Author Topic: Hi, new to Darwinbots  (Read 3596 times)

Offline Beechlgz

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Hi, new to Darwinbots
« on: October 17, 2011, 06:06:30 AM »
Hi, I just joined and I'm new to Darwinbots.

It looks like a fun and interesting experiment but I noticed it's incredibly complex. There seem to be a lot of computer-orientated minds on this board and for a computer illiterate who can't seem to learn a programming language to save themselves (I have tried C++ and Java even with added tuition, but my dyscalculia and related learning difficulties always gets in the way even in non-math parts and I never got very far), forgive me for saying I find the place a little intimidating. So, I thought I'd post my introduction to sort of break the ice a bit.

So, I'm 22 and live in the UK. I like biology (but failed at it at university level) and love learning little titbits of info about living organisms, ecosystems and various interactions between various species and their environment on a very non-academic basis. I'm a restricted learner and can't really force myself to learn something that doesn't interest me. I'm determined to try improve my learning skills so I can learn things that don't interest me because it's inevitable that there has and will again come a time where I want to understand something I find interesting and I will also need to understand something I don't find interesting in order to do that.

That doesn't relate to Darwinbots at all, though. The reason why I joined here is because, quite simply, the concept interested me. It's like a little virtual petri dish on your computer. But I do find it incredibly confusing to use or understand. I realise a lot of people here can read the bot's genetic code and that might offer an insight and explanation to bot behaviours but I find myself unable to make the connection between what I'm reading in the code and what I'm seeing in the behaviours. So most of the time I don't really know what's going on.

I have however managed to get a stable population of animal minimalis descendants, stabilized at around 1400 bots at any one time, on a medium sized plain, feeding on continuously replenishing alga minimalis. It's been stable for around 5000 cycles now. I usually have it on ninja mode because my computer is crap.

For someone like myself who isn't very, erm... clued up about computery or biology things, is there anything I can still get out of Darwinbots, or is it perhaps a bit over my head?

Offline ikke

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Re: Hi, new to Darwinbots
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2011, 12:46:38 PM »
Download a bot and watch it evolve. No programming skill required

Offline Numsgil

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Re: Hi, new to Darwinbots
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2011, 02:24:47 PM »
You really can just let it run and see changes in bot behavior over time.  Not all behaviors are obvious but some really are (bots that evolve to always move, that sort of thing).  If you've got a stable population you're already over the hardest hurdle, which is figuring out the options in a simulation well enough to get something running.

Offline ashton1993

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Re: Hi, new to Darwinbots
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2011, 06:01:10 PM »
Yar, as the others have said you don't need any programming knowledge for the bots, I never think of them as running of code but running of simple maths equations... which I manage to needlessly complicate, but shucks.