Editing Wire

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'''Wire''' is a mechanic introduced in [[Chip's Challenge 2]]. It's technically not a [[tile]], but instead enables [[floor]] and [[steel wall]]s to carry a signal between various game elements. Pink buttons, black buttons, and logic gates are capable of outputting a signal, and many more tiles can take signal as input. Wires will also be activated if a movable object steps on it while equipped with the [[lightning bolt]]. Wire tunnels can send current across the map.

The [[lightning bolt]], when equipped by a moving object, will supply signal to a wire while the object is stopped on one. The lightning bolt has no effect on wires that are already activated.

{{Infobox Tile

|name = Wire tunnel

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A '''wire tunnel''' is a wire modifier that allows current going into it to jump across any number of tiles. Wire tunnels work in pairs: for two tunnels to connect to each other, they must face each other and be in the same row or column, depending on whether they are horizontal or vertical, respectively. Multiple wire tunnel pairs on the same row or column work like parentheses: innermost pairs always connect, then the next innermost pairs, and so on. If a wire tunnel cannot find another to pair with on its row or column, it remains unpaired.

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=== Pink button ===

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The '''pink button''' is a button introduced in Chip's Challenge 2. While held by a movable object, it activates any [[wire]] it is connected to.

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=== Black button ===

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The '''black button''' is a button introduced in Chip's Challenge 2. It has the opposite behavior of a [[pink button]]: it activates any [[wire]] it is connected to ''except'' while held by a movable object.

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=== Switch ===

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The '''switch''' is a special tile in Chip's Challenge 2. When set to the ''on'' position, a current will be output through wire that is connected to the switch. When set to the ''off'' position, no current will be output. Switches can be toggled by any movable object.

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== Gates ==

Gates are tiles that use existing signals to create new signals. They otherwise [[acting floor|behave like floor]], except that [[ice block]]s cannot melt on them, even though they cannot be destroyed by [[time bomb]]s (and therefore cannot be replaced by [[fire]] if a monster is on it). The lightning bolt has no effect on these tiles.

{{Infobox Tile

|name = Logic gate

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'''Logic gates''' perform a logical operation on one or two wire inputs and produce a single output. They consist of the inverter, AND gate, OR gate, NAND gate, and XOR gate. There also exist diodes, NOR gates, and XNOR gates, but these are not present in Chip's Challenge 2.

[[File:NANDgate.png|left]]

The '''NAND gate''' accepts two inputs. It is generally equivalent to an AND gate immediately followed by an inverter. If both input signals are ON, the output signal will be OFF. Otherwise, the output signal will be ON.

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==== Counter ====

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The '''counter''' is a gate with two inputs and two outputs. A pulse that enters the counter from the right side will increment it by one and from the bottom side will decrement it by one. If the counter is incremented while at 9, it will ''overflow'', output a pulse to the left side, and wrap to 0. If the counter is decremented while at 0, it will ''underflow'', output a steady signal to the top side, and wrap to 9. This steady signal remains until the counter receives another pulse from either input.

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==== Latch ====

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The '''latch gate''' has two inputs and one output. The arrow points from the '''data''' input to the output, and the input on the opposite side is the '''latch''' input. As long as the latch input has a signal, the output will be the same as the data input. When the latch input has no signal, the output will stay the same as it was when the latch input last had a signal. Latch gates can be thought of as storage for one bit of memory. Wikipedia calls this gate a D gated latch or D flip-flop.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_(electronics)</ref> <!--At least, that's what this seems to most closely resemble. Correct this if it's wrong.-->

|colspan=3|'''INPUT''' || '''OUTPUT'''

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|0 || 0 || 0 || 0

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The second latch pictured to the right is a mirror image of the first latch, used to keep the game elements symmetrical.

At the start of a level, all inputs and outputs are OFF. On every frame after the first, all gates produce output based on their inputs from the ''previous'' frame. Because of this, each gate is considered to have a 1-frame "delay". For example, an AND gate followed by a NOT gate have a combined 2-frame delay, whereas a NAND gate only has a 1-frame delay, and therefore is not exactly equivalent even though the logic is the same. As another example, a chain of OR gates of length N will have an N-frame delay. This can be used to precisely control the timing and activation of various objects and parts of circuits.