Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I was testing out the CONTEST06 program with the given assembler file when I got an error:
C:\Users\john>C:\CONTEST06> CONTEST06.EXE -p:samplebot.asm
'C:\CONTEST06' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Does anybody know the problem here?

Hi AgentD1,

Welcome to the forums.

I suppose you are doing the following project:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary

And I suppose you are using Windows PC.

From the documentation (SciBudProjectBioGenerator.pdf), it looks like the program you need to run is CONTEST06.EXE. For example,
C:\CONTEST06> CONTEST06.EXE –p:yourPlayerFile.asm

Here C:\CONTEST06 is the working directory (and "C:\CONTEST06>" is the prompt you get from the computer).

Basically, all you need to do is change directory to where you save the program file CONTEST06.EXE and the assembly file (e.g. samplebot.asm) and type in
"CONTEST06.EXE -p:samplebot.asm".

The error message you got basically said that the computer could not find the program you intended to run.
In your message, you have the following:
C:\Users\john>C:\CONTEST06> CONTEST06.EXE -p:samplebot.asm

This implies that your working directory was C:\Users\john, and you typed in "C:\CONTEST06> CONTEST06.EXE -p:samplebot.asm", so the computer thought that your program name was 'C:\CONTEST06' and couldn't find it.

To correct the problem, you should just type in "CONTEST06.EXE -p:samplebot.asm" at the prompt, assuming CONTEST06.EXE was saved under C:\Users\john.

Please let me know if this does not solve your problem.

JChang

I'll be trying it out today again.

It says that it isn't a valid Win32 application?

Hi AgentD1,

I am sorry to hear that it didn't work for you.

I tried the program using the following command on a 64-bit Windows PC and on a 32-bit Windows PC, and it worked just fine for me on both PCs.
CONTEST06.EXE -p:samplebot.asm

This implies that the program is a Win32 program, which can also run on a Win64 platform.

Exactly what did you type and what was the response? It might help if you cut-and-paste what you saw on the screen?

JChang

Err well it's a popup window so I can't copy and paste but what it says is:
C:\Users\john\CONTEST06.EXEis not a valid Win32 application.
And the prompt I used was just a copy and paste of what you said.

Hi AgentD1,

Without looking at how you run your program, I am running out of ideas on how to help you debug.

Here are the steps I took to run the program.
First I downloaded CompSci_p021_Files.zip from Science Buddies's Project Website.
Then I unzipped this file into C:\Users\Chang
Then I opened the MS-DOS command prompt (by running the cmd program).
At the command prompt, I changed directory to where CONTEST06.EXE was located (cd C:\Users\Chang).
I did a list directory command (dir) just to show you that CONTEST06.EXE is in that directory.
Then I typed in CONTEST06.EXE to run the program. The program responded back and told me what I needed to supply as parameters.
(If I type in "CONTEST06.EXE -p:samplebot.asm", then the program will run correctly.)

Below is a snapshot of how I ran the program:
The commands I typed are highlighted in blue font.

C:\Users\thyang>cd C:\Users\Chang
C:\Users\Chang>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 28B5-6AB9

Directory of C:\Users\Chang

01/07/2014 06:59 PM <DIR> .
01/07/2014 06:59 PM <DIR> ..
02/08/2006 05:07 PM 143,360 contest06.exe
07/13/2006 11:59 AM 1,351 samplebot.asm
2 File(s) 144,711 bytes
2 Dir(s) 451,621,736,448 bytes free

C:\Users\Chang>contest06.exe

Symantec 2006 University Programming Competition
(C)Copyright 2006, Symantec Corporation

usage: contest06 -option1:value1 -option2:value2 ...

-g:X Single-step debug the organism specified by X (a letter)
-i:#### Specify # of iterations (default=1000000)
-l:log.txt Log organism program trace to log.txt
-p:org.asm *Specify the player's organism source file
-q Run in quiet mode (no display)
-s:#### Specify the randomization seed
-z:org.asm Show the disassembly and bytecode for this organism

* means required field

No player file specified

Fixed it. However I ran into another problem. When I open it up the screen starts shaking like crazy and then when I lcick it stops. Every time I do it I get a different number of ticks and score.

Hi AgentD1,

If you don't specify a "seed", then each time you run the program, it will start with a different "random seed" and you will get a different result each time.
You could specify a fixed seed with -s option, so that it will be easier for you to debug.

For example,
CONTEST06.EXE -s:1000 -p:samplebot.asm

If you stop the program at a different tick count without letting it run to completion, then you will see a different score even if you use a fixed seed.
It takes a while to run through the default 1000000 ticks (the default iteration count). You could also change this default iteration count by using the -i option.

JChang

Thanks for all the help. So all I use to debug is the stuff at the end right? Thanks again.

If you enter the command CONTEST06.EXE without specifying any options, the program will list all the options that you can use.

