Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 22:23:47 06/12/02
Go up one level in this thread
On June 12, 2002 at 14:31:57, Slater Wold wrote:
>Where'd you come up with the name?
>
>Crafty, Fritz, Junior, Rebel, Chess Tiger, Movei, Ferret, Monsoon, etc., etc.
>
>
>Where'd they all come from?
Chess Tiger wasn't called Chess Tiger at the begining.
Actually my first chess program written for TRS-80 in 1982 was called "Sparph".
Don't ask me why. It means nothing anyway. I guess starting with a "S" was
mandatory for the fan of Sargon I was, but the rest was semi-random.
When I started again in C in 1992, I called it "Mako" (which in creole, the
language of the french antilles, means "curious"). My girlfriend called me a
"mako" all the time because I wanted to know (and to see, and to touch :)
everything. I thought it was a good name for a chess program.
The next year a guy I was working with and who knew I was working on a chess
program asked me "how is CT chess doing?". I realized that using a name with the
CT initials was very convenient. So I decided to find such a name, and to change
it (keeping the same initials) if the name was already taken or challenged at
some point.
"Chess" was obvious for the "C". But for the "T" I had several choices. "Terror"
was not exactly friendly. As I love cats, I finally decided that "Tiger" was
fine.
In 1993 I changed again because I suddenly wanted my program to have a female
name. So I renamed it to "Tigress" (which probably means nothing in english, I
did not check). In french "tigresse" is the female of the tiger. Just remove the
final "e" and it sounds english. Et voilà.
After a while I discovered that "Tigress" did not work well as the name of a
chess program. People did not remember it and distorted it too much. Too much
work explaining the name over and over again. And I think that it's much better
to have the word "Chess" in the name of a chess program (from a marketing point
of wiew).
So in 1994 I went back to "Chess Tiger".
I admit that at the begining my program did not deserve the "tiger" part of its
name. I think it's getting better now. :)
I think the real motive behind this name is that my chess program has the same
initials as I have. So there is some kind of identification between the program
and myself. I guess a shrink would have a lot to say about this. But I prefer to
admit it before somebody else mentions it.
The good thing is that I can't stand my program losing, so I'll always be very
keen in improving it.
The bad thing is that if at some point I can't improve it I might go crazy. :)
But I am already. So I don't care.
Christophe
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