Author: Wayde Beasley
Date: 08:50:31 01/07/01
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On January 07, 2001 at 08:15:06, Mogens Larsen wrote: >On January 06, 2001 at 11:40:11, Wayde Beasley wrote: > >>Mann apparently can get no one to help out with Winboard and is the de facto el >>presidente of the software. I looked at the code and am too dumb to help out. >>If I could, I would b/c I don't like re-inventing the wheel. But, if I cannot >>help Mann and he says nobody else is helping him, yet I still want to do the >>Freeboard thing, then by golly I'm stuck with VB6. [no, I ain't going to learn >>C, period end paragraph] > >Well, at least you're making an effort to try and improve the shortcomings of >WinBoard. It doesn't matter for most people I imagine if it's in the shape of an >entirely different program or what programming language is used. When it's >finished I'll be more than happy to try it out and offer my opinions about it, >so I wish you good luck on your continued efforts. > >Your project has made me notice and think about the fact that very few of the >primary users, ie. the engine programmers, contributes anything at all to the >WinBoard project except sometimes their engine. Almost everything depends on Tim >Mann when it comes to actual development, which seems rather unfair. The man >that contributed to the improved WinBoard look, Mark Williams, was soon >forgotten. That seems like a very laissez-faire attitude to me given how much >they depend on it. A shame considering the amount of programming talent involved >with developing engines for WinBoard. But maybe it's too difficult. > >I get the impression that most of the programmers involved prefer WinBoard to >have a slightly nerdy reputation. Nothing else matters but a good protocol and >bare essentials. Some would probably prefer an ASCII board representation >instead of those fancy graphics. > >Maybe Tim Mann should stop using more time on WinBoard in order to provoke >people to make contributions. Sadly, I don't think that would work. Nothing >would happen at all. > >Mogens. Take a look at the code and please tell me, an admitted programming neophyte, that it is not spaghetti code. As such, it's no wonder Mann is the only man maintaining WinBoard -- to get in means studying the idiosyncracies of the code. The greatest thing about WinBoard, allow me to suggest, is the creation of a chess engine communication convention, a settings of standards that the entire industry has coalesced around and supported. Mann has amply documented the protocol and it works. Fact is, without that protocol WinBoard would have been long forgotten.
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