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#############################################################################
##### #####
##### ELECTRON WORLD v3.10 #####
##### ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #####
##### Written by Stefan Zeiger in 5/6/7/8/12 1991 and 1/1992 #####
##### ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #####
##### (c) 1991/1992 by ! WIZARD WORKS ! #####
##### ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #####
#############################################################################
## +---------- IMPORTANT ----------+ ##
#### | ~~~~~~~~~ | ####
###### | THIS PROGRAM IS SHAREWARE !!! | ######
######## | READ "DISCLAIMER" FOR MORE | ########
########## | INFORMATION !!! | ##########
######## | | ########
###### | ELECTRON WORLD 3.10 IS OS2.0 | ######
#### | COMPATIBLE | ####
## +-------------------------------+ ##
--------------------
1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
--------------------
+---------------------------------------------------+
| 1. Table of Contents |
| 2. What is Electron World ? |
| 3. The rules for the Electron World |
| 4. How to create a field for Electron World |
| 5. The "Options" menu |
| 6. Processing the fields |
| 7. Operating the editor |
| 8. Other features |
| 9. The demo fields |
| 10. Known bugs |
| 11. Technical information |
| 12. Disclaimer |
| 13. History |
| 14. Some additional things |
| 15. Appendix |
+---------------------------------------------------+
---------------------------
2. WHAT IS ELECTRON WORLD ?
---------------------------
Electron World is a cellular machine. It uses a ->field of 108 by 58 ->cells,
that is processed through many ->steps.
-----------------------------------
3. THE RULES FOR THE ELECTRON WORLD
-----------------------------------
Each cell may have one of four states :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Background : black or yellow (Yellow can be used to mark special places
or to write something into the field)
- Wire : blue
- Electron head : red
- Electron tail : pink
From step to step the cells of the field are changed :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- All electron tails become wire cells
- All electron heads become electron tails
- Wire cells become electron heads, if there were one or two electron heads
on the eight cells around them (in the last step)
- Background cells (black) and markers (yellow) remain unchanged
-------------------------------------------
4. HOW TO CREATE A FIELD FOR ELECTRON WORLD
-------------------------------------------
A. Creating a field with a text editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(If you're using CygnusEd, you should set 'Insert mode' to 'off' and select an
interlaced screen.)
The field MUST(!!!) have a size of 106 x 58. If you use a larger field, you
will get non-sense things, if you use a smaller field, the program will pro-
bably hang. Comments may only be added at the bottom of the field.
The field itself consists of (in this version) five reserved characters :
- '.' for a background cell
- '=' for a wire cell
- '+' for an electron tail
- '*' for an electron head
- 'x' for a marker. (Remember to use a lower-case 'x')
The field must be saved using the standard ASCII format. The name should end
with ".ASC.EW" (That makes it easier to load with Electron World and clearer
to understand what kind of file it is).
Some ready-to-use fields are included in the directory "Fields". You may use
the fields "Empty.ASC.EW" and "Empty2.ASC.EW" (with a yellow bar at the right
side, so that you see, how fast it's loaded) for creating your own fields.
B. Creating a field with Electron World
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since version 0.50 there is a built-in editor in Electron World. See section
"Operating the editor" for a detailed description.
The created fields can be loaded, saved and deleted in the "Disk options" of
the "Project" menu.
---------------------
5. THE "OPTIONS" MENU
---------------------
A. You can select either "Save Icon" or "No Icon" in the "Options" menu. If
~~ you use "Save Icon" then there will be an Icon created for every field you
write to disk.
B. Electron World knows two file formats: The ASCII field format that is
~~ used by text editors if you are editing ".ASC.EW" files and the "Compressed"
format that is only used by Electron World (".EW"). If you don't want to
use a text editor for your fields, you should select "Save compressed",
because the "Compressed" format is only halfe as long as the ASCII format
and it is loaded and saved twice as fast. Your choice in the "Options" menu
is only needed for saving fields, because the load routine automatically
checks the file format and loads it properly.
