Apparently my notes (and the pdf) are too big to include as attachments here, so here's a Google Drive link:
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I am a programmer, and I analyzed the notebooks of computer code found with unidentified deceased hiker known as "Mostly Harmless." The case was first brought to my attention by John Lordan's BrainScratch youtube video. A fellow brainscratcher recently notified me that copies of the contents of these notebooks were released to the general public, and I was able to locate a pdf copy. (I'm sure you already have a copy of this pdf, but I have included it for reference just in case.) I have also included a MS Word .doc containing my notes from my analysis.
Let me briefly explain my background in programming: My primary major in college was Computer Systems Technology, which essentially studied all aspects of computers & electronics (hardware and software) but in no great detail (jack of all trades, master of none so to speak.) My studies also included graphics and video game design. My programming background specifically was primarily Basic and Visual Basic programming languages, but it was determined through my Computer Science professor (through a questionnaire from his masters thesis) that I am actually able to read any programming language. As such I have indeed explored other languages beyond the two that I initially studied. At the same time, I have also been programming my entire life, (grandson of two engineers), starting with my grandfather's Commodore Vic 20 back in the 1980s. It also helps that I am very good at reading chickenscratch (bad/not very legible handwriting), because a lot of the text in the photocopied versions of the pages found in the pdf are a bit difficult to read. It made the task take a little longer, but I was able to decipher the majority of the text. (The portions I still couldn't make out, I could probably discern from the original pages or a higher quality scan.)
I was able to read and understand the vast majority of the contents of these notebooks. Not all of it was programming, (such as the nutritional information of energy bars---I have no background in nutrition or dietary science.) Explaining every single line of these notes would result in a lot of tedium that covers nothing but simple programming concepts, and thus would add pages of useless information rather than aid this case. As such I have focused my notes on identifying what the portions of code are / supposed to do as a whole and elements of the writings that can actually help identify this man. I am more than happy to elaborate on any aspect that either of you may have further questions about, my contact info will be listed at the bottom. I must also preface that with this code being handwritten, it is highly unlikely that would actually work if inputted into a computer. (I explained this in a little more detail within my notes.) Lastly, I noticed that there was a note included in the pdf that describes the notebooks as being "incoherent." Having reviewed the entire pdf, I must disagree with this assessment. While the subject matter of the author's writing does vary, it's all comprehensible and I have no trouble following it.
I will summarize the most useful points here:
First, I noticed a couple details about the author's writing style: In at least once instance the author uses line numbers in a page of code. This is a practice that has not been used since the 1970s/early 1980s. The author also makes a point of using a particular style of zero: Ø The author uses this zero even in pages of plain english, (such as the page of nutritional information.) I have a the same habit. If you look at your computer keyboard, you will see that neither 0 key on your keyboard, (there are two such keys if your keyboard has a numberpad) has the slashed zero. On modern computers you only find these zeros in a DOS command prompt or within programming utilities. The slashed zero was common on older computer keyboards & typewriters from the 1980s and older. This speaks to the scope of the author's background in programming, to the degree that they would habitually use this type of zero even in plain english. I believe both of these traits suggest the author had been involved in programming for a very long time.
The PDF's included note suggests that the computer language used in the notebooks is Java. Initially, I agreed with this assessment--until I began to notice certain keywords in the code that made me start to question it. I reached out to some other programmers online who are more proficient with Java than I am to verify whether or not these keywords are in fact used in Java. They concluded that the main language used in these notebooks is in fact NOT Java, but the C language. C is the old form of what today is known as C++. (There was also C+ in the time between the two languages.) Once again, we are potentially dating the code. Understand that all computer languages are actually very similar to one another, (which is why I can read any of them.) It's not difficult to mistake one for another, and if misidentified, to conclude it is "incoherent." The other programming pages that are not C language require more explanation, which I provided in my notes. There are also several pages of number series and diagrams. At first I could not fully decipher these pages, but the author included information in the second notebook that explains what the letters, symbols, etc. in these diagrams mean. With that added information I am now able to reproduce what the diagrams are describing if necessary. The pages that are strictly a series of numbers may still need to be analyzed by a mathematician, (preferably with a background in applied mathematics.)
The vast majority of programming pages appear to be video game design in nature. The author describes a system in his game for randomly generating levels. Based on some of the key words used in his code, a possible match for this code is a computer game called Screeps:
https://www.screeps.com/ While this game has a lot in common with the code found in these notebooks, there isn't enough to make a 100% definitive match. It is however, a very strong candidate.
There appears to be at least two different programming projects in these notebooks, both involving game design. I have divided them into two groups of key words that can help identify the projects:
Project 1 (randomly generating levels): Creeps, mines, haulers, builders, upgraders, refiller, miners, rooms, energy. (Towards the end of the documents there is a section about a 'Nanite Guild', this seems to fit with this project's use of "rooms" and "energy.")
Project 2 (an RPG game): This uses some very specific job/class names: Assassin, Ranger, Bard, Energy Thief, Acrobat, Knife Thrower, Siphoner, Witch, Chaos Mage, Energy Mage, Focuser, Necromancer, Changeling. This is a very specific set of job/class names that shouldn't be too difficult to match to a specific game.
