Yeah, I spent hours copying these programs to the computer. I remember one huge machine program listing (I think it was for a graphics program) that had a line with a wrong checksum printed. Without a correct checksum, you couldn't go on typing. So I changed one of the hex values until the line passed... The final program was kinda buggy but I never knew whether my change was responsible for one of the bugs or not.
After having seen the entry on HN, it took about 5 minutes and the print version of the book was ordered :). I've been using Perl on and off for more than 10 years, mostly for sysadmin and data munging stuff, and I'm always on the lookout for good short scripts. I'm looking forward to browse through the book (I still prefer print versions). I've bookmarked your blog as well.
Very cool! My scientific career ended some years back, but it's nice to see the papers showing up. The size of the entries compared to others, however, is kinda depressing.
You don't sound like an ass at all. Hell, if I had wasted the better part of an evening due to a simple nomenclature mix-up, I'd post it as well when the right concept comes up. It might save others some time.
I think this is called "Gomoku" (just on a quasi-infinite board):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomoku
I used to play this a lot when I was still at the university
Yup, Gomoku is a much more difficult game than it looks. Indeed, the game is challenging enough that there is a world championship every odd year. You can find the games from the last world championship here: http://renju.net/media/games.php?gameid=45016
I am amazed by the fact that Gomoku can be so hard to master with rules so simple you can explain to a five year old. And unlike Chess where there are a hundred year of theories to learn from before you can get going, Gomoku is still new. After a few weeks studying the standard surewin openings, you can expect to see things in a very different light and the game will get much more interesting.
Perhaps Gomoku is best known for programmers as a problem to solve. But it is nowhere near being solved. In fact, the best software are weaker than many top players.
I find Gomoku hits the sweet spot when it comes to my desire to play board games. It doesn't consume much of my time. I am always excited to find those long and obscure wins. I think the game needs more love from programmers like me.
Under free opening rules, Gomoku has been proved to be sure-win for black, aka the first player. This work done by Victor Allis could be part of the reason why Gomoku is undeservedly treated as a toy board game.
We have to remember, however, that this proof is computer search based. There was never an algorithm to find the best move given a random position. In other words, it only proves that these certain openings will guarantee black a win.
Those who loved the game came up with new opening rules. The world championships in 1989 and 1991 used the pro rule. After some evolutions, swap2 now became the standard. Under Gomoku swap2, the first player puts two black stones and one white stone on the board, and the second player can either pick one color, or puts two more stones and gives back the power to choose color to the first player.
I know about Connect6, and also a branch called Renju. But I find Gomoku more attractive. You should totally try it sometimes.
Yes, they sure do, just got the latest issue by mail this week. If I'm not completely mistaken (the magazine is at home) it shows phones that were taken out of business.
They also still have picture prominently featuring '2600' somewhere.
