From: stst@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (Stefan Strack)
Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for rec.games.corewar
Organization: Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, Nashville, TN, USA
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 23:39:16 GMT


Awright, after 3 FAQ requests in one day, here it is, two days ahead of 
schedule. -Stefan (stst@vuse.vanderbilt.edu)

Last Update: July 29, 1992

TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------

1. What is Core War?

2. Is it Core War or Core Wars?

3. Where can I find more information about Core War?

4. What is the ICWS?

5. What is TCWN?

6. How do I join?

7. Are back issues of TCWNs available?

8. What is the EBS?

9. Where are the Core War archives?

10. Where can I find a Core War system for . . . ?

11. When is the next tournament?

12. What is KOTH?  How do I enter?

13. Other questions?

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Q1: What is Core War?
A1: Core War is a game played by two or more programs (and vicariously
by their authors) written in an assembly language called Redcode and
run in a virtual computer called MARS (for Memory Array Redcode Simulator).
The object of the game is to cause all of the opposing programs to
terminate, leaving your program in sole possesion of the machine.

There are Core War systems available for most computer platforms.
Redcode has been standardized by the ICWS, and is therefore transportable
between all standard Core War systems.

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Q2: Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"?
A2: Both terms are used.  Early references were to Core War.  Later
references seem to use Core Wars.  "Core War" is preferred in reference to
the game in general, "core wars" to refer to more than one specific
battle.

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Q3: Where can I find more information about Core War?
A3: Core War was first described in the "Core War Guidelines" of March,
1984 by D. G. Jones and A. K. Dewdney of the Department of Computer
Science at The University of Western Ontario (Canada).  Dewdney wrote
several "Computer Recreations" articles in "Scientific American" which
discussed Core War, starting with the May 1984 article.  Those articles
are contained in an anthology:

Author: Dewdney, A. K.
Title: The Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds
Published: New York: W. H. Freeman (c) 1988
Library of Congress Call Number: QA76.6 .D517 1988

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Q4: What is the ICWS?
A4: About one year after Core War first appeared in Sci-Am, the
"International Core War Society" (ICWS) was established.  Since that
time, the ICWS has been responsible for the creation and maintenance
of Core War standards and the running of Core War tournaments.  There
have been six annual tournaments and two standards (ICWS'86 and
ICWS'88).

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Q5: What is TCWN?
A5: Since March of 1987, "The Core War Newsletter" (TCWN) has been the
official newsletter of the ICWS.  It is published quarterly and is also
made available through this newsgroup.

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Q6: How do I join?
A6: For more information about joining the ICWS and/or subscribing to TCWN,
contact:

   Jon Newman
   13824 NE 87th Street
   Redmond, WA 98052-1959
   EMail: jonn@microsoft.com

The ICWS and TCWN have finally been transferred.  You should be seeing
much more from each now.

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Q7: Are back issues of TCWN available?
A7: Back issues of the TCWN (up to Winter 1991) are available from

   AMRAN
   5712 Kern Drive
   Huntington Beach, CA 92649-4535

Prices are unknown at this time, but should be around $5.00 (the original
cover price).

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Q8: What is the EBS?
A8: The Electronic Branch Section (EBS) of the ICWS is a group of
Core War enthusiasts with access to electronic mail.  There are no fees
associated with being a member of the EBS, and members do reap some of
the benefits of full ICWS membership without the expense.  For instance,
the ten best warriors submitted to the EBS tournament will be entered
into the annual ICWS tournament.  Now that rec.games.corewar has been
created, the EBS has moved its business to the newsgroup.

The current goal of the EBS is to be at the forefront of Core War by
writing and implementing new standards and test suites in preparation for
the tenth anniversary of Core War in May of 1994.  Its immediate business
will be to set up a Charter and establish its officers.

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A9: Where is the Core War archive?
Q9: Many documents such as the guidelines and the ICWS standards
along with previous tournament Redcode entries and complete Core War
systems are available via anonymous ftp from soda.berkeley.edu
(128.32.131.179) in the /pub/corewar directories.  Much of what is
available on soda is also available on the German archive at
iraun1.ira.uka.de (129.13.10.90) in the /pub/X11/corewars directory.

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Q10: Where can I find a Core War system for . . . ?
A10: First, check out the Core War systems available via anonymous ftp
from soda.berkeley.edu.  Currently, there are X-Window, IBM PC-compatible,
Macintosh, and Amiga Core War systems available there.  Others may appear.

The following suppliers have ICWS'88 compatible systems for

IBM PC compatibles:
   The Core War Colosseum
   AMRAN
   5712 Kern Drive
   Huntington Beach, CA 92649-4535
   Price: $39.95

   CoreMaster(TM)
   THINK Software
   524 Paige Drive
   Birmingham, AL 35226
   (205)979-9475
   Price: $34.95 + $3.00 S&H

Apple Macintosh computers:
   Core!
   Jon Newman
   13824 NE 87th Street
   Redmond, WA 98052-1959
   EMail: jonn@microsoft.com (Note: Core! is NOT a Microsoft product.)
   Price: $14.00 registration fee, plus $3.00 S&H.  S&H fee waived
            if you send 800k disk and stamped, self-addressed envelope.
   Also available from sumex-aim.stanford.edu and
   listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu and soda.berkeley.edu.

