Author: pete
Date: 04:43:53 03/29/01
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On March 29, 2001 at 00:22:03, Robert Hyatt wrote: >> >>There was an extremely nice answer to this and similar posts published in the >>German CSS magazine in an article by Chrilly Donninger some time ago. >> >>It would simply be great if it could be put to the Web ; it explained how the >>autoplayer started and developped and really opened my eyes . >> >>After reading it I understood the problems of the autoplayer and the reasons for >>them much better . >> >>I don't know who holds the rights for it but it was >> >>a.) very convincing >>b.) understandable to any non-programmer guy , too . >> >>pete > > >Don't believe everything you read. Thanks for the tip . I wrote serial I/O multiplexing code >using an 8080 microprocessor. I had _no_ timing dependencies. If you see >old pictures of Cray Blitz and my electronic chess board, you will see a >chess board with a built-in modem, all driven by a Z80 microprocessor. That >thing talked to the cray, to the chess board, and to a dumb terminal so we could >see what the Cray was thinking. Maintaining three separate streams of data >context. Nary a timing issue. > >There were ways to write auto232 without the timing nonsense. It simply wasn't >done. > >And as a result, it belongs in a "hefty bag" if you know what I mean. :) Well , actually I am under the impression you haven't read the article mentioned. Unfortunately the CSS homepage is down and I don't have it handy either currently. From what I remember the autoplayer initially was nothing more than a side-product of the implementation for support of an existing electronical chessboard Auto232 . I don't remember the exact numbers now but the memory limitations were extreme . The article explained the reasons for some technical shortcomings very well . The article agreed that the implementation might not be very well at all and encouraged people to simply write something better if they don't like the product quoting a similar statement from you about Crafty :-). pete
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