------------------------
6. PROCESSING THE FIELDS
------------------------
A. Start Electron World from the Workbench or the CLI. You don't need "run"
~~ or "runback", because Electron World is written as LSR (Load-and-stay-
resident).
Choose "Disk options" from the "Project" menu, select the file and click on
"Load".
[ For programmers: There's a little bug in the documentation for SAS/C 5.10.
If you're linking with "cback.o" to produce LSR programs and you don't want
to perform any Output to the calling CLI window, you should though set
"_BackGroundIO" to 1 and close the handle that you get as soon as possible,
if you want the CLI window to go away. See "User's Guide" of the SAS/C
manual for futher information. ]
B. If you have the right path in the "DEFAULT TOOL" of your field icon, you can
~~ start Electron World directly by clicking on the field icon. Then the field
will be loaded automatically.
If the field is in the same directory as Electron World you may also use the
workbench's "extended selection". Click once on the field icon, then hold
down <SHIFT> and double-click on the Electron World icon.
If you have the ARP library in your libs: directory, you can use the FULL
"extended selection", which means that you may use all directories. You
may also click once on the Electron World icon, then hold down shift and
double-click on the field icon.
C. In the CLI you can specify the field directly after the command name. It
~~ will then be loaded automatically.
Select "Project" "Start/Stop" to start or stop processing the field. Select
"Project" "Process 1 step" to process only one step. The step number is
displayed in the information line at the bottom of the screen.
-----------------------
7. OPERATING THE EDITOR
-----------------------
Since v0.50 Electron World has a built-in editor. It is not very comfortable,
but certainly better than a text editor (And much faster, too, because you
needn't go through that annoying save-edit-load-test-save-... procedure).
The color/status of the field can be selected in the "Edit" menu. You can also
use the key shortcuts (like everywhere in Electron World). Just click on the
cell you wish to change and it will get the new status. You may also drag the
mouse pointer over the field to get a continuous line. Use "Edit" "Clear" to
clear the field.
There's also a very special function that can be useful when you're developing
new elements or complete fields. If you've changed your field and want to test
it, you often have to remove some "electron trash" that was left on the field
by a non-functioning element. Since v0.60 Electron World can do this for you.
Just select "Remove electrons" from the "Edit" menu and all electron heads and
tails will get replaced by wire cells. You can also replace markers by back-
ground cells with "Remove markers".
-----------------
8. OTHER FEATURES
-----------------
ICONIFY :
~~~~~~~~~
Since version 1.00 there is the item "Iconify" in the "Project" menu. If you
select it, the screen and window of Electron World will be replaced by a small
icon on the workbench screen. This will save about 53 kB of chip memory. If
you want to get back to Electron World, just activate the icon by clicking on
it and then press the right mouse button. The screen and window will be opened
again and field will get redrawn. This can take (according to the field) up to
8 seconds. If there is not enough chip memory available to re-open, Electron
World will quit. So be careful, if you don't want to loose your field !!!
------------------
9. THE DEMO FIELDS
------------------
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Test.EW This is a simple demo field. I am using it |
| for my performance tests. ( This version |
| should be able to process this field for |
| 50 steps in about 11.35 seconds. ) |
| Diode_Test.EW This example shows how to draw and use the |
| diode described in [1]. |
| Empty1.EW Just an empty field. |
| Empty2.EW An empty field with a yellow marker line at |
| the right side, so that you can see how |
| fast it's loaded. |
| Empty1.ASC.EW Like "Empty1.EW", but in ASCII format. |
| Empty2.ASC.EW Like "Empty2.EW", but in ASCII format. |
| Inverter_13.EW This is an inverter like the one described |
| in [1], that uses a tact rate of 13 steps. |
| Labyrinth1.EW | These fields just produce some nice |
| Labyrinth2.EW | pictures. Compute them and have fun ! |
| Ornament.EW This field is completely built with wire |
| cells, so the electron in the middle can do |
| what ever it wants to to. There's one fact, |
| that makes this field interesting : Some- |
| times the outline of the square is copletely |
| closed. This happens all 2k-1 [k¢Z] steps. |
| Memory.EW A memory for one bit (WOW!!!) with a tact |
| rate of 13. See description in [1]. |
| Or_Test.EW A testing picture for the "or" element |
| described in [1]. |
| Title.EW This one is just for fun. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
--------------
10. KNOWN BUGS
--------------
"It's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I haven't found any bugs (yet). If you do so, please let me know it. Write to
the address at the end of this manual.
