Hamurabi.bas was a game we use to play in High School on the PDP-10 in the computer lab. The original code is available all over the internet. As a thought experiment, I decided to update it to a more modern format. I took out the line numbers, used meaningful variable names and replaced the GOTO's and GOSUB's with functions.
'hamurabi.bas
' Original code by Creative Computing, Morristown, New Jersey
' Updated code by Chris Stoddard
Randomize
Dim As Integer year, people, grain, harvest, rats, land, yield, immigrants
Dim As Integer starved, totalStarved, totalPercentStarved
Dim As Integer landPrice, acresToBuy, acresToSell, grainToFeed, acresToPlant
Dim As Integer plagueChance, peopleFed, babies, inputValid
Dim As Double percentStarved
year = 0: people = 95: grain = 2800: harvest = 0: rats = 0
land = 3000: yield = 3: landPrice = 17: immigrants = 5
starved = 0: totalStarved = 0: totalPercentStarved = 0
Sub ThinkAgainGrain(grain As Integer)
Print "HAMURABI: THINK AGAIN. YOU HAVE ONLY "; grain; " BUSHELS OF GRAIN. NOW THEN,"
End Sub
Sub ThinkAgainLand(land As Integer)
Print "HAMURABI: THINK AGAIN. YOU OWN ONLY "; land; " ACRES. NOW THEN,"
End Sub
Sub ImpossibleRequest()
Print : Print "HAMURABI: I CANNOT DO WHAT YOU WISH."
Print "GET YOURSELF ANOTHER STEWARD!!!!!"
End
End Sub
Sub Bell()
For i As Integer = 1 To 10
Print Chr(7);
Next
End Sub
For year = 1 To 10
Print : Print : Print "HAMURABI: I BEG TO REPORT TO YOU,"
If year > 1 Then
Print "IN YEAR "; year - 1; ", "; starved; " PEOPLE STARVED, "; immigrants; " CAME TO THE CITY,"
End If
people = people + immigrants
If plagueChance = 0 Then
people = people \ 2
Print "A HORRIBLE PLAGUE STRUCK! HALF THE PEOPLE DIED."
End If
Print "POPULATION IS NOW "; people
Print "THE CITY NOW OWNS "; land; " ACRES."
Print "YOU HARVESTED "; yield; " BUSHELS PER ACRE."
Print "THE RATS ATE "; rats; " BUSHELS."
Print "YOU NOW HAVE "; grain; " BUSHELS IN STORE."
landPrice = Int(Rnd * 10) + 17
Print "LAND IS TRADING AT "; landPrice; " BUSHELS PER ACRE."
Do
inputValid = 1
Print "HOW MANY ACRES DO YOU WISH TO BUY? ";
Input "", acresToBuy
If acresToBuy < 0 Then ImpossibleRequest
If acresToBuy * landPrice > grain Then
ThinkAgainGrain(grain)
inputValid = 0
End If
Loop Until inputValid = 1
If acresToBuy > 0 Then
land += acresToBuy
grain -= acresToBuy * landPrice
Else
Do
inputValid = 1
Print "HOW MANY ACRES DO YOU WISH TO SELL? ";
Input "", acresToSell
If acresToSell < 0 Then ImpossibleRequest
If acresToSell > land Then
ThinkAgainLand(land)
inputValid = 0
End If
Loop Until inputValid = 1
land = land - acresToSell
grain = grain + acresToSell * landPrice
End If
Do
inputValid = 1
Print "HOW MANY BUSHELS DO YOU WISH TO FEED YOUR PEOPLE? ";
Input "", grainToFeed
If grainToFeed < 0 Then ImpossibleRequest
If grainToFeed > grain Then
ThinkAgainGrain(grain)
inputValid = 0
End If
Loop Until inputValid = 1
grain = grain - grainToFeed
Do
inputValid = 1
Print "HOW MANY ACRES DO YOU WISH TO PLANT WITH SEED? ";
Input "", acresToPlant
If acresToPlant < 0 Then ImpossibleRequest
If acresToPlant > land Then
ThinkAgainLand(land)
inputValid = 0
ElseIf acresToPlant \ 2 > grain Then
ThinkAgainGrain(grain)
inputValid = 0
ElseIf acresToPlant > people * 10 Then
Print "BUT YOU HAVE ONLY "; people; " PEOPLE TO TEND THE FIELDS! NOW THEN,"
inputValid = 0
End If
Loop Until inputValid = 1
grain = grain - acresToPlant \ 2
yield = Int(Rnd * 5) + 1
harvest = acresToPlant * yield
rats = 0
If Int(Rnd * 2) = 0 Then
rats = Int(grain / yield)
End If
grain = grain + harvest - rats
babies = Int(yield * (20 * land + grain) / people / 100 + 1)
immigrants = babies
peopleFed = grainToFeed \ 20
plagueChance = Int(10 * (2 * Rnd - 0.3))
If peopleFed < people Then
starved = people - peopleFed
percentStarved = (100.0 * starved) / people
If percentStarved > 45 Then
Print : Print "YOU STARVED "; starved; " PEOPLE IN ONE YEAR!!!"
Print "DUE TO THIS EXTREME MISMANAGEMENT YOU HAVE NOT ONLY"
Print "BEEN IMPEACHED AND THROWN OUT OF OFFICE BUT YOU HAVE"
Print "ALSO BEEN DECLARED NATIONAL FINK!!!!"
End
End If
Else
starved = 0
End If
totalStarved += starved
totalPercentStarved += percentStarved
people = people - starved
Next
Dim As Integer acresPerPerson = land \ people
Dim As Integer avgStarved = totalPercentStarved \ 10
Print : Print "IN YOUR 10-YEAR TERM OF OFFICE, "; avgStarved; "% OF THE"
Print "POPULATION STARVED PER YEAR ON THE AVERAGE."
Print "A TOTAL OF "; totalStarved; " PEOPLE DIED!!"
Print "YOU STARTED WITH 10 ACRES PER PERSON AND ENDED WITH"
Print acresPerPerson; " ACRES PER PERSON."
If avgStarved > 33 Or acresPerPerson < 7 Then
Print "YOU STARVED TOO MANY AND LOST TOO MUCH LAND!"
Print "YOU HAVE BEEN DECLARED A DISASTER!"
ElseIf avgStarved <= 10 And acresPerPerson >= 9 Then
Print "A FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE!!! CHARLEMAGNE, DISRAELI, AND"
Print "JEFFERSON COMBINED COULD NOT HAVE DONE BETTER!"
ElseIf avgStarved > 3 Or acresPerPerson < 10 Then
Print "YOUR PERFORMANCE COULD HAVE BEEN SOMEWHAT BETTER."
Print Int(people * 0.8 * Rnd); " PEOPLE WOULD DEARLY LIKE TO SEE YOU ASSASSINATED."
Else
Print "YOUR HEAVY-HANDED PERFORMANCE SMACKS OF NERO AND IVAN IV."
Print "THE PEOPLE (REMAINING) FIND YOU AN UNPLEASANT RULER AND,"
Print "FRANKLY, HATE YOUR GUTS!!"
End If
Bell()
Print : Print "SO LONG FOR NOW."
End
