FAQ ver.1.4 - 13-Jan-2012

  1. Q: I've never written a robot. It's quite difficult, isn't it? What do I have to do ?

    A: Not at all. The CROBOTS manual, all documents and hundreds of source code are freely available for learning.

  2. Q: Can I write robots using other programming languages (Pascal, C++, BASIC) ?

    A: No. CROBOTS accepts a ANSI C subset only.

  3. Q: Can I use Crobots32 (Pascal Robots or other clones) for testing my robot?

    A: No, and it wouldn't be useful at all because they are not compatible (Crobots32 neither) with CROBOTS.

  4. Q: Is there any graphical interface of CROBOTS?

    A: For the match visualization no, there isn't: on Ms-DOS/Linux platforms it's only text-based. CROBOTS Amiga has got a pretty good graphical interface but its compiler isn't 100% compatible with the Ms-DOS/Linux version.

  5. Q: Is there any CROBOTS version for Windows9x/NT or OS/2 either?

    A: Yes. There's a CROBOTS Windows32 binary. CROBOTS Ms-DOS runs on a Windows or OS/2 virtual box, but performances are worse.

  6. Q: May I run CROBOTS into other operating systems?

    A: CROBOTS runs on any operating systems with the x86 DOS/Win32/Linux architectures support (or emulation). Now there're also binaries for HP-UX, Solaris, IBM AIX, Mac OS X and Playstation architectures.

  7. Q: What's the Linux version which supports CROBOTS?

    A: Whatever! Check the (link) and download the binaries.

  8. Q: What are the differences between the CROBOTS binaries versions?

    A: There isn't any substantial difference. The Linux version is the official one. The only differences are the 32-bit and 64-bit versions: any binary (.ro) compiled with the 32-bit CROBOTS version won't work with the 64-bit one's and vice versa.

  9. Q: What are the best robots for benchmarking and comparisons ?

    A: As usual the robots standing on the last yearly tournament final stage.

  10. Q: How can I analyze all CROBOTS log files ?

    A: Online, follow the download link where you can find several utilities which are useful for this purpose.

  11. Q: How do I calculate the repetition rate (which I can use for testing my robots) ?

    A: You decide how many matches each robots pair runs ; e.g. this number is TOT, the formula is : 

            TOT
      ------- (rounding up)
     (N-2) C 2
    Where N is the number of all robots and the nCr operator returns the numbers of combinations of 'n' elements 'r' times. Example: 1000 matches for each pair, 24 robots 
           1000        1000
    ----------  = ------ = 4.329 , rounded up to 5
   (24 - 2) C 2     231

    The face2face matches for each pair is obviously equal to the repetition number.

  12. Q: How many tests do I have to run to obtain reliable results?

    A: The percentage variation, using a repetition factor 5 and 24 robots is about 1-1.5%; if you get any improvement or worsening out of this interval the results are fairly reliable, otherwise you may want to increase the repetition factor or repeat the test.. or trust :-)

  13. Q: The Linux version of the CROBOTS compiler, in a single match, is going too fast. What can I do?

    A: This is a well-known issue: the only work-around is to use the version of the CROBOTS compiler for MS-DOS in a DOSBox emulator window, available for all Linux distributions.