyss>

On 23 Jun 2003 12:52:04 -0700, Chip Wendell wrote:

> I've been working on a Core War simulator for the Windows environment 
> for several years, and I'm pleased to announce that it's finally done.
> CoreWin is a full-featured, fast simulator that runs on any Win32 OS.

  Great! Indeed, great job though I hardly had any time to check it
thoroughly. At the very first look it looks very very nice and
professional. Thank you!

-- 
Lukasz Grabun 
(reply-to field is fake, use grabek (at) acn dot waw dot pl to reply)


From: howard_harry@hotmail.com (Will Varfar)
Subject: Re: Redcoders Frenzy: Round 11 "The holding hands round" ***Deadline****
Date: 27 Jun 2003 05:13:52 -0700
Message-ID: <5e314d3b.0306270413.1a4dcd40@posting.google.com>

Hello redcoders!

Due to popular demand, those of you wanting more time on the holding
hands round have got your wish!  The deadline has been extended to
Sunday the 6th of July 2003.  So best of luck!

best regards,
Will Varfar


From: waknuk@yahoo.com (Philip Thorne)
Subject: Mini play-by-mail round this weekend [28/29 Jun
Date: 27 Jun 2003 06:19:45 -0700
Message-ID: <4ee41bd6.0306270519.249154b6@posting.google.com>

Instead of the usual 30min IRC round this w/e there will be an
email-driven round [*] open for both days in which you try your luck
against two warriors, one known the other taken from somewhere in the
2nd 100 of the 94nop Koenigstuhl
http://www.ociw.edu/~birk/COREWAR/94/hill_rec.html.

Best score against the two together wins. You are allowed upto 5
submissions so think carefully about those probes.

For full details and updates see 
   http://home.pipeline.com/~corewar/misc/ircmini18/irc18.html

Problems/Questions email me.
Philb

[*] This is to accomodate those on holiday / moving / eating /
drinking ... :-)


From: dhillismail@netscape.net (Dave Hillis)
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: 27 Jun 2003 15:12:13 -0700
Message-ID: <5d6847b2.0306271412.1fb0af15@posting.google.com>

I love it. I think we've needed something like this for a long time. 
You've clearly put a lot of work and thought into CoreWin. (You get
extra points for having implemented read and write limits.) Thank you
for making this contribution.
Dave Hillis


From: "Csaba Biro" <forspams@freemail.hu>
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 18:31:01 -0400
Message-ID: <bdl4un$7sc$1@news-int.gatech.edu>

Hi!

This is a great tool, in fact I was thinking about writing something
similar! Congratulations and thank you! The simulator is already almost
perfect for me and all my suggestions are included in your Release Notes as
planned enhacements. (Register variables and more detailed core graphics
would be my priorities.)

Only one remark: it cannot run a warrior alone. At least when I only loaded
one warrior, the "Start" button is disabled. Why? I guess it wouldn't be
hard to include to the program.

But anyway, this is a great software!

Csaba





From: Paul-V Khuong <paul_virak_khuong@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: 28 Jun 2003 20:11:54 -0400
Message-ID: <20030628163635.78471.qmail@web41501.mail.yahoo.com>

--- Dave Hillis <dhillismail@netscape.net> wrote:
> I love it. I think we've needed something like this
> for a long time. 
> You've clearly put a lot of work and thought into
> CoreWin. (You get
> extra points for having implemented read and write
> limits.) Thank you
> for making this contribution.
Read-write limits!?

Woah :) Has there ever been a MARS that supported
them?

Thank you, that gives me something to play with once
i'm back home(6 long weeks hehe)

Paul Khuong

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com


From: "Csaba Biro" <forspams@freemail.hu>
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 08:56:04 -0400
Message-ID: <bdmnkn$qld$1@news-int.gatech.edu>

> 1) To run a warrior 'alone', just add second warrior (jmp 0) for the time
> being until 'the man' upgrade it.

Yeah, in fact I did this, just it's not so comfortable. Moreover, if my
warrior kills the jmp 0 then the fight is over.

Csaba





From: "Zul Nadzri" <abyss@tm.net.my>
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 18:47:44 +0800
Message-ID: <3efec3d2_2@news.tm.net.my>

1) To run a warrior 'alone', just add second warrior (jmp 0) for the time
being until 'the man' upgrade it.

2) Any brute-force program that calculate each possible combination
(evolving program only completes 'some' of the possible list) program exist
over there or are we still not in that speedy calculation computing era yet?

/Zul Nadzri

"Csaba Biro" <forspams@freemail.hu> wrote in message
news:bdl4un$7sc$1@news-int.gatech.edu...
> Hi!
>
> This is a great tool, in fact I was thinking about writing something
> similar! Congratulations and thank you! The simulator is already almost
> perfect for me and all my suggestions are included in your Release Notes
as
> planned enhacements. (Register variables and more detailed core graphics
> would be my priorities.)
>
> Only one remark: it cannot run a warrior alone. At least when I only
loaded
> one warrior, the "Start" button is disabled. Why? I guess it wouldn't be
> hard to include to the program.
>
> But anyway, this is a great software!
>
> Csaba
>
>
>




From: =?iso-8859-1?q?will?= <varfar@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: 29 Jun 2003 21:58:52 -0400
Message-ID: <20030629150111.26777.qmail@web60003.mail.yahoo.com>

 --- Zul Nadzri <abyss@tm.net.my> wrote: 

> 2) Any brute-force program that calculate each
> possible combination
> (evolving program only completes 'some' of the
> possible list) program exist
> over there or are we still not in that speedy
> calculation computing era yet?

you are looking for such a tool?

http://www.geocities.com/varfar/redcoder/multi-manics.html

best regards,
Will.

