[QUIZ] Hamurabi (#223)

[Daniel Moore]

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## 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

 

[James Edward Gray II]

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]

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).

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

 

[Ehsanul Hoque]

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the =20
code. (Yes=2C I am aware that's insane. I'll seek help.)

Hah=2C ingenious!=20

I really didn't want to go about translating that BASIC either=2C but inste=
ad=2C 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=
=2C it should be a ruby quiz in and of itself really (make it a DSL for ext=
ra credit ).

BTW=2C does anybody have any ideas for how a (fun) multiplayer version of H=
amurabi would look like? What I was thinking: Add in a model of free market=
s to set price of land=2C so there would then be real trading between playe=
rs. Then a smart player could influence prices through supply=2C to his opp=
onents' detriment=2C if he could see the state of their kingdoms. And then =
there could be all sorts of nice strategies and counter-strategies in the s=
truggle to be the best. Also: quick (say 30 seconds or a minute at most)=
=2C timed rounds=2C ending at round ten or so=2C at which point the winner =
is announced=2C and the game is restarted. =20

What do you guys think of that? Sound like any fun? A problem might be find=
ing other players to actually play with live! In which case a slower=2C non=
-timed version that emailed you when it was your turn might be more appropr=
iate (and less of a time sucker).

- Ehsan
=20
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/=

 

[Martin DeMello]

I wrote a super minimal BASIC interpreter to avoid translating the code.
=A0(Yes, I am aware that's insane. =A0I'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 But now my stubborn side has kicked in
and I'm going to finish the translation instead.

martin

 

[William Manire]

[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?

 

[James Edward Gray II]

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 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]

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

martin

 

[William Manire]

[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.

 

[genericpenguin]

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

 

[James Edward Gray II]

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]

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]

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!

 

[Benoit Daloze]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Hi, I did the hard-way too, but no so sure I regret

In fact it was interesting how to transform jumps into methods.

So here is my pastie:
http://pastie.textmate.org/681199

Still bugged, because I couldn't understand so much the part with planting
seeds. (and why using the variable dead at that moment?)

For the "for" loop at the end, what is it supposed to do? output 7.chr(bell)
?

 

[Sven Schott]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Cool. Caveat for the non-bleed users: ruby1.9 required (1.8.6 here).

I must admit, I didn't even try to understand certain design decisions. I
basically followed flow and then cleaned up the code a little later. I
believe the for loop was to play the system alert seven times (ASCII char
7). I think. Sound effects on a PDP-8 terminal.

 

[Martin DeMello]

BTW, does anybody have any ideas for how a (fun) multiplayer version of H=

amurabi would look like? What I was thinking: Add in a model of free market=
s 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 opponen=
ts' 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 struggl=
e to be the best. =A0Also: quick (say 30 seconds or a minute at most), time=
d 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 fi=

nding 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 appropr=
iate (and less of a time sucker).

You could also have disaffected people moving from city to city,
adjusting the populations upward and downward respectively.

martin

 

[Martin DeMello]

So here is my pastie:
http://pastie.textmate.org/681199

Still bugged, because I couldn't understand so much the part with planting
seeds. (and why using the variable dead at that moment?)

he reused some of the variables for two separate things. the seed
planting bit was "calculate a random yield per acre, and see how many
bushels you got after planting so many bushels".

martin

 

[William Manire]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Great ideas.

I suggest a new disaster that could happen to a kingdom as well.

Public Healthcare

 

[David Southwell]

Great ideas.

I suggest a new disaster that could happen to a kingdom as well.

Public Healthcare

2009/11/3 Martin DeMello <[email protected]>

Existing disaster is when there is no public responsibility for healthcare.
When the world is full of pharisees who pass by on the other side.

Human concern for others is something with a value beyond rubies!!

David

 

[William Manire]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

ha ha ha, hard to argue against that point. Too bad our laws aren't written
in Ruby.