Artificial life evolution program in Borland C++ ObjectWindows, WinHelp source file

The WAdapt.rtf source file is compiled by the Windows Help Compiler to produce the WAdapt.hlp Windows 3.1 WinHelp file for the WADAPT project that experiments with evolution in an artificial life cell colony.

This RTF file describes features specific to WAdapt's calculations and commands. A second RTF file (sdibwin.rtf) is compiled along with this one. It describes the graphics features that are common to several of my programs.

If you use Microsoft Word, these WinHelp source files are based on the helpfile.dot template, which you might find useful.

The RTF file in the zip file appears to have some text left over from the "WShowfs" IFS fractal project where it began. It's possible I planned to implement some of those features here, or not. I can't tell. Out of caution, I left the text in, but removed most of it from this web page listing.

This page also has a listing of the WAdapt.RC Windows resource file and a variety of screenshots.

WShowfs.RTF

^{# $ K +} WAdapt Help Contents

This Help file is from another application (wshowfs), and has not been completely modified for this one. Some sections are irrelevant to this program.

OverviewHID_OVERVIEW
File Formats (Data)HID_DATAFILEFORMATS
File Formats (Graphic)HID_FILEFORMATS
File Menu CommandsHID_FILEMENUCOMMANDS
Colors Menu CommandsHID_COLORSMENUCOMMANDS
Genetics Menu CommandsHID_GENETICSMENUCOMMANDS
View Menu CommandsHID_VIEWMENUCOMMANDS
Designing ImagesHID_DESIGNINGIMAGES
References and Further ReadingHID_FURTHERREADING

^{# $ K +} Overview

Brief:

WAdapt creates a number of imaginary animals (shown as dots) that move around the screen according to self-contained programs, eating and mating with each other.

Their programs evolve by a genetic method according to which programs are most effective at either obtaining food or producing offspring. It's hoped that methods used here for implementing a "virtual machine" with its own programming language (the agent's program within this program) will be useful in determining how to "evolve" more complicated systems.

Detail:

The WADAPT screen shows a number of imaginary animals (shown as screen dots). Each cell has a number of attributes, such as its stored energy (obtained by eating other cells), and the angle along which it is looking and travelling.

Cells are capable of performing a number of very basic activities, such as moving, as well as a number of basic computations relating to aspects of its environment, such as whether another cell is in its current line of sight.

Each cell has its own self-contained program that determines which actions or computations it will perform, and in what order, each time it gets a turn to act. Initially, this self-contained program is generated randomly. That is, there is no pre-determined order to what it will do.

When two cells meet, one can attack the other or they can mate. When an attack occurs, the stronger cell eats the weaker and absorbs all its energy. When they mate, a child is produced. The program of the new child cell consists entirely of program steps from its two parents, spliced together at random. So the child is completely derived from its parents, but its behavior may be much different from that of either parent.

A cell whose program is ineffective at finding either food or a mate will grow weak and die or get eaten by another cell. Thus, the most effective programs are more likely to survive and propagate. It is this process, natural selection, that the program is designed not to imitate, but to demonstrate. That is, for the cells the WAdapt program is their environment, and their own survival within it is entirely determined by how well their internal programs function within it.

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Requirements and Usage Tips:

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1. Adapt must be run under Windows in full color (24-bit, 16.7 million color) mode.
2. The program sends certain status reports to other applications while it runs. There are two possibilities, depending on how it was compiled:

   A. (Normal) Sends output by DDE (Windows Dynamic Data Exchange) to Microsoft Word WADAPLOG.DOC (which it opens automatically when it needs it).

   B. Sends output to COM1 at 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, No parity. You must either have an external terminal attached to COM1 or have COM1 and COM2 connected to each other by cable and be running Terminal.Exe on COM2 to receive the reports. (See "Local COM2: AUX Receiver" program item in my Often Used program group.)

3. You should disable Schedule+ before long unattended runs so the program is not stopped by reminder notices.
4. Each hour, the program appends a sampling of the current cell data to the .LOG file and saves a picture of the screen display to a numbered file named for the project: If the project is A.AGS, the sequence is A1.BMP, A2.BMP, etc. Any existing files with the same names will be overwritten.
5. When there are more than about 10,000 cells, Windows may need to use its swap file for some of the data, which is slow. It will run faster if you close Windows applications that you are not using, so the swap file is not used until absolutely necessary. (16000 cells x 100 bytes each = 1.6MB) The absolute maximum number of cells allowed is 16,000.

^{# $ K +} Files and File Formats

Files Used with the Program

Suggest using letters A-Z for project names.

File Extensions:

• AGS Cell data. This is the file type that you Open. It is read at program startup. At program exit, it is overwritten with data for all the ending cells that are not newborns. If you want a clean run from scratch (all random cells), you must manually empty the .AGS file.
• BAK The previous .AGS file. To do a rerun, copy it to .AGS.
• LOG Starting, interim (including manual and automatic hourly saves), and ending cell data, cumulative during the life of the project. You can empty it manually.
• BMP Saved screen displays (either manual or automatic hourly).
• SAV You can use for manually archiving cell data in, for copying to other projects, etc.
• MYBEST.PGM Text file describing my attempt at best possible program, supposed to take over if added to a set.
• WADAPT.ERR Used by all projects, for reports of any errors that occurred.

