From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: a07f3367d7,5b528da331e8df66 X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,public,usenet X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Received: by 10.224.219.146 with SMTP id hu18mr11138362qab.3.1364932483961; Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:54:43 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.49.29.99 with SMTP id j3mr1402736qeh.38.1364932483943; Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:54:43 -0700 (PDT) Path: v17ni6816qad.0!nntp.google.com!ca1no21207426qab.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2013 12:54:43 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=129.59.203.209; posting-account=7Oy7OQoAAABhVYFOo553Cn1-AaU-bSfl NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.59.203.209 References: <7075541f-01b7-4cd4-997f-b0b8048f067d@googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Marble Clock From: Eryndlia Mavourneen Injection-Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:54:43 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Date: 2013-04-02T12:54:43-07:00 List-Id: On Tuesday, April 2, 2013 2:46:10 PM UTC-5, gattamaneni abhiram wrote: > On Tuesday, 2 April 2013 08:02:45 UTC-4, John B. Matthews wrote: > > > In article <7075541f-01b7-4cd4-997f-b0b8048f067d@googlegroups.com>, > > > > > > gattamaneni abhiram wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > A marble clock is a clock that indicates the current time in a > > > > > > > 24-hour day using marbles to represent portions of the hour and > > > > > > > day. There are many different kinds of marble clocks, > > > > > > > distinguished by variations in the way the marbles represent > > > > > > > portions of the day. Our marble clock consists of five shallow > > > > > > > "trays" arranged one above the other. The bottom tray (the fifth > > > > > > > tray) serves as a marble "reservoir." Every minute, a winding > > > > > > > mechanism picks up one marble from the bottom tray, carries it to > > > > > > > the top of the clock and drops it into the top tray of the clock. > > > > > > > As a tray fills up, marbles fall through to lower level trays, as > > > > > > > described below. The current state of the marbles in the upper > > > > > > > four trays tells the current time. > > > > > > > > > > > > For reference, an elapsed-time video of a three-tier version is > > > > > > seen here: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > John B. Matthews > > > > > > trashgod at gmail dot com > > > > > > > > > > Do I need to use timer functions in the program to depict the changes in the places of the marbles in different trays? I believe that would be the simpler way to do it. Of course, you always can simulate the materials and workmanship of an actual clock with masses, gravitational acceleration, etc. :-) Note that the non-realtime timer in Ada is the "delay" statement: "delay 3.1", for example, will delay for 3.1 seconds. -- Eryndlia