Commodore Amiga computers:
   The MADgic Core
   Mark A. Durham
   P.O. Box 301173
   Houston, TX 77230-1173
   Version 4.1 of The MADgic Core is available from soda.berkeley.edu.

   CoreWars (German language version)
   UNICORN systems
   Bernstrasse 67
   CH-4852 Rothrist
   Switzerland
   Price: sFr 45.--

Commodore 64/128 computers:
   Barry Cohen
   65 West 90th Street, #23E
   New York, NY 10024
   Price: Not Available

Please post information about any systems not listed here.  Information
about the systems (base system, ICWS standards compatibility, extensions,
price, etc.) will be included next month's FAQs.

CAUTION!  There are many, many Core War systems available which are NOT
ICWS'88 (or even ICWS'86) compatible available at various archive sites.

Reviews of Core War systems would be greatly appreciated in the newsgroup
and in the newsletter.  Please post any review of any Core War system
you have tried out so that others may learn from your experience.

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Q11: When is the next tournament?
A11: The EBS is in the middle of a tournament right now.  There will
be another starting in the Fall.  Otherwise, keep looking to r.g.cw for
upcoming tournament announcements.

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Q12: What is KOTH?  How do I enter?
A12: King Of The Hill (KOTH) is an ongoing Core War tournament available
to anyone with EMail provided by William Shubert <wms@iwarp.intel.com>.
You enter by submitting via EMail a Redcode program with special comment
lines.  You will receive a reply indicating how well your program did
against the current top twenty programs "on the hill".  If your program
finished in the top twenty, it will remain on the hill until such time as it
finishes twenty-first against another challenger, at which time it "falls
off" the hill.

Entry rules for King of the Hill Corewar:

1) Write a corewar program.  KotH is fully ICWS '88 compatible, EXCEPT that
   a comma (",") is required between two arguments.

2) Put the line ";redcode" at the top of your program.  This MUST be the
   first line.  Anything before it will be lost.  If you wish to receive
   mail on every new entrant, use ";redcode verbose".  Otherwise you will
   only receive mail if a challenger makes it onto the hill.  Use
   ";redcode quiet" if you wish to receive mail only when you get shoved
   off the hill.  (Also, see 5 below).

   Additionally, adding ";name <program name>" and ";author <your name>"
   will be helpful in the performance reports.  Do NOT have a line
   beginning with ";address" in your code; this will confuse the mail demon
   and you won't get mail back.

   In addition, it would be nice if you have lines beginning with
   ";strategy" that describe the algorithm you use.

3) Mail this file to "wms@iwarp.intel.com".

4) Within a few minutes you should get mail back telling you whether your
   program compiled correctly or not.  If it did compile correctly,
   sit back and wait; if not, make the change required and re-submit.

5) In an hour or so you should get more mail telling you how your program
   performed against the current top 20 programs.  If no news arrives in an
   hour, don't worry; entries are put in a queue and run through the
   tournament one at a time.  A backlog may develop.  Be patient.

   If your program makes it onto the hill, you will get mail every time a
   new program makes it onto the hill.  If this is too much mail, you can use
   ";redcode quiet" when you first mail in your program; then you will only
   get mail when you make it on the top 20 list or when you are knocked off.
   Using ";redcode verbose" will give you even more mail; here you get mail
   every time a new challenger arrives, even if they don't make it onto the
   top 20 list.

   Often programmers want to try out slight variations in their programs.
   If you already have a program named "Foo V1.0" on the hill, adding the
   line ";kill foo" to a new program will automatically bump foo 1.0 off the
   hill.  Just ";kill" will remove all of your programs when you submit the
   new one.


MORE ON KOTH COREWAR IMPLEMENTATION
       Core size: 8,000 instructions
   Max processes: 8,000 per program
        Duration: After 80,000 cycles per program a tie is declared.
Max entry length: 100 instructions
  Battles played: Your warrior will play each opponent fifty times.
         Scoring: 3 points for each win, 1 point for each tie, no points
                     for each loss.

   Programs are guaranteed a 100 instruction block (inclusive of their
   warrior's instructions) without overlapping their opponent.


SAMPLE ENTRY:
;redcode
;name Dwarf
;author A. K. Dewdney
;strategy Throw DAT bombs around memory, hitting every 4th memory cell.
;strategy   This program was presented in the first Corewar article.
bomb  dat #0
dwarf add #4,bomb
      mov bomb,@bomb
      jmp dwarf
      end dwarf

Rule variants for "eXperimental" corewar:
The same as above but use ";redcode-x" to start your program.

Your program will be entered into a second tournament with slightly different
rules.  The rules are:
   - All addressing modes are allowed with all instructions.
   - There is an additional addressing mode, called "postincrement".  To use
     it try an instruction like "mov >5,6".
   - The maximum write distance is 250 instructions.  That is, every time
     your program tries to modify memory, the address is checked; if it is
     more than 250 instructions from the process doing the modify, then
     memory is left unchanged, but the instruction continues as normal.

KotH runs on any Unix system with an X windows interface.  The source code
to KotH is available by EMail from William Shubert.  Write to him at
<wms@iwarp.intel.com> for a copy.

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Q13: Other questions?
A13: Just ask.  Someone in the newsgroup will be able to answer your
question.
Newsgroups: rec.games.corewar