From: mschulter AT  DOT value DOT net (M. Schulter)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Final year project
Date: 7 Aug 1997 20:33:07 GMT
Organization: Value Net Internetwork Services Inc.
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Jamie Love (jamie DOT love AT clear DOT net DOT nz) wrote:

: I would suggest myself, a remake of a game called starwar (or starwars)
: that the first hackers programmed on a PDP-10 (i think, or something like
: that anyway) in the 70's This game was one where you have the screen, and
: two ships on the screen, these two ships were controlled by the two players
: who tried, using a limited amout of missiles, to shoot each other. 

Hi, there.

Based on my recollection of _Hackers_ by Steven Levy, I would say that the
name of the game, developed in the early 1960's, was "Space Wars" -- the
movie _Star Wars_ not being released until 1977, well into the UNIX era
that is taken to begin on January 1, 1970. Also, since UNIX was originally
developed on a PDP-11, if I recall correctly, Space Wars was originally
developed on an earlier model, maybe PDP-6 or so.

Anyway, one kind of DJGPP program that might break some new ground would
be multidimensional modelling, the visual representation of hypercubes and
the like with sophisticated shading. Recent messages about more advanced
shading support in Allegro could provide an opportunity to press the
envelope here.

One non-game application: data visualization. With multiple regression,
where you have an n-dimensional regression plane, often being able to
inspect some of the relationships visually could help in comprehending the
picture.

When I imagine something like this with some interdependent variables,
both the mathematics and the screen display become very intriguing -- if
it could be pulled off within the time available for the original poster's
project.

Most respectfully,

Margo Schulter
mschulter AT value DOT net