| Date |
Description |
|---|---|
| 13/7/98 | Updated all the brain utility programs and the source code to include the contact details for the new location of this web site. Added Readme files with all the programs to briefly explain how to use them. Not bug fixes were made so if you already have these programs you probably won't want to download them again. This was done to prepare for uploading to alt.binaries.games.creatures. |
| 12/7/98 | Added a description of the stimulus gene in the genetics section. |
| 7/7/98 |
Moved the site to a new server which will be much more reliable. Various links and updates to the site required due to the move. I have some updates to actual content which will follow over the next few days. |
| 4/7/98 | Oops. Made a mistake in the COB for teaching the eater norns. Thanks to Eric Leif for pointing it out. I've corrected it and both the norns and COB are available with the fix. |
| 4/7/98 | Threw together a quick modification of a norn gene and COB to demonstrate add a new verb to a norn - the added verb is 'eat' and it when a norn with the modified gene hears this verb it will perform the same actions as if 'push' was spoken - and push will continue to work as normal. |
| 1/7/98 |
Added a description of the Chemical Receptor gene and the Chemical Initial Concentrations gene to the genetics kit pages. |
| 27/6/98 |
Added a description of the Chemical Half-Life gene to the genetics kit pages. The web site provider xoom.com will be down for about 12 hours from the 27th at 9am Pacific Standard Time. During that time you'll be unable to access this web site. |
| 26/6/98 | Added a series of pages for describing the other genes in the genetics kit. Started with the Emitter gene to document the results of investigating the effect of each option within the gene. Most of the information was gained as a result of a recent newsgroup discussion. |
| 26/6/98 |
Fixed the bug in ChemMonitor described in the previous days entry. ChemicalMonitor is now and version 1.1. Fixed a couple of bugs in BrainCellMonitor which is now at version 1.5. Fixed bug in BrainActivity program (now at version 1.4). Updated email address in about box of LobeStudy (now at version 1.3). Added the source code for ChemMonitor to the developer information page and updated the source for all the other programs so they match the new versions above. |
| 25/6/98 |
Discovered a couple of bugs in the ChemicalMonitor program while investigating the operation of Emitter genes. Nothing major it just pops up with an error message saying 'Unsupported Operation' sometimes when clicking the 'Add Chemical' button. Pressing 'OK' makes the message go away but it's quite annoying. I know why it is happening and will fix it over the weekend. A couple of similar things in the other programs as well (It's got to do with the way the up/down spin controls work) which I'll also fix. |
| 22/6/98 |
Resolved one issue in the brain lobe section. Brain lobe height and width do affect the initial dendrite wiring. So a 16 cell wide but 1 cell high lobe will be wired much differently from a 4 cell wide and 4 cell high lobe even though they have the same number of cells. The pagecount server for my web counter seems to have died over the last couple of days. I registered again and got a new server address to try so I'll see how that goes... |
| 21/6/98 |
I've finally managed to get some time to finish the dendrite viewing program. It's called BrainViewer and it's available on the Brain Utilities page. I've also written a quick tutorial on how to use it. It's not completely finished yet so I welcome any comments on how to make it easier to use. |
| 19/6/98 |
In the ongoing saga of making the site easier to read I've again changed the background color (back to white) and changed the font using cascading style sheets. If you are using a version 4.0 browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) you should see the new font. If not, nothing much will have changed. If things don't look right using your browser let me know what is wrong and I'll change it. I've checked most pages with Netscape V3.0 and Internet Explorer V4.0. |
| 14/6/98 |
Added a page which describes in detail the genetic settings for brain lobes. I'm using this page as the summary of the results I've encountered while developing the tutorials and genetic experimentation. I hope to add some diagrams to explain things better and some programs that demonstrate how some of the stuff works. I've added an issues page where I'm noting the things that I want to investigate or get back to. I'll work through this list as I come across things. I'm still working on the dendrite display program. It's not difficult but I just haven't had the time. If I don't get any time to work on it soon I'll put the details of the .EXP mapping on this web site in the hopes that someone else can use the information. I got rid of the background bitmap because I think it made text hard to read. This site is mostly textual reports and the like so I want to make it less stressfull on the eyes. Any ideas from people on how best to achieve this would be appreciated. Added the Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks to the books page. |
| 30/5/98 | Added link to a great site about norns, The Norn Adoption Clinic. I've done some more work on the dendrite program described below so I should have something more substantial on this site sometime over the next couple of days. Stay tuned :) |
| 24/5/98 | I've got a bit sidetracked from finishing tutorial three. As part of the discussion of dendrites I want a program that will display a mapping of the dendrite connections betweeen brain lobes. I've been investigating how to do this and I've managed to work most of it out. I'm throwing a quick program together to retrieve detailed dendrite mapping information from norn .EXP files and expect to have this up soon. When this is done I'll finish the dendrite tutorial using this program to demonstrate how they work. |
| 23/5/98 | Started work on tutorial three discussing dendrites and how they work. |
| 17/5/98 | Added the new utility ChemMonitor to the utilities page. It allows monitoring of the chemicals inside a norn and was written at the request of a couple of readers of alt.games.creatures. I'm holding off on uploading the source code for a couple of days to make sure any bugs that surface are stamped out first. |
| 13/5/98 |
Whew, busy couple of weeks for me so I haven't done much with the site. I've got a series of updates planned for this weekend including a new program to monitor chemical levels in a norn (as requested by some people on the newsgroup) and finally a tutorial on dendrites links between brain lobes. I've dumped some PDF files I've come across on the web that I am using for modeling some spatial location ideas into a norn. I've quickly provided links to the here but I'll set them up in the publications page on the weekend with proper attributions about where I got them from, etc (They came from the Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory).
