robotfindskitten

*robotfindskitten*
robotfindskitten
Original author	Leonard Richardson
Release	1997
Stable release	2.8284271.702 / 1 March 2020; 6 years ago
Written in	Assembly language, C/C++, Flash, Gambas, Inform, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Scratch
Platform	Amiga, Android, Apple II, Arduboy, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atmel AVR, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, Lego Mindstorms NXT, OS X, Maemo, Nintendo DS, Wii, Palm OS, PlayStation Portable, POSIX, QNX, Rockbox, TI-83 Plus, TI-99/4A, Z-machine, ZX Spectrum
Available in	English
Type	Game
License	GPL v2 or later
Website	http://robotfindskitten.org/
Repository	github.com/robotfindskitten/robotfindskitten ;

robotfindskitten is a free video game originally written by Leonard Richardson for MS-DOS. The game uses ASCII interface in which the player, as the eponymous robot and represented by a number sign "#", must find a kitten (represented by a random character) on a field of other random characters.

Gameplay

Walking up to items allows robot to identify them as either kitten, or any of a variety of "non-kitten items" with whimsical, strange, or random text descriptions. It is not possible to lose (though there is a patch that adds a 1 in 10 probability of the item killing the robot). Simon Carless has characterized robotfindskitten as "less a game and more a way of life ... It's fun to wander around until you find a kitten, at which point you feel happy and can start again".^[2]

Ports

The game has been ported to and/or implemented on over 30 platforms, including POSIX, the Dreamcast, Palm OS, TI-99/4A, the Z-machine, the Sony PSP, Android, and many more.^[3] Graphical versions, such as an OpenGL version with # emblazoned on an otherwise featureless cube, also exist. Remakes are also used as programming tutorials, such as for Gambas.

In a 2023 study on automated translation of C programs into Rust, robotfindskitten was used as a benchmark program for the translation tools C2Rust and Crown. The study reported that the game's source code contains one raw pointer declaration but no raw pointer uses.^[4]

References

↑ "robotfindskitten - Browse /robotfindskitten-POSIX/ship_it_anyway at SourceForge.net".
↑ Carless, Simon (2004-01-01). Gaming Hacks. O'Reilly Media, Inc. pp. 219–220. ISBN 9780596007140.
↑ "The Many Ports". robotfindskitten.org. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
↑ Zhang, Hanliang; David, Cristina; Yu, Yijun; Wang, Meng (2023). "Ownership guided C to Rust translation". Computer Aided Verification. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. pp. 475–477. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-37709-9_22. hdl:1983/6e9283eb-66d7-4756-8968-26fba8799955. ISBN 978-3-031-37708-2. ISSN 0302-9743.

External links

Robotfindskitten at MobyGames
"robotfindskitten... helping robots find kittens since 1997". robotfindskitten.org. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
robotfindskitten in a Java applet
Fictional Back-story to the game, detailing robot's creation
"The Ultimate robotfindskitten Fan Site" on the original author's web site
A robotfindskitten-inspired challenge in code golf at Stack Exchange

[wikidata-5129e4a182de25a9eb2ec70acfb4460fe42f3a8c-v20-1] "robotfindskitten - Browse /robotfindskitten-POSIX/ship_it_anyway at SourceForge.net".

[2] Carless, Simon (2004-01-01). Gaming Hacks. O'Reilly Media, Inc. pp. 219–220. ISBN 9780596007140.

[3] "The Many Ports". robotfindskitten.org. Retrieved 18 March 2015.

[4] Zhang, Hanliang; David, Cristina; Yu, Yijun; Wang, Meng (2023). "Ownership guided C to Rust translation". Computer Aided Verification. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. pp. 475–477. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-37709-9_22. hdl:1983/6e9283eb-66d7-4756-8968-26fba8799955. ISBN 978-3-031-37708-2. ISSN 0302-9743.

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