PFB.txt

1/1/96



PFB 1.3 (aka Pico, Fermi, Bagels)

a number guessing game



Keywords: game, strategy, numbers, source



Dedicated to Kristina and Ellie



PFB is "postcardware"; if you like it, I ask that you send email to my kids

Ellie (EllieJelly@aol.com) and Kristina (Vader42@aol.com), postcards, and/or

other valuable tokens of appreciation.



PFB may be distributed freely as long as all of the files are included and

unmodified.  You are free to make modifications for your own use.

Copyright 1993-96, S. Weyer, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.



Contents:

- PFB-13.pkg   -- Newton application

- PFB.txt      -- introduction/abstract, general info, help

- picoferm.nwt -- Newt source

- picoferm.bit -- bitmap icon





If you are interested in object-oriented programming, developing

applications in NewtonScript and saving as packages directly on your Newton,

try the "Newt" development environment.



Registered users receive a 80+ pp. manual (Acrobat or paper) and 190+ examples.

Also, NewtPFB, an interactive book tutorial (like NewtATut), that describes

and implements PFB step-by-step.



If you would like to build this application yourself with Newt, obtain the

latest version (check my web page) of Newt and Slurpee:

  http://www.netaxs.com/~weyer/newton/releases.html



Look at the information that came with Newt and

build the "Hello World" application (applic0.nwt or via NewtATut).



Transfer picoferm.nwt (and picoferm.bit if you would like to have the Extras icon).



Start Newt, select the folder where you stored PFB (see 2nd line of picoferm.nwt).



Tap Expr, select :doObj('build, 'PFB), tap Eval.





Author:

Steve Weyer

17 Timber Knoll Drive

Washington Crossing, PA 18977-1052

Internet: weyer@netaxs.com

America Online/eWorld/NewtonMail: SteveWeyer

Compuserve: 74603,2051





Revision History:

-----

1.3 (1/1/96)

- NOS 2.0 compatible

- created with Newt Development Environment

- includes Newt source



1.2 (9/3/94)

- fixed bug (when writing too few digits)

- added bottom buttons to status bar

- replaced About and Help with Info (help book)

- misc. internal cleanup, recompilation with NTK 1.0.1



1.1 (3/2/94)

- new, non-generic icon

- autoconfigures for new (smaller) MessagePad screens

- changed from "freeware" to "postcardware"

- minor cosmetic changes to interface and messages; code cleanup

- source code available to Newt users



1.0d2 (9/29/93)

- initial public version (my first Newton program)





Help

----



For each guess, you will see one or more of

- Fermi: a correct digit placed correctly

- Pico: a correct digit placed incorrectly

- Bagels: no digits are correct



e.g., if <Allow Zero> is checked, <Digits>=3

and the computer's number is 029

  445  <4 duplicate>

  4567 <not 3 digits>

  376  Bagels

  914  Pico

  820  Fermi Pico

  . . .

  092  Fermi Pico Pico

  029  Fermi Fermi Fermi



Notes: Unlike MasterMind, PFB does not allow duplicate digits. Although

I had played versions of PFB where "Pico" and "Fermi" were reversed,

the kids convinced me it was easier to remember "Fermi" by "firm".





Additional Information

-----



PFB is similar in concept and strategy to MasterMind and Jotto.  After I first

saw "Pico Fermi Bagels" (PFB) as a Basic program at the Lawrence Hall of

Science in Berkeley in the early '70s, I wrote several Logo versions.



Uncheck "Allow Zero" to omit zero as a possible digit.



Select "Digits" to change the number of digits (between 2-5).



Selecting either of these after you have made your first guess starts a New

Game. Your last settings of these should reappear the next time you start PFB

(though these don't survive Newton resets).



The guess fields expect numbers, but will ignore spaces and periods.  Doubletap

for a numeric keypad. PFB  will complain about non-digits (or zero if "Allow

Zero" is unchecked), the wrong number of digits, or duplicate digits.



Order of guesses doesn't matter; guesses can be recycled (may be necessary

since there are only 16 guess fields -- a protoRollBrowser limit unless I add

scrolling).



To balance readability and amount of information displayed, guess field changes

font size [except when Landscape on NOS 2.0]:

- userFont12 (Digits=2,3)

- userFont10 (Digits=4)

- userFont9 (Digits=5) [long line may still not quite be all visible]



Winning is indicated by "Fermi" for all digits, and an audible sound. 





Possible Next Steps:

-----

- allow more guesses (via scrolling) [for now, recycle guesses]

- provide feedback via the label (instead of in value field)?

- autoexpanding the next guess field (but expandLine doesn't refresh properly?)

- add preferences to system soup entry (doesn't seem worth the bother)