sifi
Chad R. Larson
chad at qip.UUCP
Wed Aug 1 09:14:51 AEST 1990
Ok, I admit it. I'm a compulsive frobber. I took the posting of
"sifi" and de-ANSIfied it so it would compile on SysVr3 (and
probably most UNIXes). This probably broke it for an ANSI
compiler. I don't know; I don't have one handy.
I also ran it through the C beautifier and linted it. Lint
discovered a couple of descriptions were unused (weapon results
and being type) so I added code to output them. I fixed the
"chapters" hack at the end.
This has changed so many lines that "diff" and "patch" would be
useless, so here it is again.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
/*
** From: kdq at demott.COM (Kevin D. Quitt)
** Newsgroups: alt.sources
** Subject: Sifi generator
** Message-ID: <439 at demott.COM>
** Date: 30 Jul 90 19:37:53 GMT
** Reply-To: kdq at demott.COM (Kevin D. Quitt)
** Organization: DeMott Electronics Co., Van Nuys CA
** Lines: 422
*/
/*
Kevin D. Quitt demott!kdq kdq at demott.com
DeMott Electronics Co. 14707 Keswick St. Van Nuys, CA 91405-1266
VOICE (818) 988-4975 FAX (818) 997-1190 MODEM (818) 997-4496 PEP last
96.37% of all statistics are made up.
*/
/* De-ansified by chad at anasaz.UUCP - Tue Jul 31 08:13:33 MST 1990 */
/**
Please note: This program was converted on the date shown from a
spaghetti-coded BASIC program (that almost worked). I am the original
author of both works, though G*d only knows why someone would claim
otherwise. I make no claims that the code below is optimal, or even
particularly good - most of the translation was done with editor macros.
Note that the original flowchart for this program is *not* my creation -
I believe that Gahan Wilson did it originally, I think about 81,
published in OMNI magazine. I do know that he published such a chart
for horror-films (somewhere, I have that one, too) - I believe this
latter was in National Lampoon. I would appreciate authoritative
information about the original author and chart. I would *really*
appreciate a copy of that chart - which I'll copy and mail to everyone.
Useful Improvements:
Some way of encoding the story produced to prevent duplication
of plot lines (within, oh, say, 50-100 plots).
Perhaps a better random number generator, or better seed.
More phrases, more "au curant" phrases (I just added the Captain Kirk
shtick), maybe some more original paths.
A better way to encode the phrase data perhaps, so that a switch-less
or switch-minimal engine can create all the phrases.
Looking for comments on whether to keep the phrases in a separate file,
something like:
SIZE:
tiny
large
"incredibly phenomenally huge"
BUT:
...
I already have code for parsing such files.
This code is ANSI C, but compiled with MSC 6.0. Let me know if ANSI
gives you problems; obviously it doesn't matter a whole lot. Please let
me know what changes you have to make to get it to run on your system -
I'll incorporate all I can. This is fairly simple; my goal is for it to
compile without warnings on any system.
I will periodically inform you of "improvements" via e-mail.
Mostly it's silly, and for fun. Let's see what we can do with it before
we release it on an unsuspecting net.
**/
/*
** SIFI.C 24-Jul-90 21:21:51 by Kevin D. Quitt
** Science fiction plot generator
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#ifdef MSDOS
# include <stdlib.h>
# include <time.h>
#else
typedef long time_t;
#endif
/* function definitions */
#if __STDC__ == 1
char *skip_blanks(char *);
void print (char *);
int describe_being (void);
int do_but (void);
void sifi (void);
int main(int, char *);
long atol(char *);
void exit(int);
void srand(unsigned int);
time_t time(time_t *);
#else
char *skip_blanks();
void print ();
int describe_being ();
int do_but ();
void sifi ();
int main();
long atol();
void exit();
void srand();
time_t time();
#endif
int col; /* characters on line */
#define TRUE (1)
#define FALSE (0)
#define LINE_WIDTH (75)
#define SIZE_COUNT (6)
char *size[ SIZE_COUNT ] =
{
"tiny",
"giant",
"microscopic",
"planet-sized",
"humongous",
"itty-bitty"
};
#define BEING_COUNT (5)
char *being[ BEING_COUNT ] =
{
"bugs, which",
"reptiles, which",
"mechanical devices, which",
"super persons, who",
"icky things, which"
};
#define BEING_TYPE_COUNT (4)
char *being_type[ BEING_TYPE_COUNT ] =
{
"extra-galactic",
"Martian",
"Moon",
"Betelgeusian"
};
#define COMET_RESULTS_COUNT (4)
char *comet_results[ COMET_RESULTS_COUNT ] =
{
"destroyed.",
"saved by Jesus and the J.D.L.",
"not destroyed, but everybody dies.",
"not destroyed, but almost everybody dies."
};
#define KILLED_BY_COUNT (3)
char *killed_by[ KILLED_BY_COUNT ] =
{
"the Atomic Bomb",
"a crowd of peasants with torches",
"the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and/or Coast Guard"
};
#define BUT_COUNT (4)
char *but[ BUT_COUNT ] =
{
"they fall in love with this beautiful girl",
"a cute little kid convinces them that people are O.K.",
"a priest talks to them of God",
"Captain Kirk uses logic on them"
};
#define TERMINAL1_COUNT (3)
char *term1[ TERMINAL1_COUNT ] =
{
"and they die.",
"and they leave.",
"and they turn into disgusting lumps."
