[alt.folklore.computers] core wars

howell@bert.llnl.gov (Louis Howell) (07/07/90)

Could someone send me either a complete specification for the core wars
game, or at least tell me who I should contact to obtain it?  Source code
would be helpful if you don't have English text on-line.

For those who haven't heard of it, core wars is a game played between two
programs sharing a common block of memory.  Execution jumps back and forth
between the programs, each of which is trying to find the other and put
it out of action by overwriting some key instruction.  The game was invented
by A. K. Dewdney, and described in his Computer Recreations column in
Scientific American.  The columns are a bit frustrating, since Dewdney
includes a nearly complete description of the pseudo-assembly language
in which the programs are to be written, but leaves out just a few of the
key details I need to write a simulator.  All three of the core wars columns
are reprinted in Dewdney's book, The Armchair Universe.

Louis Howell

#include <std.disclaimer>