

Making Pizza with Python - prog
http://slowfrog.blogspot.com/2011/02/making-pizza-with-python.html

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RodgerTheGreat
If anyone's interested in doing something similar in Java or another JVM
language, check out the AWT Robot[1]. It's one of those hidden gems of the
Java API.

[1]
[http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/awt/Robot....](http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/awt/Robot.html)

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anthonyb
I tend to do similar things with the games that I play, including Farmville.
Once I've figured out the optimal strategy for things, I find that it's much
more interesting to code it up, rather than go through the motions.

Some people consider it cheating, but I consider it more 'taking advantage of
suboptimal game design', ie. if I can script it, it's likely not a very
interesting game in the first place.

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cdr
I assume by "if I can script it" you mean strategy? Every single computer game
can be scripted, and most have - including poker, complex MMOs, complex RTS
games, etc.

I doubt you'd find many people that'd agree that having a program play the
game for you isn't cheating, no matter how boring you might find the game.

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anthonyb
Well, perhaps rephrase that to "If I can script it with less effort than it
takes to play the game..." Farmville is a case in point - they have shiny
stuff like tractors to take the tedium out of playing... :\

How about they write a decent game where I have to make complex decisions in
the first place, rather than clicking on buttons over and over? I wrote a
fairly involved rant about it a while back:
[http://blog.oarsum.com/post/255516489/cheating-and-game-
desi...](http://blog.oarsum.com/post/255516489/cheating-and-game-design)

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kazuya
Related:

RoboGamer uses the same interfaces human uses (i.e. video and a joystick)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vH62EEfH6E>

There was another project, vArashi, to achieve similar, circa 2001.

And probably you remember rogomatic...

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Sukotto
Very interesting programming project. I'll have to give that a try sometime.

For day-to-day automation of stuff, I like to use sikuli [1] which lets you
automate pretty much anything in a gui using screenshots. (Their editor is
pretty cool). It's a research project so a bit rough around the edges, but
still worth your time to check it out if you're at all interested in
automation (auto-configuring systems, driving applications, playing flash
games, etc)

[1] <http://sikuli.csail.mit.edu/>

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iuguy
Seriously, you shouldn't have posted this. My weekends are busy enough without
building gambling bots too ;)

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pepijndevos
Could anyone upload a vid? I don't run Windows.

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johnconroy
amazing work. Now for the pokerbot...

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wigginus
The University of Alberta has a research group devoted to the problem:
<http://poker.cs.ualberta.ca/>

