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Subject: Re: what do chess programmers really want from their programs

Author: Randall Jouett

Date: 23:48:59 05/28/02

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On May 28, 2002 at 18:07:34, Jon Dart wrote:

>>> 11. People write chess engines because chess itself is inspiring

Without a doubt! :^)

>I think for me this is a big part of it. There are many people interested in
>chess and there are various forms that this interest can take. Some people only
>like OTB tournaments. Some like correspondence chess. Some like chess variants.
>Some like composing problems.

Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that,
not only do we all love to play chess, but we also happpen
to know how to program computers. Writing a chess program
just so happens to combine two things we love to do :^).
So much the better :^).

>Some like experimenting with computer chess programs. I like the tinkering
>aspect of it, as Scott Gasch does.

Same here!

> And I also enjoy seeing a well-played game produced by a program, or an
> interesting opening novelty, or discovering a piece of chess knowledge
> that's missing and can be improved. I'm not really much into the competitive
> aspects of it.


Well, for me, it's a tad different. I KNOW that everyone here that
writes chess programs know that it's only a matter of time before
the worlds best players are constantly CRUSHED by computers. After
all, chess is nothing more than a logical, mathematical tree/game.
I think a lot of chess programming has to do with the fact that
all chess programmers wish/hope that they are the person that comes
up with the ultimate chess algorithm, proving for once and for all
that the computers we program are quite capable of doing some things
better than man. Unfortunately, some people get ticked off when they
hear statements like this, yet these people fail to realize that
a computer is a creative masterpiece invissioned by mans' mind.
IMHO, any tool (read: computers) that can help us think better and
better our lives -- especially if it's something that we invisioned
and created! -- can only prove to us that we really are better than
the machine...for the time being, anyway! :^).


I'll really be impressed with computers when they can think
abstractly, invisioning things that we're just on the verge
of seeing but aren't quite just there. I think we'll all live
to see this, though, and what computers will eventually prove
is that creativity is nothing more than great logical, associative
thinking.


NOP
--
Randall Jouett
Amateur Radio: AB5NI
I eat spaghetti code out of a bit bucket while sitting at a hash table!



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