games::worms(3)

NAME

Games::Worms -- alife simulator for Conway/Patter
son/Beeler worms, etc.

SYNOPSIS

perl -MGames::Worms -e worms -- -tPS
perl -MGames::Worms -e worms -- -tPS / / / / > foo1.ps
perl -MGames::Worms -e worms -- -tTk
perl  -MGames::Worms  -e  worms  --  -tTek4010  /  /   /
Games::Worms::Random2

BUGS, WARNINGS, AND CAVEATS

This is an alpha release. The documentation is incom
plete, and the interface is not yet finalized.

Occasionally I've seen Perl 5.004_02 for MSWin segfault at
global destruction time.

The Tk part, I've only tested under pTk. This's my first
hack at Tk, so lets hope all the code I wrote is portable.
Suggestions welcome!

I've tested the PostScript part only under GhostScript.

I've tested the Tek interface under MSKermit. I hear
xterm has a Tek emulator in it -- I'd be interested to
hear if it works well with Worms's Tek interface.

DESCRIPTION

[elaborate]

Worms is an implementation of an artificial-life game. It
can output via Perl-Tk, Tek4010, and PostScript. It is a
game not in the sense of checkers, but in the sense of
Conway's Life.

In a Worms universe, worms crawl around an isometric grid
of triangles, leaving trails behind them, and turning in
accordance to simple rules that are based upon which way
they can move at a each junction. From the simple rules
emerges surprising complexity.

TO DO

Allow board-size specifications on the command line.

Better docs.

Maybe a GIF output mode?

More interactive interface in pTk mode?

Currently the interface is pretty much: specify things on
the command line, then sit back and watch the worms go,
until they all die. Hopefully I (or someone ambitious who
knows Tk better than I do) may add more interactivity to
the interface.

INVOCATION

Start it up by making a Perl program called "worms", with
the content:

!/usr/bin/perl
use Games::Worms;
worms;

Then start up with the "-t" switch specifying which inter
face to use:

worms -tTk

...for Tk mode

worms -tPS

...for PostScript mode

worms -tTek4010

...for Tektronics mode

Command line arguments thereafter are interpreted as the
names of classes worms should come from. (Currently,
three are provided in this distribution: the
Games::Worms::Random manpage, the Games::Worms::Random2
manpage, and the Games::Worms::Beeler manpage.) If no
arguments are provided, Worms uses two Random2s and two
Beelers.

For each name you specify, if it contains a slash, the
rest of that name is passed to the worm as an expression
of its rules.

Example specifications:

Games::Worms::Beeler
Games::Worms::Random
Games::Worms::Random2
Games::Worms::Beeler/1a2d3caaa4b
Games::Worms::Beeler/1A2B3ACAC4B
Games::Worms::Beeler/1B2B3AAAB4A

(A Beeler worm with no rules specified makes up a random
rule set when it starts. A Random worm obeys no rules. A
Random2 worm is random but consistent.)

If you specify a name starting with '/', it's interpreted
as short for 'Games::Worms::Beeler/'. In other words,

/1a2d3caaa4b equals Games::Worms::Beeler/1a2d3caaa4b
/1A2B3ACAC4B equals Games::Worms::Beeler/1A2B3ACAC4B
/1B2B3AAAB4A equals Games::Worms::Beeler/1B2B3AAAB4A

See the Scientific American article on Beeler worms for the meaning of these Beeler worm rule specifications. I
don't have the citation for the first run of the article,
but it's reproduced with nice addenda in the book cited
below.

If you don't want to bother making that little script
called "worms", you can just as well invoke Worms via:

perl -MGames::Worms -e worms -- -tTk

perl -MGames::Worms -e worms -- -tPS

perl -MGames::Worms -e worms -- -tTek4010

perl -MGames::Worms -e worms -- -tTek4010

Games::Worms::Random Games::Worms::Random2
/1a2d3caaa4b /1A2B3ACAC4B /1B2B3AAAB4A

CONCEPTS

[to be written]

REFERENCES

"Worm Paths", chapter 17 in: Martin Gardner, 1986, Knotted Doughnuts and Other Mathematical Entertainments, W. H. Freeman and Company.

"Patterson's Worm", M. Beeler, MIT AI Memo #290. (early
1970s?)

"Worms?" [sic], David Maynard, Electronic Arts, 1983. (A
game for the Atari 400 (or 800?), the Commodore 64, and
maybe other machines. Games::Worms isn't based on EOA
"Worms?", but "Worms?" is the best known implementation of
Beeler worms. It uses them as the basis for a very inter
esting and abstract interactive game.)

GUTS

Read the source. It's OOPilicious!

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1999, Sean M. Burke "sburke@netadventure.net",
all rights reserved. This program is free software; you
can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms
as Perl itself.

AUTHOR

Sean M. Burke "sburke@netadventure.net"

1999-03-04 perl v5.6.1 Games::Worms(3)