All files are text files, and can be edited with any text editor.

^{# $ K +} File Menu Commands

New

There is no File | New command because the program requires that every open file have a name (i.e. not "Untitled"). To create a new file, Use File | Open and provide the name of a file that does not yet exist. The new colony will start out with all random agents with programs of length 1. To restart a run from from scratch using an existing file, empty the .AGS file manually. To specify the length of new agents (greater than the default 1), manually seed .AGS with 1 agent (using the proper format) with the desired number of program steps. Any opcode (e.g. 0) can be used. A starting program length of 1 (actually 2: 1 real one and a 0 as terminating delimiter) seems the most realistic because it is the simplest possible, and any complexity that develops must grow from there. However, a starting program length of > 1 can produce interesting and humorous effects. The program steps are randomly assigned and might contain any combination of turning and moving, so some of the starting agents will run around in circles, or squares, or jiggle back and forth. This makes for more interesting displays than when the program is running in "normal" mode.

Open

Allows you to specify one or more files to display. Opens a new display window for each file.

You can also specify filenames on the command line when you start the program. For example: WADAPT.EXE A.AGS B.AGS...

You can also open files using Drag and Drop from FileManager.

Save

Save the current set of agent programs to the file ADAPT.PGM in a section labeled "Interim," and continue with same set.

Save as .BMP

Saves the currently-displayed design (in the size it occupies in the currently displayed window) and its color palette to disk as a .BMP file. You can then import the file into a bitmap editor. To create a design with a specific size or proportions, size the display window as needed, wait for the design to be sufficiently filled in, and then Save as .BMP.

Exit

Closes all open files and exits the program. The name of the currently logged disk directory is saved to WSHOWFS.INI, so that it is your default starting directory the next time you run the program.

^{# $ K +} Colors Menu Commands

Set Monochrome Color

Displays a dialog box in which you can specify the color to use when drawing in monochrome mode. It also automatically switches to monochrome mode and turns AutoRandomizeColorsHID_VIEWMENUCOMMANDS OFF, so that the color you selected remains the drawing color until you change the color or change the point coloring mode or turn AutoRandomizeColors on again.

Editing Colors with the Mouse

You can redefine any color displayed on the screen. Position the cursor over an example of the color you want to change, and Right-Click. A dialog box will open in which you can specify a new color to use. It can be difficult to position the cursor over a dot of exactly the color you want to edit, so be sure to check the color initially displayed in the dialog box to make sure it is the right one.

^{# $ K +} View Menu Commands

Options (all)... (Dialog Box)

Allows you to set a number of parameters simultaneously.

Trails

When ON, each cell leaves a trail in a randomly assigned color.

Use Sound (Beep)

Toggles the use of sound in the application (not much used, anyway, however). When agents eat, mate, or die, the PC speaker beeps to let you know that one of those events occurred.

Line of Sight

Toggles whether to automatically display the line of sight (and thus direction of travel) of each agent. Slows processing down considerably.

Passes between Screen Erase

If 0, the screen is never erased automatically. If any other number, it is erased automatically each time that many complete passes have been made through the agent array.

View Information about Selected Cells using the Mouse

Use the Left Mouse Button to drag a rectangle around cells whose information you want to view. Information about the selected cells will be sent to COM1.

^{# $ K +} Designing Programs

^{# $ K +} For Further Reading

Books:

• Complexity, The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, M. Mitchell Waldrop, Touchstone, 1992.
• Chaos Under Control, The Art and Science of Complexity, David Peak and Michael Frame, W. H. Freeman, 1994.

Screenshots

1) The OPTIONSDIALOG DIALOG defined above:

2) The WAdapt screen while it's running. This was an evolved population, so their trails are more purposeful than those in the screenshot of the MSDOS version of this program. You can adjust the size of the cells from a single pixel (which I normally use) to quite large. These are enlarged somewhat to increase their visibility. The cell with the circle around it is the strongest in the colony. You can obtain data about any cell(s) by using the mouse to drag a rectangle around it/them.

3) Status reports in Microsoft Word. At timed intervals, a report about the colony is produced, showing: pass number; current, lowest, and highest populations; birth count; timestamp; shortest and longest cell programs; how many cells have run their internal programs; errors; and the speed at which cell programs are running (5.9 cells/second). Then a report about the strongest agent and a "representative" agent with program steps each of which is the statistical mode of all agent programs for that pgm location.

Then I dragged a selection box around cell #6792, and its data was sent to this screen: its ID#; (x,y) location in a DIB of size (x,y); its heading in degrees counterclockwise from East=0 degrees; its energy; how many it has eaten; how many children it has produced; its color in RGB; its AX value (last result code); whether it is currently looking at another cell as a potential mate or meal; and its internal program translated to English for readability. The * shows the current location of its IP (instruction pointer). The + shows the highest step in the program that has ever been executed. Based on its data, this cell is newly born and has never run its program, confirmed by its energy of 1e6, which is the starting default.

4) A worksheet in Adapt.xls where you can view two cell pgms, translated to English, side by side: