[Icfp04-discuss] Ant optimizers?

[Kevin S. Millikin]

On Thursday, June 10, 2004 12:20 PM, Rares Ispas 
[SMTP:rares at raisoftware.ro] wrote:
> Such an optimizer will destroy the ant for sure, the ant's memory depends 
> on identical codes in different places to embedd state information, it is 
> the only working memory the ant has.

No, it cannot.  In Jack's example:

> line 10:  Sense Ahead 10 15 Food
> ..
> line 99:  Sense Ahead 10 15 Food

When the ant is in state 10 after sensing food ahead, it cannot tell if it 
came from state 10 or 99.  Likewise, when the ant is in state 15.

Obviously, if states of the ant represent "states of the world", then 
identical statements whose control flows to identical states must also 
represent identical states of the world.

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Kevin S. Millikin           Architecture Technology Corporation
Research Scientist          Specialists in Computer Architecture
(952)829-5864 x162          http://www.atcorp.com