Unlike automata for which random fields suffice as initial conditions, and in common with Life , WireWorld requires a very carefully planned initial configuration. Loading previously prepared bitplane files is one solution to the problem, which merely places the responsibility for preparing the bitplane elsewhere.
With some ingenuity the Moore plane editor can be used to create a WireWorld configuration, modifying the planes one by one; but even better, by using the option l (edit planes) in CAMEX 's main menu after the WireWorld option has been selected leads to a variant adapted to the needs of WireWorld .
The adaptation consists in allowing the symbols 2 and 3 to deposit electron states, and the suppression of all the options concerned with marking, modifying or displaying the rule table. Trial evolution, confined to the console screen, is still possible, as are the symmetry operations.
The generation of both random fields and random tables has also been omitted, just as the loading of alternative rules. However, INSERT must be used to load WireWorld ; although a source of many accidents, that choice is consistent with universal browsing. Occasionally, the editing facilities may be desired for another rule, which ought not to be lost just because of temporarily entering the editor.
Since WireWorld requires three planes (two of them mostly empty), the WireWorld option l has its own private REC program, accessible via the usual f3, to store all three planes on disk. Standard names have been chosen for these files, but the REC editor can change them. It is recommended that the numerals 1, 2, and 4 always be incorporated in their names to facilitate remembering which arguments of y will be needed to load them again.
Option f1 within the plane editor will exhibit a list of up to twenty files on the current disk with the extension .PAT, but INSERT will not work properly. Rather, the three planes must be loaded separately using option y; since yp can load multiple planes, correct arguments would be p = 1, 2, 4. As stated above, the number could be part of the file name, as in WW4.PAT.
The disk space required by most simple WireWorld demonstrations can be reduced by saving only the wire plane. Electrons can be inserted with the editor; if it is not obvious where they should go, pointers can be inserted among the wires as reminders. Good practice includes placing just enough extra lead at the inputs and outputs of sample components so that occurrence of electron heads and tails at their tips will coincide with transit times and internal clocks.