03 Aug 04
I picked up on how it works after the first time (because it got mine wrong).
If it gets your person wrong, it asks what question would differ your person from the person it guessed. Then, it simply adds it to the database, so the next time someone chooses the person that it just got wrong, it will ask your extra question. If that someone answers yes, then it says it is your person, otherwise it goes back to the previous guess.
04 Aug 04
Originally posted by DreamlaXIn more (computer-) technical terms: the website containss a so-called binary 'tree', meaning that every branch on that 'tree' has either two or zero sub-branches. Each branch represents a question and the two answers to that question. If the user, after answering some question, reaches a brnch with no sub-branches (a so-called 'leaf'😉, then the program will present the user with the final answer.
I picked up on how it works after the first time (because it got mine wrong).
If it gets your person wrong, it asks what question would differ your person from the person it guessed. Then, it simply adds it to the database, so the next time someone chooses the person that it just got wrong, it will ask your extra question. If that someone answers yes, then it says it is your person, otherwise it goes back to the previous guess.
If that answer is correct, then the game finishes. If it's not, then the program will ask the user to provide it with an extra question that will allow the program to differentiate between the answer that it guessed, and the correct answer. Subsequently, two branches will be added to the aforementioned leaf; what used to be the leaf, now becomes the question that the user supplied, and the two branches represent the two different answers to that question: one being the 'correct' answer to the question, the other one being the answer that the computer originally guessed.
By playing the game more and more often, the tree grows bigger and bigger, getting better at the game each time around. At some point, it may be able to recognize each and every actor/dictator.
04 Aug 04
Originally posted by StrayJayThe tree only gets bigger if the player wins. If the guesser wins, you don't have the opportunity to add someone else to the tree.
By playing the game more and more often, the tree grows bigger and bigger, getting better at the game each time around. At some point, it may be able to recognize each and every actor/dictator.
04 Aug 04
Originally posted by DreamlaXYou are right, of course. :-) This website reminded me of my very firsat computer, an Acorn Atom. The manual that came with it contained a very similar program, only it used animals rather than characters from TV, and its database was much smaller: this was in the days that a computer's memory was still measured in kB rather than MB or even GB/TB...
The tree only gets bigger if the player wins. If the guesser wins, you don't have the opportunity to add someone else to the tree.
Aah, memory lane... :-)
04 Aug 04
1 edit
Originally posted by StrayJayI think it was Bill Gates that said "640 kilobytes of RAM is enough for anybody".
You are right, of course. :-) This website reminded me of my very firsat computer, an Acorn Atom. The manual that came with it contained a very similar program, only it used animals rather than characters from TV, and its database was mu ...[text shortened]... d in kB rather than MB or even GB/TB...
Aah, memory lane... :-)
Nowadays, computers come with 512 MB or 1 GB standard. Just imagine if games themselves were operating systems rather than something programs running on top of other programs. The OS reserves so much of the system resources, most of which aren't even used by games.
Of course, it would mean you'd have to reboot every time you wanted to play a game (or semi-hibernate).