README for Worms
                                        Time-stamp: "1999-03-03 11:56:27 MST"

				Worms

!!!! THIS IS AN UNDOCUMENTED ALPHA RELEASE !!!!

Worms is an implementation of an artificial-life game that can output
via Perl-Tk, Tek4010, and PostScript.  It is a game not in the sense
of checkers, but in the sense of Conway's Life.

In a Worms universe, worms crawl around an isometric grid of
triangles, leaving trails behind them, and turning in accordance to
simple rules that are based upon trails they come in contact with.
From the simple rules emerges surprising complexity.


BUGS & WARNINGS

Occasionally I've seen Perl 5.004_02 for MSWin segfault at global
destruction time.

The TK part, I've only tested under pTk.  This's my first hack at Tk,
so lets hope all the code I wrote is portable.  Suggestions welcome!

The Tek part I've tested under MSKermit.

The PostScript part I've tested only under GhostScript.


Currently the interface is pretty much: specify things on the command
line, then sit back and watch the worms go, until they all die.
Hopefully I (or someone ambitious who knows Tk better than I do) may
add more interactivity to the interface.


PREREQUISITES

This suite requires Perl 5.  It requires pTk for the Tk interface.


INSTALLATION

You install Worms, as you would install any Perl module
distribution, by running these commands:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

If you want to install a private copy of Worms in your home
directory, then you should try to produce the initial Makefile with
something like this command:

  perl Makefile.PL LIB=~/perl


DOCUMENTATION

None yet.

Start it up by making a Perl program called worms, with the content:

!/usr/bin/perl
use Games::Worms;
worms;

Then start up Tk mode with:

  worms -tTk
    ...for Tk mode
  worms -tPS
    ...for PostScript mode
  worms -tTek4010
    ...for Tektronics mode

Command line arguments thereafter are interpreted as the names of
classes worms should come from.  (Currently, three are provided in
this distribution: Games::Worms::Random, Games::Worms::Random2, and
Games::Worms::Beeler.)  If no arguments are provided, Worms uses two
Random2s and two Beelers.

For each name you specify, if it contains a slash, the rest of that
name is passed to the worm as an expression of its rules.

Example specifications:

  Games::Worms::Beeler
  Games::Worms::Random
  Games::Worms::Random2
  Games::Worms::Beeler/1a2d3caaa4b
  Games::Worms::Beeler/1A2B3ACAC4B
  Games::Worms::Beeler/1B2B3AAAB4A

(A Beeler worm with no rules specified makes up a random rule set
when it starts.  A random worm obeys no rules.)

See the Sci Am article on Beeler worms for the meaning of these Beeler
worm rule specifications.  I don't have the citation for the first run
of the article, but it's reproduced with addenda as:

"Worm Paths", chapter 17 in Martin Gardner, 1986, /Knotted Doughnuts
and Other Mathematical Entertainments/, W. H. Freeman and Company.


SUPPORT

Questions, bug reports, useful code bits, and suggestions for
Worms should be sent to me at sburke@netadventure.net


AVAILABILITY

The latest version of Worms is available from the Comprehensive
Perl Archive Network (CPAN).  Visit <http://www.perl.com/CPAN/> to
find a CPAN site near you.


COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1999, Sean M. Burke <sburke@netadventure.net>, all rights
reserved.  This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.


AUTHOR

Sean M. Burke <sburke@netadventure.net>