__________________________________________________
Yahoo! Plus - For a better Internet experience
http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/yplus/yoffer.html


From: waknuk@yahoo.com (Philip Thorne)
Subject: Re: Mini play-by-mail round this weekend [28/29 Jun
Date: 29 Jun 2003 22:23:13 -0700
Message-ID: <4ee41bd6.0306292123.6032bb31@posting.google.com>

I wrote in message news:<4ee41bd6.0306270519.249154b6@posting.google.com>...
> ...
> For full details and updates see 
>    http://home.pipeline.com/~corewar/misc/ircmini18/irc18.html
> ...

The White Warrior was Impfinity V4g1 by Planar

The winner is
  Roy Van Rijn with "More Anti-Imp Paper?"
  http://home.pipeline.com/~corewar/misc/ircmini18/warriors/more_er_.red

Runners up were John Metcalf & FatalC

The Grey Warrior was airBag by Magnus Paulsson. 

Honourable mention to Will Varfa who correctly deduced airBag after a
single probe. However, his attempts to evolve against the pair proved
unsuccessful this time.

Philb


From: chipw@mdli.com (Chip Wendell)
Subject: Re: CoreWin: A new Core War simulator for Windows
Date: 30 Jun 2003 08:07:49 -0700
Message-ID: <cc22acdc.0306300707.7037d441@posting.google.com>

Thank you all for your responses! I'm glad you like it. I'm especially pleased 
to see that both newbies and "pros" are finding it useful. I'm hoping that 
CoreWin can help to draw new people into the Core War community.

--- Paul-V Khuong <paul_virak_khuong@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Read-write limits!?
>
> Woah :) Has there ever been a MARS that supported
> them?
>
> Thank you, that gives me something to play with once
> i'm back home

Yes, please do! I'd be curious to see what kind of results you get. The R/W 
limits, and also the "random core size" feature, should provide some very 
interesting alternative "environments" for new breeds of warriors.

I want to thank Joonas Pihlaja and John Metcalf for their feedback and 
suggestions during beta testing. Many of their ideas were implemented for the 
2.0 release, and many more (including single-warrior battles, coming soon!) 
are slated for future enhancements.

- Chip


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status -  94 No Pspace 06/30/03
Date: 30 Jun 2003 11:19:14 -0400
Message-ID: <200306300409.h5U491DX020254@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/30/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 29 15:15:08 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  33/ 23/ 44                Reepicheep       Grabun/Metcalf     143     973
 2  33/ 26/ 41             Thunderstrike        Lukasz Grabun     140     347
 3  32/ 25/ 42                      Numb         Roy van Rijn     139     129
 4  43/ 49/  8                   Recon 2          David Moore     138     196
 5  40/ 42/ 18              Toxic Spirit        Philip Thorne     137     427
 6  30/ 24/ 45               Son of Vain      Oversby/Pihlaja     137    1742
 7  39/ 43/ 17      Return of Vanquisher        Lukasz Grabun     136     504
 8  25/ 14/ 61                unheard-of    Christian Schmidt     136      73
 9  31/ 26/ 44                  Candy II        Lukasz Grabun     136     122
10  32/ 28/ 40  Now you're in trouble!!!         John Metcalf     135     110
11  30/ 25/ 46       Soldier of Silkland    Christian Schmidt     135      99
12  39/ 45/ 16              Hazy Test 63        Steve Gunnell     133     517
13  32/ 32/ 36            Digitalis 2003    Christian Schmidt     133      24
14  30/ 28/ 42            Graduated Fool         Roy van Rijn     131       8
15  41/ 52/  6                    Claw 2                Fizmo     131     171
16  30/ 31/ 39                     Paper                   LG     130       1
17  26/ 22/ 53     Greetings from Turkey                Fizmo     130      14
18  26/ 22/ 53            RotPendragon 2    Christian Schmidt     130     182
19  36/ 43/ 21                      shot         John Metcalf     128      27
20  40/ 52/  7                    Solo 2         Roy van Rijn     128       2

21  29/ 43/ 28              Abused Storm         Roy van Rijn     114       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 06/30/03
Date: 30 Jun 2003 11:19:29 -0400
Message-ID: <200306300400.h5U401cW020142@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/30/03
 
