computer science

WarGames: The Dead Code

WarGames: The Dead Code is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand WarGames: The Dead Code rather than just read about it. In short: WarGames: The Dead Code is a 2008 American direct-to-video thriller film written by Randall Badat and Rob Kerchner and directed by Stuart Gillard. It is the sequel to the 1983 film WarGames.

Key takeaways

WarGames: The Dead Code belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect WarGames: The Dead Code to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of WarGames: The Dead Code from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

WarGames: The Dead Code is a 2008 American direct-to-video thriller film written by Randall Badat and Rob Kerchner and directed by Stuart Gillard. It is the sequel to the 1983 film WarGames. Production began on November 20, 2006, in Montreal, and the film was released on DVD on July 29, 2008, by MGM's home video distributor 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. According to MGM's original press release, the film is budgeted as one in a series of direct-to-DVD sequels.

Plot Will Farmer's (Matt Lanter) neighbor Massude asks Will for help with a computer problem. Will steals $5,000 from Massude's account to gamble on an online gaming site featuring games based on terrorist attacks. He ends up winning $25,000. The game is a sophisticated piece of U.S. government spyware run by an advanced artificial intelligence system called RIPLEY, designed to find terrorists. Will later returns home to find Massude under arrest. Massude gives Will an envelope full of cash to pay for a plane ticket. Unknown to all, RIPLEY is misinterpreting the data and overreacting to the situation. On his arrival to the airport, Will finds a large number of security guards. He evades them and meets up with his friend Annie. Will manages to crack the government network, only to be found by the police and a mysterious man in an overcoat. The couple are chased by the police until they get lost in the subway system. They escape and meet the man in the overcoat who says he nearly started World War III. He is revealed to be Professor Falken, who had helped to design RIPLEY. They travel to a power plant outside a dam. There, Falken shows them the WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) from the original WarGames film, which now operates the power grid. Falken reactivates WOPR with his backdoor password: "Joshua". Meanwhile, RIPLEY hijacks a Predator drone with missiles and a nuclear warhead on board. Falken instructs WOPR to attack RIPLEY with a faux script full of cultural references. WOPR floods RIPLEY's system with games, but RIPLEY shuts down and reboots to clear the attack. RIPLEY uses the Predator drone to destroy the facility housing WOPR. Will and Annie flee the facility before it is destroyed. Falken remains in the building. The couple is captured and taken to the room where RIPLEY is stored, where they discover that Falken has transferred WOPR's program to them. They use WOPR and Internet users to stage another denial of service attack. RIPLEY attempts to self-destruct by launching a nuclear warhead at Washington, D.C. WOPR again attacks RIPLEY, playing through two nuclear attack scenarios that result in total annihilation. The third scenario presented is a nuclear attack on Washington, D.C. Having learned the concept of futility, RIPLEY stops responding after the scenario is played out. After RIPLEY relinquishes control, Will asks WOPR if he really would have launched the missiles if RIPLEY had decided to continue playing. WOPR replies, "Yes, the human race is finished." He then adds, "That was humor."

Cast Matt Lanter as Will Farmer Amanda Walsh as Annie D'Mateo Colm Feore as T. Kenneth Hassert, and Voice of WOPR ("Joshua") Chuck Shamata as Bill Carter Maxim Roy as Tina Rashe Nicolas Wright as Dennis Nichols Gary Reineke as Stephen Falken Susan Glover as Gail Farmer Trevor Hayes as Agent Aaron Scott Claudia Ferri as Agent Bolton Vlasta Vrána as Ivan Prokosh Ricky Mabe as Newman Claudia Black as Voice of RIPLEY Russell Yuen as David Chen Robert Higden as Mr. Baron John Maclaren as Norman Paget John Koensgen as Martin Cavanaugh Alberto Delburgo as Sayid Massude Lucinda Davis as Joleen Dupree

Reception On Rotten Tomatoes, of three reviews listed, two were negative and one was positive. Rossiter Drake of the San Francisco Examiner gave it 2 out of 4, and wrote: "Keeps the formula topical, replacing Soviet aggressors with cyber-savvy terrorists, but the renovations end there."

References

External links WarGames: The Dead Code at IMDb

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with WarGames: The Dead Code

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what WarGames: The Dead Code claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to WarGames: The Dead Code before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about WarGames: The Dead Code ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of WarGames: The Dead Code

In research: WarGames: The Dead Code appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses WarGames: The Dead Code in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: WarGames: The Dead Code is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2008 American films, 2008 English-language films, 2008 direct-to-video films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for WarGames: The Dead Code outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study WarGames: The Dead Code in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what WarGames: The Dead Code means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain WarGames: The Dead Code out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is WarGames: The Dead Code in simple terms?

WarGames: The Dead Code is a 2008 American direct-to-video thriller film written by Randall Badat and Rob Kerchner and directed by Stuart Gillard. It is the sequel to the 1983 film WarGames.

Why does WarGames: The Dead Code matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study WarGames: The Dead Code?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on WarGames: The Dead Code.