Author: Walter Koroljow
Date: 18:05:04 04/10/00
I just finished reading "One Jump Ahead" by Jonathan Schaeffer describing the evolution of "Chinook", arguably the best American checkers program. It is 450 pages of excitement for someone that can identify with the creation of a program. It is a parallel to Tracy Kidder's "Soul of a Machine". Anyone that knows anything about chess programs will be able to follow this book easily. I could not put it down. Luckily(?!) I was ill and could read it at one sitting. I am not a programmer (Ph.D. in general relativity) but I can identify. The excitement reminds me of the time I was working as a programmer for a small company circa 1970. I was programming at a teletype (110 baud) connected to a PDP-10 (timesharing-remember?) at 1:00 a.m. Someone had left the door open. All of a sudden, there is a cop with a drawn .38 revolver (possibly a .357 magnum) pointing at me saying "What are you doing here?" This was exciting. Very exciting. I can recommend it for all of you who are jaded. He ended up phoning my boss who said it was o.k., etc. Well...if you know what I mean, you will love this book. Cheers, Walter
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