Main Page | Report this Page
Computers Forum Index  »  Computer Languages (Ruby)  »  [QUIZ] Hamurabi (#223)...
Page 1 of 1    

[QUIZ] Hamurabi (#223)...

Author Message
Daniel Moore...
Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 3:23 am
Guest
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The three rules of Ruby Quiz:

1. Please do not post any solutions or spoiler discussion for this
quiz until 48 hours have elapsed from the time this message was
sent.

2. Support Ruby Quiz by submitting ideas and responses
as often as you can.

3. Enjoy!

Suggestion: A [QUIZ] in the subject of emails about the problem
helps everyone on Ruby Talk follow the discussion. Please reply to
the original quiz message, if you can.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

RSS Feed: http://rubyquiz.strd6.com/quizzes.rss

Suggestions?: http://rubyquiz.strd6.com/suggestions

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

## Hamurabi (#223)

Boo Rubyists,

This week's quiz was submitted by Martin DeMello[1]

Back in the microcomputer age, there was a fascinating little game
called Hamurabi (no, that isn't a typo - there was an eight character
limit). The game mechanics were pretty simple: you were the ruler of a
kingdom, and every year you had to decide what proportion of your
grain to allocate to planting, and what proportion to feeding the
people. The game engine would then set up the formulae, toss in a few
random numbers and simulate your crop and population growth. For all
its simplicity, though, it was a lot of fun to play, and oddly
compulsive.

The Wikipedia page[2] links to a couple of implementations in BASIC;
pick one and reimplement it in Ruby.

Extra credit: if someone can come up with a fun multiplayer version,
I'll be impressed :)

Have fun!

[1]: http://zem.novylen.net
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamurabi

--
-Daniel
http://rubyquiz.strd6.com
 
James Edward Gray II...
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:59 am
Guest
On Oct 31, 2009, at 6:23 PM, Daniel Moore wrote:

Quote:
Back in the microcomputer age, there was a fascinating little game
called Hamurabi (no, that isn't a typo - there was an eight character
limit). The game mechanics were pretty simple: you were the ruler of a
kingdom, and every year you had to decide what proportion of your
grain to allocate to planting, and what proportion to feeding the
people. The game engine would then set up the formulae, toss in a few
random numbers and simulate your crop and population growth. For all
its simplicity, though, it was a lot of fun to play, and oddly
compulsive.

The Wikipedia page[2] links to a couple of implementations in BASIC;
pick one and reimplement it in Ruby.

Thanks for a very enjoyable quiz!

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the
code. (Yes, I am aware that's insane. I'll seek help.)

Ironically, I think supporting that victory FOR loop at the very end
was the hardest part. I still have bugs in that. :(

James Edward Gray II
 
Seebs...
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:06 am
Guest
On 2009-11-01, James Edward Gray II <james at (no spam) graysoftinc.com> wrote:
Quote:
On Oct 31, 2009, at 6:23 PM, Daniel Moore wrote:
Back in the microcomputer age, there was a fascinating little game
called Hamurabi (no, that isn't a typo - there was an eight character
limit). The game mechanics were pretty simple: you were the ruler of a
kingdom, and every year you had to decide what proportion of your
grain to allocate to planting, and what proportion to feeding the
people. The game engine would then set up the formulae, toss in a few
random numbers and simulate your crop and population growth. For all
its simplicity, though, it was a lot of fun to play, and oddly
compulsive.

Oh, man! I remember that. There was one for the econ students at St.
Olaf loooong ago, I actually wrote my own from scratch once. In mine,
there were also woolen mills (or, in an early version, wollen mills --
I speld ril gud as a kid), and the win condition was to have a given amount of
land, plus enough bolts of fabric to make wedding dresses for your population,
and enough people that you could have hundreds of happy families. (The
question of whether wool was a good choice for a wedding dress was never
answered).

Quote:
I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the
code. (Yes, I am aware that's insane. I'll seek help.)

It's a good kind of crazy.

-s
--
Copyright 2009, all wrongs reversed. Peter Seebach / usenet-nospam at (no spam) seebs.net
http://www.seebs.net/log/ <-- lawsuits, religion, and funny pictures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology) <-- get educated!
 
Ehsanul Hoque...
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:17 am
Guest
Quote:
I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the
code. (Yes, I am aware that's insane. I'll seek help.)

Hah, ingenious!

I really didn't want to go about translating that BASIC either, but instead, I was just going to make my own version based on whatever I just read about the game. Making a simple BASIC interpreter is so much cooler though, it should be a ruby quiz in and of itself really (make it a DSL for extra credit Razz).

