Dr. Windows 3/dr win3.zip/dr win3/WINGAMES/NEDWLD10.ZIP/NEDWORLD.DOC

Text File | 1993-07-04 | 33KB | 699 lines

                     NEDWORLD.DOC - Help Document


                      Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD
                 Copyright (c) 1993 David S. Smiczek
                        Shareware Version 1.00


                         by David S. Smiczek
                            PO BOX 294391
                      Lewisville TX, 75029-4391

                        CompuServe 72154,3671







     DISCLAIMER

        THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT
        WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY
        OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  BECAUSE
        OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO
        WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR
        A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.  THE USER MUST ASSUME
        THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.  ANY LIABILITY OF
        THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT
        REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.





                               CONTENTS

     I. PREFACE - SHAREWARE
     II. INTRODUCTION
     III. THE GAME
        A. NED'S WORLD MAIN WINDOW
           1. PLAYING FIELD
           2. GAME OPTIONS
           3. SCORE
           4. NED'S STATE
           5. NED'S VIEW
           6. TRAINING OPTIONS
        B. MENUS
           1. FILE
               a. LOAD BRAIN
               b. SAVE BRAIN
               c. HIGH SCORES
               d. EXIT
           2. OPTIONS
               a. RESET NED'S BRAIN
               b. MOVE NED RANDOM
               c. MOVE NED ON STUCK
               d. RANDOM SPIN RATE
               e. FAST SIMULATION
           3. HELP
               a. NEDWORLD.DOC
               b. ABOUT
        C. TIPS (1-10)
     IV. ORDERING



     I. PREFACE - SHAREWARE

        Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD is NOT public domain or free
        software, but is being distributed as "shareware".
        Shareware is method of selling software where the user
        has a chance to use the program for a limited amount of
        time to evaluate it.  If the user continues to use the
        program after the evaluation time, they must register it.
        Registering this software fulfills your obligation to the
        author, but also provides many benefits.  As a reward for
        registration you will receive the following:

           A. A Licensed copy of Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD that
              DOES NOT HAVE A SHAREWARE SCREEN at the beginning.

           B. C-Source code for the neural network routines used
              in Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD.

           C. C-Source code example program using the neural
              network routines.

           D. Documentation describing the example program and
              the neural network routines.

           E. Illustrated printed documentation for Neural Ned in
              NED'S WORLD.

        The registered user will also be eligible for discounts
        on updates to NED'S WORLD and future 'Neural Ned' games.

        Operators of BBS's (bulletin board systems) are encourage
        to post 'Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD' in its entirety for
        downloading by users.

        Distributors of public domain or user-supported software
        libraries may distribute copies of 'Neural Ned in NED'S
        WORLD'.  A copying fee, not to exceed $7.00 per disk may
        be charged.  Advertisement and the libraries catalog must
        state that this program is not free, but is copyrighted
        software that is provided to allow the user to evaluate
        it before paying.

        Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD was written to run under
        Microsoft Windows 3.X.  Microsoft Windows is a trademark
        of the Microsoft Corporation.

     II. INTRODUCTION - WHAT ARE NEURAL NETWORKS?

        There has been a lot of talk lately about neural
        networks.  What are neural networks?  A neural network is
        a collection of artificial 'neurons' connected in a
        network to solve unorthodox computer operations.  While
        the biological 'neurons' are only used as inspiration to
        create computer 'neurons', it may be useful to learn a
        little about them.

        Biological neurons are the fundamental unit cells of the
        brain and nervous tissue.  They are connected together
        with fibers called dendrites and axons.  The dendrites


        are the inputs to the cells and the axon is the single
        output.  Each neuron is either 'on' or 'off'.  If a
        neuron is 'on' it transmits an 'on' signal over its axon.
        The neuron's axon is connected to the dendrites of other
        cells.  The state of the neuron is determined by the
        chemical charges on its inputs.  If enough charge is on
        the input dendrites of a neuron then it will turn 'on'
        and transmit to other neurons.   In this way the neurons
        are like a group of parallel processing elements.  The
        state of one affects the state of others which in turn
        affects the state of others...  All of the input
        dendrites of a neuron are weighted so that an 'on' coming
        in on one dendrite may not hold as much value as another
        'on'.  These weights can be adjusted to produce a desired
        effect.  For instance they could be adjusted such that a
        certain neuron will turn 'on' or 'fire' only when six
        other specific neurons are also firing.  The act of
        adjusting the weights is called training.

        The computer 'neurons' are simpler then their biological
        counterparts.  They can be represented as a group of
        weight values between each connection in a network.  To
        see if a neuron is firing, all of the weights of the
        firing inputs are added up.  Outside input is also added
        into the firing consideration.  If the total is above a
        certain threshold then the neuron is turned on.  Note
        that the weight can encourage (be positive) or discourage
        (be negative) a neuron from firing.  Training is done by
        tweaking the weights in the network until the desired
        state is achieved.  Since the computer is a serial
        problem solver and the neural networks are a set of
        parallel processing elements, the 'parallel' effect is
        simulated.

        It was mentioned earlier that neural networks are used to
        solve unorthodox computer problems.  Neural networks have
        been used in such varied projects as stock marked
        forecasting to speech recognition.  These problems are
        well suited to neural networks because all the nuances of
        the situation are not known.  A network is trained by
        providing input and training it to give a desired output.
        The person doing the training need not understand the
        reason or set of rules behind the input and output
        relationship.  For example, a business analyst may not
        completely understand the factors involved in stock
        pricing fluctuations but if a neural net is provided with
        the correct factors it will be able to predict the
        changes with proper training.  The network in effect
        creates the rules between input and output during
        training.  These rules created are flexible.  This gives
        a neural net the ability to take incomplete input and
        still provide good results with proper training.  This
        characteristic makes it well suited for these types of
        unorthodox applications.

        In contrast, neural networks are not well suited for
        traditional computing tasks, such as adding up numbers.
        While a network could be trained to add up some numbers
        they might not be accurate enough.  We usual want numbers
        to be very accurate.



        Neural Ned in NED'S WORLD is a good application for
        neural networks because NED is wandering through a random
        world.  He