Download create computer games

CHAPTER ONE
THE GHOST
IN THE
MACHINE
Everybody likes to play with simulations.
What are simulations? Usually, they are scaled-down models
of things that are too expensive or too dangerous or too rare to
play with for real. A dollhouse is a simulation of a real house, for
instance. A model airplane is a simulation of a real airplane. Toy
soldiers are simulated soldiers that can fight simulated battles.
And so on.
Simulations aren't just for kids. Airplane pilots train on flight
simulators before they fly real planes. Investors test their skills
with stock market games before risking real cash.
It is even possible to simulate things that have never happened. Toy rocket ships simulate battles in space that may not
take place for hundreds of years, if ever; toy animals simulate
creatures that exist only in someone's imagination.
A computer is a simulation machine. When we program a
computer, we are teaching it to simulate some process that mayor
may not exist in the real world. (This book, for instance, was
typed on a computer running a program called a word processor,
which simulates a typewriter but includes some features that a
real typewriter could never offer.)
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