Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: How To Fairly Allocate Resources Between 2 multitasking Chess Programs

Author: fca

Date: 11:16:03 08/12/98

Go up one level in this thread


On August 12, 1998 at 11:46:18, Mark Young wrote:

>On August 12, 1998 at 11:13:06, fca wrote:
>
>>This has arisen from a post by Mr Langrath elsewhere.
>>
>>If multitasking two chess programs on one PC, and playing a game between
>>them, how does one "fairly" allocate resources between them?
>>
>>I accept there is no question of properly deducing playing strength in such a
>>scenario.  That is NOT the objective, therefore.
>>
>>0. What does "fairly" mean?
>>
>>1. RAM?
>>
>>2. CPU %?
>>
>>3. Idle / background priority?
>>
>>4, Thinking Time set on program?
>>
>>and especially
>>
>>5. Should permanent brain be switched off on one or both programs?
>>
>>Ideas on how to arrive at the answers, please, or better still - the answers
>>themselves. :-)

>When I test programs on one computer I used a CPU meter, so I would know if one
>of the programs was taking any cpu. Some programs will, even with permanent
>brain off.

Programmer guesses a competitor may be running... So keeps reading the keyboard
intensively, or doing some other hogging.  They are a sly lot.  Of course
motives cannot be attributed for sure! ;-)

> Or some programs like Nimzo98 do not have permanent brain option. In
>either case what you need to do is open up an option box in the program like
>level or database or something like that. Check the cpu meter till you find
>something that stops the program for taking any cpu.Then have the other program
>think while the option box is still opened in the other.

Good suggestion!

BTW, I suspect (by virtue of solving time variation, not attributable to hash
table effects as program probably had none and anyway the behaviour was
reproducible from clean start-up) one program of starting thinking even in setup
position, as you enter the pieces, once kings are on the board.  It was for the
ZX Spectrum, so I cannot check any more.  It either assumed WTM or needed that
input of Who to Move before commencing Setup!  Of course, each time you
added/subtracted a piece, it reinitialised thinking.  Cunning way of improving
solving times.

Re all the other points, Mark?

Kind regards

fca



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.