ioccc/2018/ferguson/weasel.1

.TH weasel 1 "15 February 2023" "weasel" "IOCCC 2018"
.SH NAME
weasel \- The IOCCC 2018 Implementation of Richard Dawkins's Weasel program
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBweasel\fP [\fI\-r<rate>\fP] [\fI\-m\fP] [\fI\-q\fP] [\fI<chromosomal string>\fP]
.PP
\fBweasel.alt\fP [\fI\-r<rate>\fP] [\fI\-m\fP] [\fI\-q\fP] [\fI<chromosomal string>\fP]
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBweasel\fP is an obfuscated implementation of Richard Dawkins' \fIWeasel program\fP.
According to Wikipedia in chapter three of his book \fIThe Blind Watchmaker\fP Dawkins wrote:
.PP
.RS
I don't know who it was first pointed out that, given enough time,
a monkey bashing away at random on a typewriter could produce all
the works of Shakespeare. The operative phrase is, of course, given
enough time. Let us limit the task facing our monkey somewhat.
Suppose that he has to produce, not the complete works of Shakespeare
but just the short sentence 'Methinks it is like a weasel', and we
shall make it relatively easy by giving him a typewriter with a
restricted keyboard, one with just the 26 (capital) letters, and
a space bar. How long will he take to write this one little sentence?
.RE
.PP
He refers to the \fIInfinite Monkey Theorem\fP in particular and as he
points out it is \fBgiven enough time.\fP The weasel program uses a \fIgenetic
algorithm (GA)\fP to intelligently come to a conclusion but this implementation
has several additions: \fBtwo Easter eggs,\fP a \fBquiet output mode,\fP
an \fBoption to change the mutation rate\fP as well as the ability to
\fBspecify the chromosomal string.\fP
Furthermore the keyboard isn't as limited as Dawkins's implementation.
The \fBweasel.alt\fP keyboard is a more limited keyboard but not
as limited as Dawkins's Weasel program keyboard.
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
\fB\-r\fP\fI<rate>\fP
This sets the mutation rate to \fI<rate>\fP; valid range is 1 through 100.
Anything outside this range will disable the genetic algorithm and simulate
a monkey in front of a typewriter.
If a valid mutation rate is set after this then the monkey typewriter mode
will be disabled but if monkey mode has been explicitly requested by the
\fB\-m\fP option the mutation rate is ignored.
Note that there cannot be a space between the \fB\-r\fP and \fI<rate>\fP.
The default is 1; valid range is >= 1 && <= 100.
.PP
\fB\-m\fP
Set monkey mode. This disables the genetic algorithm and is disables the
mutation rate entirely; instead it will pseudo-randomly select a character
from the keyboard in every offspring for every generation and selection
will not take place: parents are simply the first two offspring
regardless of their fitness score. Once this is enabled you
cannot disable it: be wary of the typing monkeys!
.PP
\fB\-q\fP
Quiet output.
Only display settings like mutation rate, quiet output,
target string and the final answer - if it comes to one.
Just like monkey mode you cannot disable this once it's been enabled.
.PP
\fB--\fP
Disable parsing of additional options (but not target strings); see
.B EXAMPLES
for a subtle point.
.SH EXIT STATUS
On error of any kind (including reaching the maximum number of attempts)
return 1; otherwise return 0.
.SH BUGS
Bugs? What's this? :) Any bugs are actually insolent monkeys tampering
with the program! But if you insist I do include errata on my website.
.SH EXAMPLES
.PP
\fBweasel\fP
.PP
.NF
Using the GA with the default mutation rate of 1 and output mode (verbose)
look for the default string in Hawkins's Weasel program; note that in
all cases the string to be found is capitalised.
.FI
.PP
\fBweasel \-qr5
weasel \-q \-r5\fP
.NF
.PP
Enables quiet output and sets a mutation rate of 5.
.PP
.FI
\fBweasel \-rqr10\fP
.NF
.PP
First sets an invalid mutation rate, then enables quiet output and
finally sets (a valid) mutation rate of 10.
.FI
.PP
.NF
\fBweasel \-m 'I AM A MONKEY TYPING'\fP
.PP
.FI
Simulate a monkey typing at the typewriter trying to type out the
string \fBI AM A MONKEY TYPING\fP without quotes. Note that this will
take some time almost assuredly and you might fall asleep before
the monkey succeeds. Here you would see all the attempts because
quiet output was not requested.
.PP
\fBweasel I AM NOT A MONKEY\fP
.PP
.NF
Using the GA find the final string specified (this always happens);
because the string wasn't quoted the program will have seen each word
as a separate argument and thus it would search for \fBMONKEY\fP.
.FI
.PP
\fBweasel '"WEASEL"'\fP
.PP
.NF
Search for the string \fB"WEASEL"\fP including double quotes ("s).
.FI
.PP
\fBweasel "'WEASEL'"\fP
.PP
.NF
Search for the string \fB'WEASEL'\fP including the single quotes ('s).
.FI
.PP
\fBweasel \-q \-r5 \-\- \-r10\fP
.PP
.NF
Enable quiet output, set mutation rate to 5, disable further option parsing
and set target string to \fB-r10\fP (literally because option parsing was disabled).
.FI
.PP
\fBweasel \-r5\-q \-\- \-r10\fP
.PP
Set mutation rate to 5, enable quiet output, disable further parsing of
options and set target string to \fB-r10\fP (literally - because option parsing
was disabled as above). Observe that here the \fB-r5-q\fP doesn't prevent the
quiet output from being enabled; on the other hand the options
\fB-r5- -q -- -r10\fP would!
.RE
.SH HINTS
The IOCCC judges in 2018 asked the following in the guidelines:
.RS
.PP
\fBBTW: What is so special about 2305567963945518424753102147331756070? You tell us!\fP
.RE
.PP
It is the primorial prime of 97; but can you find a way to get the program
to by default search for this number instead? You might need the source code to
find it!
.SH SEE ALSO
.NF
<\fBhttps://ioccc.xexyl.net/2018/weasel\fP>
.PP
<\fBhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem\fP>
.PP
<\fBhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_program\fP>
.PP
<\fBhttps://web.archive.org/web/20180308131613/http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~nd/surprise_96/journal/vol1/hmw/article1.html\fP>
.SH AUTHOR
Cody Boone Ferguson <\fBweasel@xexyl.net\fP>