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Monday, September 29, 2003

Proposal: More Virus Fun (Trivial)

There is a slight chance of a problem with the virus interacting with the MCP in weird ways.
In Rule 12, in the MCP Source Code, where it reads:

//Create a single item of Product
if (efficiency(self) > 3)
{X=10}
if (efficiency(self) < 4)
{X=15}

Alter it to:

//Create a single item of Product
X=10
if (efficiency(self) < 4)
{X=15}

Explanation: Pull out your copy of the MCP Source Code. If the Virus infects the MCP Source Code and changes either the 3 or 4 in this subroutine, then for certain levels of efficiency X becomes undefined. If the 3 is doubled (to 6), a robot with efficiency from 4 to 6 would not have X defined in either "if" statement, and would not be able to subtract it from the power in the next section of code, where {power(self) = power(self)-X}. The same thing happens if the 4 is halved, for efficiency from 2 to 3.

With the change, X would be defined for everyone initially, and then changed (if applicable) as the MCP moved in sequence to the next line.

I hope this makes senseto everyone. The odds of it happening are pretty tiny (with the present ruleset, 1 in 221, averaging once every 4 years or so) but with Murphy's Law in effect at all times, this seemed like a reasonable patch for otherwise flawless code.


Enacted by Kevan, 2nd Oct. +2 to Damanor, +2 to Kevan.