-=- 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 : Sun Jun 22 07:22:28 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  38/ 22/ 40           Quicksilver '88      Michal Janeczek     154       8
 2  44/ 38/ 17             Tangle Trap 3          David Moore     150       1
 3  35/ 22/ 43             Freight Train          David Moore     147     173
 4  34/ 22/ 44                      Test Alexander (Sasha) Wa     145     112
 5  33/ 23/ 44                  Guardian          Ian Oversby     143     172
 6  41/ 41/ 19                My 1st try    Christian Schmidt     140       4
 7  43/ 45/ 12                       vm5      Michal Janeczek     140       7
 8  36/ 32/ 32                      vala         John Metcalf     139      95
 9  43/ 50/  7             Scan Test C 6        Steve Gunnell     137      11
10  30/ 24/ 46                  Pixie 88        Lukasz Grabun     136       2
11  36/ 36/ 29       Gymnosperm trickery          Dave Hillis     135      59
12  40/ 47/ 13                  Blur '88        Anton Marsden     134     210
13  27/ 20/ 53                    Test I          Ian Oversby     134     229
14  37/ 41/ 22                    PacMan          David Moore     134     202
15  41/ 48/ 12               Foggy Swamp          Beppe Bezzi     133     169
16  38/ 43/ 18               '88 test IV         John Metcalf     133      66
17  26/ 20/ 54                  EV Paper     John K Wilkinson     132     186
18  29/ 26/ 46              Shish-Ka-Bob             Ben Ford     131     128
19  30/ 29/ 41          sIMPly.Red v0.95    Leonardo Humberto     130     130
20  37/ 47/ 16                    Stasis          David Moore     126     280

21  16/ 57/ 27               Rubber Duck         Roy van Rijn      76       0


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 06/30/03
Date: 30 Jun 2003 11:19:24 -0400
Message-ID: <200306300403.h5U431u4020175@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/30/03
 
-=- 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 : Mon Jun 16 00:16:37 EDT 2003
 
 #                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1                      hawk         John Metcalf      14       7
 2               Her Majesty              P.Kline      14     283
 3                  D-clearM         Ken Espiritu      10     264
 4                     trial         John Metcalf       8     168
 5      not king of the hill               FatalC       7       9
 6       my new tiny warrior         John Metcalf       5      55
 7                  Doughnut        Philip Thorne       5       1
 8        Take the blue pill               FatalC       4       6
 9            Dettol Test 26        Steve Gunnell       3      44
10         Bugtown test C 54        Steve Gunnell       3       2

11              Djinn Test 9        Steve Gunnell       2     153


From: Koth <koth@koth.org>
Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 06/30/03
Date: 30 Jun 2003 11:19:19 -0400
Message-ID: <200306300406.h5U461ip020222@gevjon.ttsg.com>

			Weekly Status on  06/30/03
 
-=- 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 Jun 20 10:25:28 EDT 2003
 
 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  41/ 36/ 23             The X Machine           Zul Nadzri     147       2
 2  44/ 43/ 13           Fire and Ice II          David Moore     144      91
 3  40/ 38/ 22              Eliminator X           Zul Nadzri     142       3
 4  38/ 37/ 25               Black Moods          Ian Oversby     138     187
 5  34/ 34/ 32              Trefoil F 13        Steve Gunnell     134      74
 6  19/  8/ 73              Evol Cap 4 X       John Wilkinson     130     260
 7  24/ 19/ 57                  Katafutr      Michal Janeczek     129     131
 8  19/ 10/ 71                    Denial          David Moore     127     132
 9  26/ 26/ 48                  Olivia X             Ben Ford     126      72
10  33/ 40/ 27        Giant Hazy Test 13        Steve Gunnell     125      18
11  19/ 14/ 66                       Kin         John Metcalf     125      99
12  30/ 37/ 33     Controlled Aggression          Ian Oversby     124     191
13  32/ 39/ 29                      Ogre    Christian Schmidt     124     139
14  34/ 45/ 21              Kenshin X 45        Steve Gunnell     122      34
15  22/ 21/ 57                 Glenstorm         John Metcalf     122      53
16  24/ 25/ 51               Venom v0.2b    Christian Schmidt     122     213
17  14/  8/ 78             Evolve X v4.0       John Wilkinson     121     208
18  25/ 30/ 45                    KAT v5          Dave Hillis     121     123
19  19/ 19/ 63                  r11ptest            G.Labarga     118       1
20  24/ 31/ 45          Damage Inflicted        Robert Macrae     117     130

21  12/ 10/ 78            Black Box v1.1                  JKW     114     154


From: howard_harry@hotmail.com (Will Varfar)
Subject: Species
Date: 30 Jun 2003 13:17:18 -0700
Message-ID: <5e314d3b.0306301217.3346861f@posting.google.com>

Hi evolver folks,

"Species is definitely the most over-engineered, complicated and buggy
Corewars Evolver on the freeware market today!" - me

version 1.2d of Species is now available for download at
http://redcoder.sourceforge.net

120+ wilfiz.  In about an hour or two!  I am pretty pleased with the
stones that this version can make.

You can use probability tables based upon the wholesale crunching of
known warriors.  This really helps things along.

As usual the documentation is a bit light, there are far more options
than you need and the visual version ('visitool') isn't ready yet. 
But that can come in the autumn when I pick up development again.  I
plan to attack the 'stone' monotony head on then, too.

best regards,
Will 'Varfar', serial evolver