Around

5 and t

Weave

Checkerboard

A Well Worn Plaid

Iris

Comb

Flags

Inversions

Boxes

HELLO WORLD

Breadboard

JUMP TO:

2. The First Track

4. Firing Up in the SET mode

7. The Wait Time Selector

11. The Cheat

12. The 0t Wait Time

16. The Term Project

18. The Extras

Step 1. Hello, I assume you took the lesson on coloring yet, so you know what to expect. Remember, you can turn off the tooltips. Below the project links I provide the JUMP TO links with the numbers of the steps.

To pass from here to the next step, please start the project named Around. What did you mean it's not starting? Did you try to click on firepegs?

Step 2. No luck? What could have gone wrong? Please select the READY mode. Oh, well! Please excuse me, I did not link those firepegs. That's why your fires died.

The squares around the color square are the links. If there is no wait time on them, a fire can not reach the next peg. Do you see the board in the READY mode and no wait times?

Step 3. Now I'd like you to build a familiar track around the board. Click on each yellow spot, and nowhere else. To remove the number, just click again. Click to confirm when you are done.

Links make this toy more than a lighted pegboard. Firepegs live, and they express themselves through the links. The wait time of 1 means that the next peg catches the fire 1 tick later.

Step 4. Depending on what layout do you have and what pattern do you want to make, you may find it convenient to fire up the starter pegs in the SET mode, where fires are not running away from you.

See you there. Please click to confirm.

Step 5. Out of testosteronity, I strive to start every pattern from a single click on the top left corner of the board. Please do it, then switch to GO mode to see your pattern running. While watching, please click on firepegs along the track.

You may start up to 4 fires, but the fifth one will die. Like waves or gears, this kind of firepegs need a down after every up... Are you ready for more?

Step 6. If you fire up every linked peg, next tick there will be no fire on the board at all. To do it, slow down your pattern to 1/5 tick per second. Or you can switch to the SET mode and back.

In this early prototype of FIREPEGS software, you can only kill all the fires at once. A handy fire extinguisher is the button labeled reset or OFF. It also selects the READY mode. Please try it.

Step 7. The least remarkable control labeled wait selects the value of the wait time. You choose the value and click on the links to set them up. Then you can select another value and click on the other links.

Pick 4t (4 ticks) from the wait time selector and click on the highlighted link. I expect that the fire will travel along the track, disappear, emerge 4 ticks later and continue hopping alone.

Step 8. The mode is GO yet. Please click on the top left firepeg and watch the hop back to the same peg from below.

I highlighted the selector labeled show. Try it. On FIRES you must see nothing during that hop. Selecting STATES you must see that the top left peg enters the wait state (1) before the fire disappears. Select COUNTS and watch how the wait time gets counted down.

Step 9. I have brought you to the READY mode. Please break the loop, opening the link, which passes the fire back to the top left firepeg. The open (or wait forever) value is ~. This letter, called tilde, is found on every keyboard, and one half of infinity is good enough for my purposes. Select tilde and click on the highlighted link.

Step 10. That's fine. I don't show tildes on the board. They look scary.

Please select the GO mode and click on the track. The fires must die before reaching the top left firepeg. The snake is not biting it's tail anymore. I'm waiting for you in the READY mode. Please use the OFF button and confirm.

Step 11. You can set the wait values bigger than 4 ticks using ++ on the wait time selector. Choose it, and click on the highlighted firepeg until you reach 7. Keep clicking if you missed it.

Please select the GO mode and click on the top left firepeg. The fire must be running around the board exactly like before. To reveal the true mechanism behind this pattern, try to click on the top right firepeg. This fire will hop along for a while, and die on the open link.

Step 12. The fires started from the top left corner peg dies on the open link like any other fire, but the peg having the 7 tick link fires back at the top left peg and seeds another fire, which emerges to cheat you when the moment is right. I can't tell you much more in this brief and basic lessons. Just remark that every link has two ends, and a two mutually linked firepegs oscillate. Let me know when you are ready for more.

Step 13. The 0t (0 ticks) value fits the wait times menu quite naturally, but it brings about entirely different kind of linking. A fire spreads through any number of 0t links immediately, and the whole linked area fires up at once. Please select 0t, fill the highlighted links and switch to the SET mode. I'll be there.

Step 14. Click on the top right firepeg to make sure your 0t diagonal fires up as intended. Click on TICK to see it off. Switch to the GO mode, fire up the top left firepeg and watch the diagonal firing up on every fire passing through it. Remark an unintended consequence: the bottom left end sends another fire, which quickly disappears in the open link. Hit OFF and join me in the READY mode. Please let me know when you finished this step.

Step 15. Add two more 0t links. Simply select this value and click on the highlighted spots. Switch to the GO mode. Make sure that the diagonal fires up both ways and with two unintended consequences. Note that, unlike the finite values, 0t does not incur oscillation. Otherwise, it would blow up your computer and the rest of the universe in no time. Please return to the READY mode then you are done, and let me know.

Step 16. Glad to see you. I did everything possible, but playing with such things you can never be sure. Potentially, a two 0t links can be worse than LHC.

I set you up for the term project, which starts from the empty board. Please fill the spots with the 0t wait values and let me know.

Step 17. Please select the wait time value of 1t and fill out the two remaining spots. Then just switch to the GO mode and fire up the top left firepeg.

The board is actually a torus. The Northeast link from the top left firepeg enters the bottom right firepeg from the Southwest. The East link enters the top right firepeg from the West.

Step 18. Believe or not, the lesson is over. The necessary controls and the project links are now available. The projects are the unlinked layouts. You may try your hand on them, but if you are really interested in learning this art, you may return to the home page, read the ebook and hit the challenger app. The main and totally unrestricted FIREPEGS app is also ready to serve you at any time.