Author: Richard Pijl
Date: 15:03:28 06/27/03
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On June 27, 2003 at 12:41:04, Russell Reagan wrote: >I'm interested to learn what the programming experience is of people who have >written strong chess programs. > >For instance, what did the commercial engine authors do before they were full >time chess programmers? Were they professional programmers in another field? > >What about people who have written strong amateur programs? Do they work as >professional programmers, or have professional programming experience? > >Even if you don't consider your engine strong, I'd still like to hear what kind >of programming experience you have, even if it's, "I learned QBasic in high >school." That's where I started :) > >Thanks, >Russell My first steps into computer programming was on a TI SR-56. This calculator had room for 100 steps/instructions which was sufficient to play simple games. More serious programming started in Basic on the COM-X 35 (RCA 1802 based home computer with built-in joystick). But looking back at it, it was mostly typing in magazine computer listings and adapting to the computer specifics than real programming. That started when I bought an Acorn Electron. On this machine I wrote my first serious programs (e.g. a competition manager for the youth department of the chess club) in BBC Basic. In the meantime I started studying Applied Computer Science at the Delft University of Technology. After several more hobby projects (like new version of the competition manager, now in Pascal for PC) I started to work as a software designer for a major Telecom Equipment vendor (network management). Altough I did perform numerous programming assignments in those years, my interest in programming as a pastime faded. I just could not find the projects that would motivate me to complete it. I considered trying to build my own computer program rather pointless at the time as I could buy much stronger ones than I would ever be able to produce. About two years ago I decided to give it a try. I was no longer programming in my job (I switched to Marketing & Sales / Technical Sales support) so my fingers started itching. I wanted to build an analysis engine for endgame analysis. I soon found out that modifying an existing engine that was strong enough to do what I wanted would be rather difficult. Of course, the Crafty source is not really intended as an introduction course computer chess programming... So I decided to start with TSCP, extend it (which meant throwing out TSCP code and add my own) and read a lot of other sources like Beowulf, Resp, Arasan and, of course, Crafty. The result of that is the Baron. A program that, by the way, resembles TSCP now only in the name of some commands, and names in the datastructuress and functions. Tom's code is all gone. Nevertheless I'm planning to start all over again, as the current code is starting to resemble a plate of noodles. But those plans may remain just that as I'm still busy improving the Baron. Richard.
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