Sunday Things - tiny code edition
posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 14 2017
The text for this article is likely longer than most of the things I'm linking to - tiny pieces of algorithmic sculpture that makes things like elevated look positively obese.
A Mind Is Born - 256 byte audiovisual demo for the Commodore 64, with a full writeup of its inner workings. If that's too much for you, there's always the 23 byte (yes, twenty three byte) Wallflower, coincidentally also for the Commodore 64.
Music from very short programs - the 3rd iteration - ridiculously simple code fragments outputting PCM audio. The one at 3:25 sounds way too complex to be the product of so little code. Have a Javascript web-app for live experimentation!
1kB Challenge: and the winners are... - the implementations of all those previous tiny demos are cheating in some respect, in that they're relying on operating systems - from the modern (and gigantic) to the vintage (and merely small). But what if you don't have such luxuries as gigabytes of software libraries, or even kilobytes of mask ROMs in hardware peripherals? Hackaday's 1kB challenge saw to that, with the winner making use of an ultra-compressed character set for visual output on an LCD.
Bonus Baby Strandbeest corner:
Techmoan pointed out the existence of Gakken's lovely educational kits. And, with my long-burning Strandbeest obsession...
- Mini Strandbeest Kit - really motors along when stuck in front of a fan. Also, packaging and accompanying magazine look gorgeous - although it's all in Japanese...
- Mini Rhinoceros Kit - lumbers slowly but gracefully into the wind. No English instructions, but the pictures are pretty informative - and the English text online for the previous one points out potential pitfalls more clearly. Construction is pretty similar, although not identical.
- Strandbeest USA Web Shop - looks like they're also available here much more cheaply, but I've no idea what delivery is like. I need to build up an army for releasing on to windswept beaches around Seattle. Is this how Strandbeest reproduce, through human dispersal of tiny Strandbeest nymphs?
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