/* -*- Mode: C -*- */
/* As you'll C, the story is as old as the language it's written in.
 * We met at the library, reaching for the same book, brushing fingers
 * as we connected. */

#include <stdlib.h>

/* We started talking, talking about all the standard things people talk about
 * when they meet.
 */

#include <stdio.h>
#define she_said(x) printf(x "\n")
#define she_sighed() she_said()
#define she_paused() she_said()
#define she_blinked() she_said()

/*
 * She was a game tester by trade.  We argued about games as if they were
 * art.
 */

int main (int argc, char *argv) {


  she_said("Do you know the game called 'Pacman' ?");

  int pacman;

  /* I do, I said. */

  int i;

  /* As she spoke the library aisle turned black, and all the shelves
   * turned yellow. */
  char *aisle = malloc(61);

  she_said("I was a tester on Pacman.");

  /* Really ? I've always wondered how Pacman worked.  How do the ghosts
   * know how to find Pacman in a maze like that ? How did those old
   * computers solve such a hard math problem so easily ? */

  she_said("The ghosts just follow the smell Pacman leaves behind passing through each square.");

  /* I first drew in her lovely smell, then smelled my armpits to compare.
   * There was no way I was going to get out of this alive. */ 

  she_said("It's the perfect game, because you cannot ever win.  You can pop pills and eat ghosts as much as you want, but the game keeps going until you lose. Try it!");

  /* And as she spoke she changed into a ghost and started floating towards me.
   * I turned and ran, spreading the smell of fear and excitement, and wanting
   * desperately to be eaten. */

  for (pacman = 30; pacman < 60; ++pacman) {
    for (i = 0; i < 60; ++i) aisle[i] = ' '; aisle[61] = '\0'; 
    aisle[(pacman - 30) * 2] = 'G'; aisle[pacman] = '<';
    for (i = pacman + 1; i < 60; ++i) aisle[i] = '.'; aisle[60] = 'o';
    printf("%s\r", aisle); fflush(stdout);
    usleep(200000);
  }

  /* As I reached the pill I stopped and turned around. */
  aisle[59] = '>';
  sleep(2);
  printf("%s\r", aisle); fflush(stdout);
  sleep(2);
  aisle[60] = ' ';
  printf("%s\r", aisle); fflush(stdout);
  sleep(3);

  /* I kissed her gently on the cheek close enough to her lips to be confusing
   * for the both of us. */

  she_blinked();
  she_said("What are you doing ?"); // as she moved neither forwards
                                    // nor backwards.

  she_said("This isn't how you play the game. ");

  /* Are you sure we are playing? Are you sure this is a game?
   * If it is then the game is love. */

  she_said("This isn't love. Love does not exist.");
  she_paused();

#define LOVE 0

  /* "It's invented by people who sell stuff; a program for humans to run."
   * Should I really be talking about love with the ghost of a girl ?
   * Was there anything I could help her with to make her real again,
   * to make us real?
   */

  she_said("I miss testing Pacman.  Life was so simple.");
  she_said("Squares and dots and circles.");
  she_sighed();

  /* She had learned to program in school, but her heart was not in it.
   * She'd tried to program it, but the computer had had no love for her.
   */

  she_said("You don't have to write my program for me.");
  she_said("But I'll love you forever if you do.");
  she_paused();

 // Well I am nothing if not a programmer.
 // And so I started writing.  And so she started loving.  Test me.  Forever?
 // We can't ever win.

  while (1) LOVE;

  she_said("One day this us will end.  Nothing lasts forever.");

  // But she didn't know I made sure we'd never get to the end.
  
  return LOVE;
}