For lojban speakers I've added a zip file containing the PalmPilot Doc files of the gismu, cmavo, rafsi and jvoste lists. What is lojban? I plan to have a page explaining lojban and my interest in it soon. If you don't know what lojban is or don't have a PalmPilot then you definitely don't want to download the zip file! e'osai ko sarji la lojban. |
| 3/5/98 | No real changes - just general tidying up of pages, adjustments to the books page to cater for new Amazon.com features, etc. |
| 30/4/98 | Added the Papers and Discussions page. Here I list various research papers to do with neural networks and how I think the information could apply to genetic modifications to Norns. The first one discusses a way of changing a norn so it is more likely to look at an object if that object could reduce a high drive that the norn has. So if a norn is hungry it may be more likely to look at food if it knows that food reduces hunger. If it is more likely to look at the object then it is more likely to use it (ie. won't starve to death if there are other norns around!). |
| 29/4/98 | Added information and sample code on using DDE with Visual Basic 5.0 to the developers information page. |
| 26/4/98 | VC 5.0 programs need an additional DLL which I left out of the mfc.zip. I've now added it and also placed it in msvcp50.zip for those that have already downloaded mfc.zip. Sorry about the confusion! |
| 26/4/98 | Added more examples to the SVRule tutorial (Tutorial 2) and fleshed out descriptions of most of the SVRule opcodes. Only about eight opcodes remain to be deciphered. |
| 25/4/98 | Added the Perception lobe tutorial. Updated BrainActivity program to display the perception lobe information based upon data collected while exploring the perception lobe. |
| 25/4/98 |
Tidied up a few pages now that I'm back from my short holiday. Updated all source code and programs to use Visual C++ V5.0. Fixed bug in all programs that caused a small memory loss during each DDE macro executed. Added screenshots to the tutorials pages. Added the first example of Tuturial Two discussing State Variable Rules. |
| 15/4/98 |
Added the bookstore page. Added Frimlin's Kiwi Creatures to the links page. Added 'About Me' page. Corrected some minor spelling mistakes on various pages. Minor changes made to the utilities. BrainAcitivity was updated to included an option to allow changing of the time between requests to Creatures for information based upon feedback from Zeus. Source code for all programs added to the developer information page. |
| 14/4/98 | Added the new BrainActivity program. Changed the name of the web site because 'John Booths Web Page' didn't quite describe the contents :). Added the Quick Links section on the main page so those looking for just the programs or tutorials don't need to wade through the site. |
| 13/4/98 |
Fixed a bug in BrainCellMonitor where pressing the Add button sometimes caused an error to be displayed. Completed Tutorial One describing the functions of lobes and cells. |
| 12/4/98 | Updated web site and added the BrainCellMonitor program in preparation for some tutorials on brain lobe editing. |
| 7/4/98 | Expect to see some changes here this weekend. Upcoming things include a tutorial on creating additional brain lobes that perform new tasks, a walk through on an attempt to create a norn that is 'spatially aware' of it's surroundings and can differentiate between different locations in albia, example norns and programs that demonstrate the above. |
| 31/3/98 | If LobeStudy encounters a DDE error it now disconnects from Creatures. Previously it would display lots of message boxes and eventually crash. |
| 30/3/98 |
Updated LobeStudy to always display the object that the norn is currently looking at. This makes it easier to see what is meant when text like 'Activate It' and 'Retreating from It' are displayed. |