🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov18.085805.1@acad.drake.edu> pk6811s@acad.drake.edu writes:
>More on copycatting:
>
>In reality we all build on what others have done.  Even IMPire built
>on the old imp strategy.  I think most people get stuck trying to
>make an existing strategy more efficient - less lines of code, instead
>of mixing strategies or trying something new.  The originator has probably
>tested many variations already, so we're not likely to improve an
>existing program, and as the other guy (I forgot who's note I was replying
>to) stated, "my variations usually degenerate into the existing Emerald
>or Nomuckingabout or whatever".

Even Backfire, which I thought was original when I first wrote it was
doing the same thing as a few other programs, though in a different
manner.

>There are certain redcode irreducibles: an imp, a three-line bomber,
>a six-line mouse, stone, etc.  These have aged sufficiently to be 
>considered 'components', which can be incorporated into new, more
>complex programs.

Sounds like how I do my X-Hill development.  I have a few core
routines that are generic (steps defined by EQU, etc), and I
just string togetheher routines.  I wish KOTH supported an
include statement, it would make updating my warriors easier 
when I update a module :-).  I've got modules for forward carpet
bomb, forward SPL CB, reverse for both, fwd and rev fasttrack
(something that I haven't used in the hill yet), Anti-replicator
missiles, decoys, monitors, imp-gates, etc.  The hardest part
is fitting several complex modules into a single 100 line
program.  Master Tactician was a project of mine that
got shelved because the finished program would have been 140
lines of code, so I stupified it and released it as chameleon.
And on the X-hill, 100 line programs can be successful.  Most of
my long programs are just that.  In fact, Sonic Boom 3.2 was exactly
100 lines long, without a single byte of padding.  So was Spider 2,
for that matter.

If you haven't guessed, yes I'm trying to encourage X-hill
development, rather than continuing flames.  Reuse of redcode
is pretty much normal.  The idea for repeating core-clears started
with Spider 2.1, to the best of my knowledge, I made them more
popular, and now they appear in most of the top 10 X-Hill warriors.

I was a little afraid to publish the source to Echo or Sonic boom
at first, because I was afraid to cause a flood of imitators, but
I don't see that as a problem anymore.  sonic Boom 1.2 is the first
definite improvement to Sonic Boom 1.0 that I've done, and that
took a lot of work, not some trivial modifications.  In fact,
1.2 is mostly a major, but very subtle bug fix to SB 1.0

Enough about that, lets talk new uses for old ideas :-)
-- 
Eric J. Schwertfeger, maniac@cs.unlv.edu