Author: Graham Laight
Date: 02:09:26 04/26/00
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On April 25, 2000 at 18:13:32, Robert Hyatt 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. > > >You need the following: > >persistence. If you give up easily, this isn't the right thing to undertake. >It takes time, effort, you will make many mistakes and false-starts, and get >discouraged. > >reasonable chess skill. If you don't understand a backward pawn, or a weak >square complex, or a pawn majority, or whatever, then your program can't >possibly understand them easily. It might be a symbiotic process, as I am >sure that my chess skill (at least the positional understanding part) has >gotten way better over the years. > >reasonable programming skill. You don't have to be a 'superstar'. Although >chess programming might eventually turn you into one, over time. > >I think most anybody _can_ do it. But not very many _will_ do it. There are many people out there who would like to create their own chess program, and I believe there's an opportunity for someone to sell a toolkit to create such a program (just as there's money to be made making car kits, clock kits, etc). I'm talking here, btw, about a kit that makes it quick and easy to make a program. In 1997, I proposed an idea for how this could work: very briefly, I proposed the creation of a set of components for making an evaluation function from. Then I proposed a database of chess positions which the user could create themselves. Then, for each chess position, the user would be able to create an evaluation function (wha is important to look at varies from position to position). In play, when evaluating a node, the program would select the position from the database which most closely matches the current node, and would use the evaluation function to assess the position. Possibly not the perfect way to play the best chess - but conceptually an easy thing for people to understand! I'm frankly a little disappointed that nobody has taken up this idea. -g
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