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Subject: Re: Bitmaps and offsets

Author: Ernst A. Heinz

Date: 13:11:44 12/03/97

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On December 03, 1997 at 15:54:41, Don Dailey wrote:
>
>[...] The only possible problem with Cilkchess is the extra state
>I will have to carry around.  We basically encapsulate the position and
>supporting data structures for searching, in a structure we can neatly
>pass up the search tree and across processors.  This turned out to be
>much more efficient than I thought it would be and is quite workable
>even
>for a serial program.  We never unmake() a move and do not have a
>"master"
>board.  We do try to minimize the total amount of state, the rotated bit
>boards will add somewhat to this state but it may be worth it.

Yes, copying is efficient on the Alpha -- in "DarkThought" we can switch
between a global board with make()/unmake() move and copying with make()
move only. With board data structures <= 256 bytes both settings perform
about equal on the Alpha but *not* on most x86 CPUs where a global board
with make()/unmake() is much faster.

With our brand new board data structure that comprises only 128 bytes
copying may well be faster on the Alpha ...

> One possibility now that we have the superior bitmap data structure is
> to measure mobility by counting squares not attacked by certain pieces,
> probably just pawns.

This is exactly how "DarkThought" has always done it and we are quite
satisfied with it.

=Ernst=



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