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Subject: Re: Where should i Get started...

Author: Andreas Guettinger

Date: 16:15:01 07/13/02

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On July 12, 2002 at 22:54:42, Zachariah S Edwardson wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I am wanting to learn chess programming.  I have a CS minor and I do know how
>min-max and alpha-beta searches work.  I know there are many programs code to
>download.  Which programs should I look at and any web pages I should look at?
>or is my programming knowlege too little to be able to program a chess program.
>
>Thanks
>
>Zach Edwardson

I would not worry about the knowledge. Most of it you can gain as you get along
with your engine. Basic knowledge about minimax and alpha-beta help you to
start, and a move generator is pretty easy to write. When you want to build new
stuff into your engine, just read the sections in the mentioned websites and
search this forum...
One thing that is important to begin on an easy level, and then build more
things in when you finished debugging. I saw programmers fail because they
started with a new revolutionary concept in mind. :)

To further encourage you:
I am just a graduate student in microbiology. I never had a programming lecture
in my life and all I know about C I read in a C and a C++ book. I knew minimax
and alpha-beta from a For_in_a_row game I previously wrote. At the beginning of
the year a friend encouraged me to write a chess engine.
Right now, my engine has:
alpha-beta
qsearch
basic eval (material and psq tables),
a piece list (hi Dann! ;))
basic move sorting,
had MVV/LVA and since this evening, has SEE. (Hi Sargon :))

What you really need is patience and be willing to spend a lot of time for chess
programming.

Andreas



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