Manufactoria

Apreche

Remember Codex of Alchemical Engineering? Well, there's a new flash game on the scene called Manufactoria. It doesn't even try to hide the fact that it's teaching you Turing Machines. It's reminiscent of Diamond Age, really. I've solved the easiest 9 stages so far.

lackofcheese

I guess in the last level you have to build a machine that tests for infinite loops?
^_~

WindUpBird

I guess in the last level you have to build a machine that tests for infinite loops?
^_~

When I learned that it is impossible to write a program that tests for infinite loops, it blew my friggin mind. It made total sense once I thought it through, but it was still one of those moments where I had to pause and contemplate why a computer *couldn't* do something given an infinite amount of time.

Apreche

Solved four more. The rest are going to be tough.

Sova

Hmmm. I solved the first 15 or so no sweat, but I can't remember how to multiply in binary, and I refuse to pull out my circuit analysis textbook to find the answer.

lackofcheese

The one where you move all blues to the front was tricky, but I got it with a slow-ass time of 3:54. The one with X blue followed by X red was even trickier, though.
By the way, the multiplication one you're talking about is laughably easy. Adding 1 is so very much harder.

Dr. Timo

F**K YOU SCOTT! I have to prepare a lecture! Not now... ooh there's conveyor belts...

Sova

I remember that multiplication was really easy, I just don't remember how to do it, and yes, the adding one is much more difficult. Conveyor belts and sorters are an interesting way to recreate logic gates

lackofcheese

Multiplying by eight in binary? If you can't see how to do that, you don't actually understand binary.
Hint: How do you multiply by 10 in decimal?

lackofcheese

Hell yes! I got a working incrementor. That was followed quickly by a decrementor for which I copy-pasted and mirror imaged my incrementor (swapping some 1s and 0s, of course). I'm now left with the difficult challenges of reversing a string, and putting a yellow in the middle of a string.

EDIT: Got one that puts a yellow in the middle. That was a lot of fun.
EDIT2: Reversing is very similar conceptually, so I got it pretty quickly after I got that one. Now the two hardest ones are left.
EDIT3: Man, do I love code re-use. I doubt I'm getting the most efficient of solutions, but they're a lot easier to get if you copy-paste your solutions.
EDIT4: My god, the last challenge is to add two numbers together. I think I'll give up for now.

Dromaro

I'm slowly getting this. It's been a while but the logic is coming back...

Omnutia

When I learned that it is impossible to write a program that tests for infinite loops, it blew my friggin mind. It made total sense once I thought it through, but it was still one of those moments where I had to pause and contemplate why a computer *couldn't* do something given an infinite amount of time.

To clarify: It's a program that detects infinite loops in itself. If you had one program checking another then it would work; Provided only one of them was doing the checking and didn't send the other a kill signal. Right?

Sova

Oh, duh. Man, too much time filling out paperwork and working out recently, turned the problem solving part of my brain off or something.

YoshoKatana

Blerg, I can only get the first ten, so far. I'm not sure how to check for the last x colours. (to let them through, or write them to the front), so those puzzles have stumped me for now.

lackofcheese

When I learned that it is impossible to write a program that tests for infinite loops, it blew my friggin mind. It made total sense once I thought it through, but it was still one of those moments where I had to pause and contemplate why a computer *couldn't* do something given an infinite amount of time.

To clarify: It's a program that detects infinite loops in itself. If you had one program checking another then it would work; Provided only one of them was doing the checking and didn't send the other a kill signal. Right?

The idea is that you can't make a program with the ability to test all programs for infinite loops. So indeed it is a program checking other programs.

lackofcheese

I don't believe this. I actually have a device that adds two numbers (as per the last challenge), but I don't have enough room to make an exit path. Instead, the device just keeps adding zeros to the front of the correct answer! GRRRR!!!

lackofcheese

I DID IT!
lvl=31&code=b7:8f3;p7:9f0;b7:10f2;c8:9f0;i8:10f3;c8:11f1;c9:8f3;p9:9f3;c9:10f2;c9:11f0;c10:9f2;c10:10f1;c10:11f0;r11:11f0;p11:9f2;r11:8f3;c11:10f3;c6:11f2;c7:11f3;q7:12f3;y6:12f3;b6:13f2;c7:13f2;y8:12f2;c8:13f2;c9:13f2;c11:12f2;r9:12f2;c10:12f2;c6:9f3;c6:10f3;r12:4f2;b12:8f2;p13:4f1;c13:5f1;p13:6f2;c13:7f3;p13:8f3;c13:9f2;c14:4f2;c14:5f0;i14:6f4;i14:7f0;b14:8f1;c14:9f2;r15:4f3;c15:5f3;i15:6f5;c15:7f0;c15:8f2;c15:9f1;q16:8f2;c12:6f2;c6:1f3;c6:2f3;c6:3f3;c6:4f3;c6:5f3;c6:6f3;c6:7f2;c7:1f0;c7:3f2;c7:4f1;c7:5f1;r7:6f1;c7:7f2;g8:1f0;b8:2f3;i8:3f5;c8:4f3;c8:5f2;c8:6f0;c8:7f3;q9:1f1;p9:2f1;c9:3f1;p9:4f0;c9:5f3;p9:6f3;q9:7f3;b10:2f0;c10:3f3;g10:4f0;r10:6f0;g10:7f2;g12:2f0;c11:2f3;c11:3f0;q12:3f1;i13:3f0;c13:2f1;c11:7f1;c11:6f2;c8:8f2;c12:9f2;c10:13f1;c15:3f0;c14:3f0;p16:3f0;r16:4f1;b16:2f3;c17:3f0;q16:1f3;g14:1f2;c13:1f2;c15:1f2;r17:1f3;c17:2f3;i16:6f3;g16:7f1;b16:5f2;c12:11f1;c12:10f2;c13:10f2;c14:10f2;r16:10f2;c15:10f3;c15:11f2;c16:11f2;c12:12f1;i17:11f7;c18:11f1;c18:10f1;c18:9f1;c18:8f1;c18:7f1;c18:6f1;c18:5f1;c18:4f1;c18:3f0;c17:6f3;c17:7f3;c17:8f3;c17:9f3;i17:10f5;q17:12f3;c18:12f3;c18:13f0;c17:13f0;c16:13f0;c15:13f1;c15:12f0;p14:12f0;b14:11f3;r14:13f1;q13:12f0;q13:13f1;c17:5f2;y16:9f3;b16:12f2;By the way, you can get into any level in the game by loading a save at that level, so if you haven't gotten this far but still want to see the solution you can do so.