};
#define TERMINAL2_COUNT (4)
char *term2[ TERMINAL2_COUNT ] =
{
"but they die from catching chicken pox.",
"so they kill us.",
"so they put us under a benign dictatorship.",
"so they eat us."
};
#define WEAPON_RESULTS_COUNT (3)
char *weapon_results[ WEAPON_RESULTS_COUNT ] =
{
"which fails",
"which kills them.",
"which turns them into disgusting lumps.",
};
char *skip_blanks(line)
char *line;
{
while ( isspace( *line++) )
;
return --line;
}
/*
** Output text broken on word boundaries.
**
** Text is automatically preceeded by a blank, unless a period
** starts the line. Leading blanks are tossed when we're at the
** start of a line.
*/
void print (line)
char *line;
{
int len = strlen( line );
int c, l;
char myline[ LINE_WIDTH + 1 ];
if ( (col != 0) && !ispunct( *line ) ) {
putchar( ' ' );
col++;
}
/* If the input text won't fit on the current line, we split it */
while ( (len + col) > LINE_WIDTH ) {
if ( col >= LINE_WIDTH ) { /* Safety play from blank above */
puts( "" );
col = 0;
line = skip_blanks( line );
continue;
}
for ( l = LINE_WIDTH - col; l >= 0; l--) {
if ( isspace( c = line[ l ] ) || ( c == '-' ) ) {
if ( c == '-' )
l++;
strncpy( myline, line, l );
myline[ l ] = 0;
puts( myline );
col = 0;
len -= l;
line += l + 1;
break;
}
}
/*
** If we couldn't split it, the are two possibilites. If we're
** not on column 0, then it may be that the *first* word is too
** long to fit. If we *are* on column zero, then the string
** can't be split. In the former case we start a new line and
** try again. In the latter, we punt.
*/
if ( l < 0 ) {
if ( col == 0 ) { /* Can't be split! */
puts( line ); /* Joke it */
return;
}
col = LINE_WIDTH; /* First word can't be split */
}
}
printf( "%s", line );
col += len;
}
int describe_being ()
{
int done = FALSE;
print( size[ rand() % SIZE_COUNT ] );
print( being_type[ rand() % BEING_TYPE_COUNT ] );
print( being[ rand() % BEING_COUNT ] );
switch ( rand() % 6 ) {
case 0:
{
print( "want our women,");
if ( rand() & 1 ) {
print( "take a few and leave.");
done = TRUE;
break;
}
break;
}
case 1:
{
print( "are friendly.");
done = TRUE;
break;
}
case 2:
{
print( "are friendly, but misunderstood,");
break;
}
case 3:
{
print( "misunderstand us");
break;
}
case 4:
{
print( "understand us too well");
break;
}
case 5:
{
print(
"look upon us only as a source of nourishment");
if ( rand() & 1 ) {
print( "and eat us.");
done = TRUE;
break;
}
break;
}
}
return done;
}
int do_but ()
{
int choice;
print( ", but");
choice = rand() % BUT_COUNT;
print( but[ choice ] );
if ( (choice == 0) && (rand() & 1) )
print( "and they get married and live happily ever after.");
else
print( term1[ rand() % TERMINAL1_COUNT ] );
return TRUE;
}
void sifi ()
{
int done = FALSE;
int choice;
switch ( rand() % 6 ) {
case 0:
{
print( "Earth is struck by a giant comet and");
print( comet_results[ rand() % COMET_RESULTS_COUNT ] );
done = TRUE;
break;
}
case 1:
case 2:
{
print( "Scientists discover or invent");
done = describe_being();
break;
}
case 3:
case 4:
{
print( "Earth is attacked by");
done = describe_being();
break;
}
case 5:
{
print( "Earth burns up or freezes or falls into the sun");
if ( rand() & 1 )
print( "and everybody dies.");
else
print( "and almost everybody dies.");
done = TRUE;
break;
}
}
if ( !done ) {
if ( rand() & 1 )
print( "and are radioactive, and");
else
print( "and are not radioactive, and");
if ( rand() & 1 )
print( "can be killed by");
else
print( "cannot be killed by");
print( killed_by[ rand() % KILLED_BY_COUNT ] );
if ( rand() & 1 ) {
what_to_do:
if ( rand() & 3 )
done = do_but();
else
{
if ( rand() % 3 )
print( term2[ rand() % TERMINAL2_COUNT ] );
else
{
print( "so scientists invent a weapon");
choice = rand() % WEAPON_RESULTS_COUNT;
print( weapon_results[ choice ] );
if ( choice == 0 )
goto what_to_do;
}
}
} else
print( ".");
}
}
int main(argc, argv)
int argc;
char *argv[];
{
long how_many = 1;
int chapters = FALSE;
time_t seed;
if ( argc > 1 ) {
if ( *argv[1] == '-' ) {
how_many = atol( &argv[1][1] );
chapters = TRUE;
} else {
puts( "Science Fiction plot generator");
puts( "sifi -number_of_chapters");
exit( 0 );
}
}
time( &seed );
srand( (unsigned int)(seed & -1) );
while ( how_many--) {
col = 0;
sifi();
puts("\n");
}
if (chapters)
puts( "The End.");
return 0;
}
--
Chad R. Larson ...{mcdphx,asuvax}!anasaz!chad or chad at anasaz.UUCP
Anasazi, Inc. - 7500 North Dreamy Draw Drive, Suite 120, Phoenix, Az 85020
(602) 870-3330 "I read the news today, oh boy!" -- John Lennon
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