Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 12:05:43 10/29/02
Go up one level in this thread
On October 29, 2002 at 13:38:51, Russell Reagan wrote: >On October 29, 2002 at 13:01:54, Bob Durrett wrote: > >>Available in near future? > >I doubt it. Chess programming is an awfully narrow domain. How many chess >programmers are there world-wide? The world also doesn't have a great demand for >more. I don't think a university would do this because at most they might >attract one or two persons. > >I also think it's ridiculous to compare chess programming to brain surgery. >There is a vital purpose for brain surgery in society, thus the acceptance of >such a narrow (actually quite broad, but narrow in the sense of "everything") >specialty. > >Perhaps something more broad would be acceptable, such as a degree in CS, with a >minor (or masters, PhD, whatever) in artificial intelligence, which would cover >not only chess but go, other board games, as well as real time stuff. There's at >least an established market for these kinds of things in computer games (of >which chess is a tiny part), speech recognition software, image recognition, >etc. That degree could help contribute something, where a chess programming >degree probably isn't going to really contribute anything. Chess is just a >domain for exploring new ideas in AI, parallel search, or whatever your interest >is. Dr. Hyatt could have just as easily chosen checkers or go as his game of >choice. > >BTW, where do you come up with this off the wall stuff? It's interesting, but I >wonder about you sometimes :) Russell, unlike you, I am retired and have nothing better to do than to monitor [and occasionally offer comments to] a chess programming bulletin board. Your situation is different. You only recently graduated from college and still have your entire long career ahead of you. You have options!!! You really could specialize in the development of specialty software [including chess software] if you wanted to. Earning a living from chess software may be a real possibility for you. You could also use it as a second source of income. Look at Bill Gates. He was much like you not so long ago. He had an idea and he made his idea happen. You could do that too! My perspective is also different from yours. Since my memory is still essentially intact [i.e. I'm not senile yet], I can remember when Computer Science didn't exist. That allows me to have a historical perspective and to be able to see certain generalities which you may not see yet. [But you will, in another 40 years.] On the other hand, you are "in the thick of things" in the chess software arena and can see technical detail which I cannot see at all. [It would be pointless for me to get into that since I will be here for only a few more years at best.] Essentially, it's a tradeoff. The nice thing about a bulletin board is that it allows different people with different perspectives to contribute ideas which a single specialty might not think about. CCC should celebrate it's diversity! Bob D. > >Russell
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.