1/12/2025 at 8:35:14 AM
In two places the article states that the original game had the ability to save the updated tree ("it had the ability to save progress and load it during the next run" and "It is an amazing example... of how, even with such a simple language, ... and the ability to save new questions").The later part says the opposite - that the original implementation had "No ability to save progress" and that this is new in the C++ implementation.
I can't help but wonder (also due to other language features) if the author ran the article through an AI to 'tidy up' before posting... because I've often found ChatGPT etc. to introduce changes in meaning like this, rather than just rewriting. This is not to dismiss either the article or the power of LLM's, just a curious observation :)
by maginx
1/12/2025 at 5:10:55 PM
True. For example, the Apple ][+ came with a demo disk full of programs for the then-new Applesoft BASIC language, and this was one of them. The questions were saved by POKEing them into arrays hard-coded into the program, allowing you to SAVE the modified program after running it.It seemed like a neat trick at the time. There was also a crude CRUD database that worked the same way, retaining up to 50 names and phone numbers.
Actually that disk had a lot of really cool programs, now that I think about it. A biorhythm plotter, Woz's "Little Brick Out" Breakout clone, and a few other demos by luminaries like Bruce Tognazzini and Bob Bishop. And of course, ELIZA, the mother of all LLMs... only it was called FREUD for some reason.
by CamperBob2