-------------------------
11. TECHNICAL INFORMATION
-------------------------
Electron World was written using SAS/C 5.10. The file requesters is my own,
enhanced version of Anders Bjerin's "File Window". Thanks, Anders !
--------------
12. DISCLAIMER
--------------
Electron World v3.10 was written by Stefan Zeiger in 1991 and '92. It is copy-
righted (c) 1991/'92 by ! WIZARD WORKS ! . This program may be distributed for
non-commercial only. All files must be kept together and must remain unchanged.
You may only charge a distribution fee less or equal to the fee that Fred Fish
wants for his AmigaLibDisks.
This program is distributed "as-is". ! WIZARD WORKS ! doesn't give any warranty
for Electron World.
Electron World is SHAREWARE. You may test it without paying for it. If you
have decided to use this program, you have to pay 10 US$, 20 DM or 6 £ ster-
ling. Send the money to the address at the end of this manual. You will then
become a registered user and get informed about future releases of Electron
World.
-----------
13. HISTORY
-----------
Here comes the version history of Electron World (beginning with the earliest
version) :
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| 0.10a First working test version. |
| 0.20a File requester added. |
| 0.30 Icon save facility added. |
| 0.40 New save format "Compressed" added. |
| 0.50 Simple built-in editor added. |
| 0.51 "Remove electrons" facility added. |
| 0.52 Bugs fixed. Optimized version of "File Window". |
| 0.60 WB and CLI argument getting facility added. |
| 0.65 Bugs fixed. |
| 1.00 "Iconify" added. |
| 1.01 Slightly faster. |
| 1.10 Full "extended selection" support with ARP library. |
| First public release. |
| 1.20 Icon creation bug fixed. Fade in/out added. Securi- |
| ty checks added. |
| 2.00 New design. "Remove Markers" added. Second public |
| release. |
| 2.01 File requester bug fixed. Now using WizardFiler |
| v1.01. |
| 3.00 Iconify window remembers old position. Now full |
| OS2.0 design. THIS VERSION REQUIRES OS 2.04 !!! |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------
14. SOME ADDITIONAL THINGS
--------------------------
Further information about the cellular automation that can be processed with
"Electron World" is available in [1].
CU,
Stefan.
____
/ / /
____ / / /
Only \ \ \ / / /|
\ \ X / /_|
\_X_X_/ |miga makes it possible !!!
------------
15. APPENDIX
------------
A. GLOSSARY
~~~~~~~~~~~
CELL: A cell is a single part of a ->field that can have one special
~~~~~ status (see 1.).
FIELD: The field is the whole area that is computed by Electron World. It
~~~~~~ consists of 106 by 58 ->cells.
STEP: A step in Electron World is a time measure. At each step the ->cells
~~~~~ of the ->field are computed new.
B. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] "Scientific American" / "Spektrum der Wissenschaft" 3/1990.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
STANDARD MAIL : ! WIZARD WORKS !
Stefan Zeiger
Seligenstaedter Weg 24
D-W-8756 Kahl
West Germany
VOICE : ++49-(0)6188-2525
MAILBOX : ++49-(0)69-5975113
"The Hitchhiker" (H.T.H.) in Frankfurt
300-14400 bps, 8/N/1, 24h online
Username : "STEFAN"
EMAIL : AmNet : STEFAN;HTH
Fido : STEFAN%HTH.AMN 2:247/12.5
Zerberus : STEFAN%HTH@AMNET.ZER
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------