Is P.D.Smith still following this newsgroup?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.corewar (More info?)

I have tried to contact P.D.Smith, the author of Pcrobots, but all
attempts have failed so far.
I tried pcrobots(at)pscs.co.uk, and even the addresses in readme.1st:
psmithb(at)cix.compulink.co.uk; paul(at)wolf.demon.co.uk and
100023.25(at)compuserve.com
All emails have bounced.

In readme.1st, he also writes:

<quote>
On USENET, the best area is probably rec.games.corewar, as this
seems to be where programming type games are discussed. This
newsgroup will usually be read every day or two (as will mail to
paul@wolf.demon.co.uk).
</quote>

This newsgroup is my last resort.

I wanted to contact P.D.Smith to ask him permission to set up a site on
SourceForge about pcrobots. Because I wasn't able to contact him, I
already went ahead (http://pcrobots.sourceforge.net) but so far I have
only added general information and documentation. I don't want to
publish any of his source code unless he gives me permission, I think
this is the polite thing to do.

Any help in contacting P.D.Smith is very much appreciated!

--
localghost is addicted to XanaNews 1.16.4.6
If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?
DISCLAIMER: Dit is mijn persoonlijke mening. Het is absoluut *niet*
mijn bedoeling hiermee een discussie of polemiek te starten. Ik wil mij
bij voorbaat verontschuldigen bij wie zich benadeeld voelt.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.corewar (More info?)

> I have tried to contact P.D.Smith, the author of Pcrobots, but all
> attempts have failed so far.

PCRobots is pretty old, dating from well before the days of viruses. I did
play, but forget how long ago -- possibly about 10 years. Your best chance
of contacting people is via a web search, though the only site I used,
http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~hbecker/pcrob.html
doesn't seem to have anything...

Eureka!

http://www.pscs.co.uk/pcrobots/

Good luck. It was quite a fun game, though balance was poor (every
competitive robot used largely the same design) and there were some needless
frustrations. It also has no security and I would be very wary of executing
un-known .exe files these days...

Robert

PS if you meet a robot called Buddy say hi!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.corewar (More info?)

Robert Macrae shared this with us in rec.games.corewar:

> Your best chance of contacting people is via a web search, though the
> only site I used,
> http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~hbecker/pcrob.html
> doesn't seem to have anything...

I know about that page.

> Eureka!
>
> http://www.pscs.co.uk/pcrobots/

I know. I used the email address on that page, but it bounced.

> Good luck. It was quite a fun game, though balance was poor (every
> competitive robot used largely the same design) and there were some
> needless frustrations. It also has no security and I would be very
> wary of executing un-known .exe files these days...

I like the fact that it's language-independant. All other programming
games I found so far, use (a subset or special version of) one specific
language. But being language-independant means having compiled code
with all its benefits and risks.

I think that the Microsoft .NET platform might give new opportunities
for a language-independant programming game that might be more secure,
but so far I haven't found any that exist already. And I don't consider
myself such a seasoned programmer that I would write a new programming
game from scratch.
And I don't know enough about programming on Linux either. 🙁

> PS if you meet a robot called Buddy say hi!

I'll do that!

--
localghost is addicted to XanaNews 1.16.4.6
If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?
DISCLAIMER: Dit is mijn persoonlijke mening. Het is absoluut *niet*
mijn bedoeling hiermee een discussie of polemiek te starten. Ik wil mij
bij voorbaat verontschuldigen bij wie zich benadeeld voelt.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.corewar (More info?)

localghost wrote:
>
> I like the fact that it's language-independant. All other programming
> games I found so far, use (a subset or special version of) one specific
> language. But being language-independant means having compiled code
> with all its benefits and risks.
>
> I think that the Microsoft .NET platform might give new opportunities
> for a language-independant programming game that might be more secure,
> but so far I haven't found any that exist already. And I don't consider
> myself such a seasoned programmer that I would write a new programming
> game from scratch.
> And I don't know enough about programming on Linux either. 🙁

If it's that big a deal, then it should be possible for the arena to be
a server that accepts XML SAX input from the competitors. So the
competitors wouldn't have to be on the same server/network even, as long
as there is an open channel.

--
Will Berry
Director of Operations, Techwood Con gaming convention
http://www.techwoodcon.com/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.corewar (More info?)

Will Berry shared this with us in rec.games.corewar:

> localghost wrote:
> >
> > I like the fact that it's language-independant. All other
> > programming games I found so far, use (a subset or special version
> > of) one specific language. But being language-independant means
> > having compiled code with all its benefits and risks.
> >
> > I think that the Microsoft .NET platform might give new
> > opportunities for a language-independant programming game that
> > might be more secure, but so far I haven't found any that exist
> > already. And I don't consider myself such a seasoned programmer
> > that I would write a new programming game from scratch.
> > And I don't know enough about programming on Linux either. 🙁
>
> If it's that big a deal, then it should be possible for the arena to
> be a server that accepts XML SAX input from the competitors. So the
> competitors wouldn't have to be on the same server/network even, as
> long as there is an open channel.

Sounds like an excellent idea that I do not understand at all ;-)
But one is never too old to learn.

Now I think about it: using XML SAX, it would even be possible to
recompile old robots with minimal code changes. Only the special
function would have to be rewritten. Hey thank you for this excellent
suggestion, I'll give you full credit if I ever decide to do anything
with it.

--
localghost is addicted to XanaNews 1.16.4.6
If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?
DISCLAIMER: Dit is mijn persoonlijke mening. Het is absoluut *niet*
mijn bedoeling hiermee een discussie of polemiek te starten. Ik wil mij
bij voorbaat verontschuldigen bij wie zich benadeeld voelt.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.corewar (More info?)

> > http://www.pscs.co.uk/pcrobots/
>
> I know. I used the email address on that page, but it bounced.

There is a clue in the website name. You might also try

enquiries@pscs.co.uk

(lifted from www.pscs.co.uk, which also has address/phone)

Robert