To debug, you should use a fixed seed every time (by using -s option) and you can monitor a specific organism by using the -g option.

For example, the following command use 1 as the seed and will monitor (or debug) the organism represented by the letter A. With the -g option, you could run your program tick by tick by hitting the return (or enter) key repeatedly.

CONTEST06.EXE -s:1 -g:A -p:samplebot.asm -l:test.log


JChang

My research teacher was wondering if I could have an actual display of the NANORGs because right now my trifold board is mostly text. But there's no way to do that right?

Does anybody have any ideas for the project? I need to design them as individual hypotheses. And does anyone have any good tutorials to learn the NANORG language?

Nevermind the window wasn't big enough.

I can't seem to understand the language and it seems different from regular assembler...

Are there any good tutorials for the assembler code used in the NANORG project?

Hello. We noticed you had three different topic threads going for your project. We have merged them into one topic. Please keep all questions for your project under the same thread. This will help our mentors best answer your questions based on what has already been discussed.

As far as tutorials for the programming language go, I didn't find anything with a quick Google search. There are instructions included in the .zip file you should have downloaded. Did you read through those instructions? There are examples in the instructions and in the procedures section of the project description here:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary

As far as project ideas go, the objective is to maximize the number of energy points collected. You must write your program to manipulate your NANORGs in such a way to maximize amount of energy points collected while dealing with all of the problems presented to you:
1. Energy is used for your NANORGs to operate
2. Malicious NANORGs
3. Toxic sludge

There are two types of projects you could do. One using the scientific method, which asks a question about something in nature that you wish to further investigate. The other type of project is one using the Engineering Method. This method is used when you wish to create something new. This project follows the engineering method, which does not involve constructing a hypothesis. You can learn more about the differences between the two methods here:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/engineer ... thod.shtml

I hope this helps. Please write back (on this thread) if you still have questions.

Thanks for the help found the instructions in the zip.

In the project, it tells me to base some of my program off the wining ones. Where are these programs located?

Review the "Using the seed command" section of the procedures. It explains there.

dcnick96 wrote:Review the "Using the seed command" section of the procedures. It explains there.

Do you have any actual URLs? I can't find anything with just a google search...

AgentD1 wrote:

dcnick96 wrote:Review the "Using the seed command" section of the procedures. It explains there.

Do you have any actual URLs? I can't find anything with just a google search...

I found a few that I could use but nothing directly from Symantec.

Where are you seeing the project recommend you basing your some of your program off of the winning ones? It discusses you comparing your results to the winning scores, but I didn't see a recommendation to base your program off of the winning ones. You probably won't find the winning code on the internet, as that would provide an unfair advantage to those competing in future competitions, like yourself. If you do a simple Google search of "nanorg science project," you will find some discussions from other students and their scores. You can compare your scores to that.

I noticed the link to more information on the contest is a broken link. We will report that. We apologize for any confusion that may have caused.

Good luck!

dcnick96 wrote:Where are you seeing the project recommend you basing your some of your program off of the winning ones? It discusses you comparing your results to the winning scores, but I didn't see a recommendation to base your program off of the winning ones. You probably won't find the winning code on the internet, as that would provide an unfair advantage to those competing in future competitions, like yourself. If you do a simple Google search of "nanorg science project," you will find some discussions from other students and their scores. You can compare your scores to that.

I noticed the link to more information on the contest is a broken link. We will report that. We apologize for any confusion that may have caused.

Good luck!

Oh that would make more sense. It's fine i was just wondering about that original link which was why i asked. Thank you.

You're welcome. Good luck, and let us know how the rest of your project goes!

dcnick96 wrote:You're welcome. Good luck, and let us know how the rest of your project goes!

Is there anywhere you can get me started? Either ideas/actual code?

Review the procedures section of the project. They provide some required lines of code and emphasize you read the instructions and look at the example code provided by Symantec. The key to programming is to start small. Don't try to achieve everything at once. Divide your project into sections, starting with an easy objective. Once your code works well and achieves that objective, move on to programming a bigger objective. Continue this process until you reach your final objective.

Good luck!

dcnick96 wrote:Review the procedures section of the project. They provide some required lines of code and emphasize you read the instructions and look at the example code provided by Symantec. The key to programming is to start small. Don't try to achieve everything at once. Divide your project into sections, starting with an easy objective. Once your code works well and achieves that objective, move on to programming a bigger objective. Continue this process until you reach your final objective.

Good luck!

Thanks. I think I'm going to start with seeing which movement pattern is the best and then move on to energy collection and other more complicated things.

That sounds like a great plan. Good luck!

I have a science fair coming up in January, and I need ideas that involve computer science or possibly soccer. Some of my ideas have been rejected by my teacher. I could use excel to make spreadsheets if need be. Anyway, thanks for your help!