Author: Tom Kerrigan
Date: 00:59:17 04/26/00
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On April 25, 2000 at 10:06:38, Bas Hamstra wrote: >On April 25, 2000 at 08:16:11, Jerry Adams wrote: > >> >> I'm assuming that since there are only a dozen programs currently rated over >>2400+ that it must be extremely difficult to program a IM/GM level program. >>Does this effort require Above Average ability in programming? If so Why is it >>so difficult? Is it just as difficult to becomne a 2400+ programmer as it is to >>become a Grandmaster? These Questions are asked out of curiosity. I think one >>tends to appreciate these super programms more when you understand the work >>which is behind it. > >To make a 2150 program is a piece of cake. But to make it progress to 2350 is >years of hard work. I think there is hardly any PC top program with less >development history in it then at least 5 years. > >Regards, >Bas Hamstra. I don't think writing a chess program is a piece of cake at all. Simply understanding the rules of chess is not very easy. Implementing the rules in a reasonably fast, accurate (!) way is difficult. Judging from students I know, I think it would take 3 semesters of a CS degree program before someone is equipped to tackle the problem. On top of that, you have to know about alpha-beta. I have met a number of CS grads who remember that minmax/alpha-beta is an algorithm but can't remember what it's used for, much less how to implement it. And I'm sure that even the best AI classes would not cover stuff like quiescence searches. Of course, now that massive online resources exist, people can simply surf the web and immediately see exactly how to do this stuff. It took me about a year to write a solid program (I started in ~1994). Now I get all sorts of e-mail from people who download TSCP, read it carefully, and write their own strong programs in a matter of days or weeks. It's a little annoying, but I guess that's progress. -Tom
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