The Resistance | Think Like A Coder, Ep 2

譯者: Clement Fu 審譯者: Helen Chang

[TED-Ed 原創系列]

《時代女神 x 程式邏輯革命》

[上回地點：監獄]

[今回地點：八達圍]

[第二集：光復]

After breaking Ethic out of prison,

承上回，彥霖從牢獄逃出生天後

Hedge flies them both towards a frontier settlement

凌杰帶挈她一同飛往前線殖民地

in the shadow of the Bradbarrier, the great wall that encircles the nation.

闖進八達圍這國邦圍牆下的陰霾

All the settlers there will soon gather for the monthly feeding.

殖民地住民將集結迎接每月炊事日

The people of the wall spend their days gathering up works of art and literature,

城牆下的人終日搜刮人文藝術作品

燒得旺的柴，才換來吃得飽的米

from all across the land.

On feeding day, the furnace-bots arrive, ravenous.

炊事日，熔爐機器人如狼似虎到來

If they eat, the lights stay on, and the food gets delivered.

機器人爐火中燒飽足，燈火才通明

廩食才發給人果腹，不然玉石俱焚

If they starve, the people do too.

Hedge’s fuel supply runs out just as he and Ethic reach the outskirts of town,

來到城市邊陲，凌杰剛好燃料耗盡

and they come in for a crash landing.

逼不得已來個硬著陸

Luckily, everyone is too busy preparing for the feeding to notice.

可幸人人為著炊事日鋪張，不以為意

Today’s feeding is where Ethic can find the leader

今天的炊事日，彥霖可趁機找出

of an underground resistance movement.

地下光復運動的領袖，這個人知道

This person knows the location of the first of three powerful artifacts.

三枚強大瑰寶中首枚的收藏地

The problem is, Hedge and Ethic don’t know

問題是，凌杰和彥霖都不知道

the resistance leader’s name or appearance.

光復領袖的名字或樣貌

But Hedge has gathered the following information:

不過凌杰收集到以下情報：

The leader has green eyes.

領袖有綠眼睛

If the leader has red hair, their name has at least one consecutive double letter.

領袖是紅頭髮的話，名字有疊字母

If the leader wear glasses, their name has exactly 2 vowels.

領袖戴眼鏡的話，名字恰好雙母音

Otherwise, their name has exactly 3 vowels.

否則，名字恰好三母音

There is exactly one person for whom these are all true.

上述條件全都吻合的，就只有一人

As a fugitive,

身為逃犯

Ethic can’t sneak into the crowd without drawing attention to herself.

彥霖無法潛入人群而不引入注意

But she can give instructions to Hedge.

不過她可發給凌杰指示，運用她

And one tool she has is what programmers call a conditional.

一件武器：程式員口中的條件式

That’s a statement of the form “If A, then B.”

陳述的形式為：如果甲，則乙

Flowcharts are great illustrations of how those work.

運作原理可在流程圖中活靈活現

This conditional translates to: if A is true, carry out instruction B.

闡釋：條件甲真確，則執行指示乙

There are also conditionals that account for different possibilities.

有些條件式也囊括不同狀況

This says, “If A is true, perform instruction B.

比如說：若甲真確，則執行指示乙

Otherwise, carry out instruction C.”

不然，就執行指示丙

So what instructions does she give Hedge so he can find the resistance leader?

凌杰要甚麼指示才找出光復領袖？

Pause now to figure it out for yourself.

[動腦筋就按暫停，倒數三下給秘訣]

With a problem like this, it can help to simplify first.

先簡化一下，有助解答如此問題

What if Hedge just has to examine this one person?

假如凌杰只消詢問一個人

What information does he need to collect about her?

需要蒐集這個人甚麼資料？

He might ask, “Does she have green eyes?”

也許問：「眼睛瞳孔是綠色嗎？」

What other questions should Hedge ask to find the resistance leader,

還需問甚麼問題才找到光復領袖？

and how can he track those answers?