BTW, does anybody have any ideas for how a (fun) multiplayer version of Hamurabi would look like? What I was thinking: Add in a model of free markets to set price of land, so there would then be real trading between players. Then a smart player could influence prices through supply, to his opponents' detriment, if he could see the state of their kingdoms. And then there could be all sorts of nice strategies and counter-strategies in the struggle to be the best. Also: quick (say 30 seconds or a minute at most), timed rounds, ending at round ten or so, at which point the winner is announced, and the game is restarted.

What do you guys think of that? Sound like any fun? A problem might be finding other players to actually play with live! In which case a slower, non-timed version that emailed you when it was your turn might be more appropriate (and less of a time sucker).

- Ehsan

_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/
 
Martin DeMello...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:19 am
Guest
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 5:29 AM, James Edward Gray II
<james at (no spam) graysoftinc.com> wrote:
Quote:

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the code.
 (Yes, I am aware that's insane.  I'll seek help.)

Wow, I thought translating the code would be fairly simple, but it's a
morass of gotos and one-letter variables. I think I'd have written the
interpreter a lot quicker Smile But now my stubborn side has kicked in
and I'm going to finish the translation instead.

martin
 
William Manire...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:31 am
Guest
[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

BASIC wasn't that bad...

it was horrible :)

Just out of curiosity, which BASIC interpreter was the BASIC script you're
trying to port written for?

2009/11/2 Martin DeMello <martindemello at (no spam) gmail.com>

Quote:
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 5:29 AM, James Edward Gray II
james at (no spam) graysoftinc.com> wrote:

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the code.
(Yes, I am aware that's insane. I'll seek help.)

Wow, I thought translating the code would be fairly simple, but it's a
morass of gotos and one-letter variables. I think I'd have written the
interpreter a lot quicker Smile But now my stubborn side has kicked in
and I'm going to finish the translation instead.

martin




--
William Kevin Manire
Lead Developer
Edge Of Nowhere LLC (http://www.edgeofnowherellc.com)
(206) 384-5826
 
James Edward Gray II...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:35 am
Guest
On Nov 2, 2009, at 2:19 PM, Martin DeMello wrote:

Quote:
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 5:29 AM, James Edward Gray II
james at (no spam) graysoftinc.com> wrote:

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the
code.
(Yes, I am aware that's insane. I'll seek help.)

Wow, I thought translating the code would be fairly simple, but it's a
morass of gotos and one-letter variables. I think I'd have written the
interpreter a lot quicker Smile But now my stubborn side has kicked in
and I'm going to finish the translation instead.

Yeah, I'm am looking forward to seeing your translated version so I
can tell if my interpreter is even doing the right things. :)

James Edward Gray II
 
Martin DeMello...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:37 am
Guest
"8k MICROSOFT BASIC", apparently Smile It's the one here:
http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/basicgames/HMRABI

martin

On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 2:01 AM, William Manire <williamkmanire at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote:
BASIC wasn't that bad...

it was horrible :)

Just out of curiosity, which BASIC interpreter was the BASIC script you're
trying to port written for?

2009/11/2 Martin DeMello <martindemello at (no spam) gmail.com

On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 5:29 AM, James Edward Gray II
james at (no spam) graysoftinc.com> wrote:

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the code.
 (Yes, I am aware that's insane.  I'll seek help.)

Wow, I thought translating the code would be fairly simple, but it's a
morass of gotos and one-letter variables. I think I'd have written the
interpreter a lot quicker Smile But now my stubborn side has kicked in
and I'm going to finish the translation instead.

martin




--
William Kevin Manire
Lead Developer
Edge Of Nowhere LLC (http://www.edgeofnowherellc.com)
(206) 384-5826
 
William Manire...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:44 am
Guest
[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Wow this looks old, almost like GWBasic.

I would suggest flow charting this thing first, then creating it in Ruby
from your chart rather than trying to translate it line for line.

2009/11/2 Martin DeMello <martindemello at (no spam) gmail.com>

Quote:
"8k MICROSOFT BASIC", apparently Smile It's the one here:
http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/basicgames/HMRABI

martin

On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 2:01 AM, William Manire <williamkmanire at (no spam) gmail.com
wrote:
BASIC wasn't that bad...

it was horrible :)

Just out of curiosity, which BASIC interpreter was the BASIC script
you're
trying to port written for?

2009/11/2 Martin DeMello <martindemello at (no spam) gmail.com

On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 5:29 AM, James Edward Gray II
james at (no spam) graysoftinc.com> wrote:

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the
code.
(Yes, I am aware that's insane. I'll seek help.)

