Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: A "New" Idea for Adaptive Programs

Author: Martin Giepmans

Date: 12:25:06 12/23/02

Go up one level in this thread


On December 23, 2002 at 14:57:02, Bob Durrett wrote:

>
>Not being up-to-speed on reading programming journals in all languages, I am not
>sure that the following idea is original.  But I will "take my chances" in the
>hope of not being Zapped too badly if it is not original.  : )
>
>I am interested in adaptive programs, especially as the theory applies to chess
>engines.
>
>The basic concept is to produce a program that will change itself "in a big
>way," as the environment or problems being solved change.  This
>self-modification would take place several or many times in as short a time as
>an hour.
>
>Still trying to stay general: How to do this?
>
>One way, impractical for sure, would be to have a single overall program which
>was a package consisting of many specific programs.  As the environment or other
>factors changed, the program would be stimulated to jump from the current
>specific program to the more appropriate one, with the necessary data
>transferred to the new specific program.  This sort of jump could occur often
>and many times as the need dictated.
>
>Perhaps a more practical approach might be to have a single program with many
>parameters that could be set or reset quickly.  In this scenario, the stimuli
>would result in calling of a "reconfigure" program.  This program would then,
>very quickly, reset the parameters of the main program.  In this way, the main
>program would, in effect, be a new program.
>
>A more generalized version of the latter approach would be for the "reconfigure"
>program to VERY QUICKLY make extensive modifications to the main program.
>
>Are these ideas any good?
>
>If they are, are they currently in use in existing chess engines?
>
>If not, does this sound like a possible improvement for the future?
>
>What is your "gut feel" in this matter?
>
>Bob D.

I wonder if there is a "real" difference between

(a) a program that changes itself (even in a big way)
(b) a normal program that has code like "if a then x else if b then y .."

Theorem: for every program of type a there is program of type b that behaves
exactly the same.
(ie no differences in output, although there may be differences in the "black
box")

True?

Martin



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.