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Subject: Re: Using Tablebase Code

Author: José Carlos

Date: 06:41:56 05/28/01

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On May 28, 2001 at 03:55:15, Ed Schröder wrote:

>On May 27, 2001 at 22:57:39, Peter McKenzie wrote:
>
>>On May 27, 2001 at 20:26:47, Bruce Moreland wrote:
>>
>><snip>
>>>
>>>I think it is interesting that so many people use the Nalimov stuff without any
>>>concern that at some point while the program is playing, it is not their program
>>>actually playing.  That idea bothered me enough that I wrote my own stuff.
>>
>>Yes, this is one of the reasons (if not the main one) that I haven't put them
>>into LambChop.  It just goes against the grain for me to copy someone elses code
>>into my program.  I don't think this is a cut and dry issue and I have nothing
>>against those using tablebases, but the more I think about it the more I suspect
>>that I'll never include Nalimov support in my program.
>>
>>There are a number of ways to look at it.  You could say that I didn't write the
>>standard C library either, and yet I see fit to link that into my chess program.
>> How are tablebases any different?  Well, in some sense they aren't, and really
>>the Nalimov user should be applauded for demonstrating excellent software
>>re-use!
>>
>>But then writing a chess program isn't an exercise in software re-use otherwise
>>we wouldn't do it at all, we'd all just go out and buy the latest Fritz or
>>Shredder or Tiger or whatever.  At some point you have to draw the line about
>>what you are *not* going to re-use, of course that is a personal choice but
>>there are also rules that apply for tournaments.
>>
>>Tablebase use is accepted practice these days, although I think it violates the
>>old ICCA rules and I'm not sure if they've updated those rules yet.  Those rules
>>were there to stop things like people taking crafty and modifying a few lines
>>and entering it into a tournament.  Now this isn't quite the same as using
>>tablebases, though there are *similarities* - both involve using someone else's
>>chess algorithm code.  The fundamental differene being that convention has come
>>down in favour of using tablebases which is fine by me but not fine for me.
>>
>>Well, enough rambling from me - got to go work on my new 7 man tablebase
>>compression scheme.
>
>:-)
>
>1.. When I started chess programming I bought a TRS-80 with borrowed money,
>the PC wasn't even mine.
>
>2.. To develop my first chess program I bought an assembler program because
>I was too lazy to write one myself.
>
>3.. I use alpha-beta, good for 90% of Rebel's strength and the idea isn't mine.
>
>4.. I use hash-tables, I did not invented it.
>
>5.. I use an iterative searching, aspiration search, killers, Q-Search all
>got it from others.
>
>6.. The opening book is not written by me, heck even its format is not mine.
>
>What is left are the bugs, these are definitely mine.
>
>Ed

  Speaking seriously, the good thing of having "borrowed" all those things, is
that you can make something new beyond the known things. If you had to reinvent
all of that, a whole life wouldn't be enough to make something new.

  José C. (inventor of bugs)



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