答案得來又何以疏理？

Pause now to figure it out for yourself.

[動腦筋就按暫停，倒數三下揭謎底]

It may seem intuitive how you’d approach this problem as a human.

依你看來，答這道題也許順理成章

But Hedge isn’t a human,

奈何凌杰畢竟是機器人，挑戰在於

and so the challenge comes from needing to give him systematic instructions

要給他有條不紊的系統指示

that will work in any scenario.

任何狀況皆滴水不漏

Hedge needs to examine the settlers, one at a time,

凌杰需要逐一詢問殖民地住民

until he discovers the right person.

直至找到對的人

In other words, like with the lock on the prison cell,

換言之，就像上回破解監獄枷鎖

this is a loop that repeats the same instructions.

這是一個重複相同指示的迴圈

Only this time the loop will involve a series of questions

只是這次迴圈加入一系列

以條件式呈現的問題

in the form of conditionals,

and will end as soon as Hedge finds his target.

一俟凌杰找到目標，迴圈便告終

But first, you’ll want to organize your information.

在此之前，先整理一下收集的情報

Each person has a set of characteristics: Eye color, hair color, glasses, and name.

每人有一組合特徵：眼睛色、 髮色、是否戴眼鏡、名字

Does this person have green eyes?

這個人有綠眼睛嗎？

If so, mark a check next to “eye color." If not, mark an X there.

是的，眼睛色一欄打勾，不然打叉

If they have red hair, does their name contain a double letter?

紅頭髮的話，名字有疊字母嗎？

If so, mark a check next to “hair color.”

有的，就在髮色一欄打勾

If they don’t have a double letter, mark an X next to “hair color.”

沒有疊字的，就在髮色一欄打叉

Anyone with red hair and no double letter can’t be the resistance leader.

紅頭髮卻沒有疊字母的不會是領袖

But notice that if they have blue hair,

注意若是藍頭髮

Hedge will skip this question and go on to the next one.

凌杰就會跳過此題問下一題

For the last question, we can say,

最後一題可以問：

“If they wear glasses, does their name have exactly 2 vowels?

戴眼鏡的話，名字是否恰好雙母音？

If they don’t have glasses, does their name have exactly 3 vowels?”

沒戴眼鏡的，名字是否恰好三母音？

There will be people in the crowd with glasses and 1 vowel,

人群中總有人戴眼鏡、名字單母音

or no glasses and 2 vowels.

或不戴眼鏡、名字雙母音

But they’re not who we’re looking for, so they’ll get X’s.

兩者均不是要找的人，可以打叉

The resistance leader must be someone with either check marks

各題答案要嘛打勾要嘛留空

or blanks next to every question.

才是光復領袖

Blanks are ok, because if someone has blue hair,

留空是可以的，比方說藍頭髮的人

the rule about red hair doesn’t apply to them.

紅頭髮那道法則就不適用

You could have Hedge ask every question about every person,

凌杰大可逢人問盡每道題

and then choose the person with only checks and blanks.

然後挑出只打勾或留空的人

But there’s a way to save yourself lots of time: as soon as Hedge marks an X,

然而事半功倍的做法是

一打叉就下一位

have him move on to the next person.

You don’t need to know the answer to every question;

不必悉數知道各題答案

just one X means they’re not the target of your search.

一打叉就足見這不是要找的人

Hedge buzzes through the crowd,

凌杰穿梭於人群中

and within minutes finds Adila, the resistance leader,

不消數分鐘就找到光復領袖艾德拉

and brings her back to Ethic.

引到彥霖面前

Adila agrees to help them steal the first artifact— the node of power—

艾德拉應允襄助重奪第一枚瑰寶：

力量之泉；惟有一個條件

but under one condition:

that Ethic and Hedge jump-start the revolution

彥霖凌杰得馬上起革命，率先改造

by reprogramming the furnace-bots that terrorize the town.

肆虐全城的熔爐機器人身上的程式

And right on cue, the robots descend.

話畢，機器人從天而降