Wow, I thought translating the code would be fairly simple, but it's a
morass of gotos and one-letter variables. I think I'd have written the
interpreter a lot quicker Smile But now my stubborn side has kicked in
and I'm going to finish the translation instead.

martin




--
William Kevin Manire
Lead Developer
Edge Of Nowhere LLC (http://www.edgeofnowherellc.com)
(206) 384-5826





--
William Kevin Manire
Lead Developer
Edge Of Nowhere LLC (http://www.edgeofnowherellc.com)
(206) 384-5826
 
genericpenguin...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 5:37 am
Guest
Sorry I'm new to the list. Is it ok to post solutions at this point
(Nov 1 10:30am to now +48hrs)?

On Nov 3, 7:44 am, William Manire <williamkman... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote:
Wow this looks old, almost like GWBasic.

I would suggest flow charting this thing first, then creating it in Ruby
from your chart rather than trying to translate it line for line.

2009/11/2 Martin DeMello <martindeme... at (no spam) gmail.com





"8k MICROSOFT BASIC", apparently Smile It's the one here:
http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/basicgames/HMRABI

martin

On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 2:01 AM, William Manire <williamkman... at (no spam) gmail.com
wrote:
BASIC wasn't that bad...

it was horrible :)

Just out of curiosity, which BASIC interpreter was the BASIC script
you're
trying to port written for?

2009/11/2 Martin DeMello <martindeme... at (no spam) gmail.com

On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 5:29 AM, James Edward Gray II
ja... at (no spam) graysoftinc.com> wrote:

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the
code.
 (Yes, I am aware that's insane.  I'll seek help.)

Wow, I thought translating the code would be fairly simple, but it's a
morass of gotos and one-letter variables. I think I'd have written the
interpreter a lot quicker Smile But now my stubborn side has kicked in
and I'm going to finish the translation instead.

martin

--
William Kevin Manire
Lead Developer
Edge Of Nowhere LLC (http://www.edgeofnowherellc.com)
(206) 384-5826

--
William Kevin Manire
Lead Developer
Edge Of Nowhere LLC (http://www.edgeofnowherellc.com)
(206) 384-5826
 
James Edward Gray II...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 5:50 am
Guest
On Nov 2, 2009, at 6:37 PM, genericpenguin wrote:

Quote:
Sorry I'm new to the list. Is it ok to post solutions at this point
(Nov 1 10:30am to now +48hrs)?

It sure is. Post away.

And welcome to the list.

James Edward Gray II
 
James Edward Gray II...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:02 am
Guest
On Oct 31, 2009, at 6:23 PM, Daniel Moore wrote:

Quote:
Back in the microcomputer age, there was a fascinating little game
called Hamurabi (no, that isn't a typo - there was an eight character
limit).

Here's my sort-of solution (via Pastie because it's longish):

http://pastie.textmate.org/680908

I started cleaning it up a bit today, but ran out of time. There's
still a lot more that could be done.

It also has a pretty big bug in it. My simple stack solution for
GOTO, GOSUB, and FOR doesn't really work. It looked like it worked
most of the way through the code because, GOTO's and GOSUB's only
appear on their own lines or at the end of a compound instruction.
The FOR loop at the end isn't like that though, and my interpreter
doesn't really run it 10 times because it cannot resume into the
middle of a compound instruction line. Drat, foiled again.

I did have a ton of fun playing with this problem. Thanks again to
the organizers for a great problem!

James Edward Gray II
 
genericpenguin...
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:11 am
Guest
Well, here goes. I did it the bad way (no flowcharts or anything) and
it was pretty painful (meaning I regretted it later). I got it to the
point where it is semi-reasonable but it's not very um, Rubyish. I
ironed out all the showstopper bugs but I'm sure there's quite a few
more. In any case it works after a fashion (compared the output to a
running instance of http://www.calormen.com/applesoft/) and it doesn't
make my eyes bleed (no guarantees on yours).

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1826667/hamurabi.rb

I spent so much time on it that in the end I didn't clean up all the
puts'. Sorry!


On Nov 3, 11:50 am, James Edward Gray II <ja... at (no spam) graysoftinc.com>
wrote:
Quote:
On Nov 2, 2009, at 6:37 PM, genericpenguin wrote:

Sorry I'm new to the list. Is it ok to post solutions at this point
(Nov 1 10:30am to now +48hrs)?

It sure is.  Post away.

And welcome to the list.

James Edward Gray II
 
 
Page 1 of 1    
All times are GMT
The time now is Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:41 pm