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Subject: Re: Search algorithms

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 09:59:07 11/10/03

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On November 10, 2003 at 11:39:07, Dave Gomboc wrote:

>On November 10, 2003 at 11:35:58, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>
>>On November 08, 2003 at 11:08:41, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>
>>>On November 07, 2003 at 14:14:08, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>
>>>>On November 06, 2003 at 22:31:49, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On November 06, 2003 at 20:43:58, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On November 06, 2003 at 19:46:29, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On November 06, 2003 at 11:22:54, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On November 06, 2003 at 09:47:32, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>On November 06, 2003 at 08:33:49, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>On November 06, 2003 at 05:45:53, Renze Steenhuisen wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>Depth-First Algorithms:
>>>>>>>>>>>  AlphaBeta (Fail-hard, Fail-Soft)
>>>>>>>>>>>  MTD(f)
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>Best-First Algorithms:
>>>>>>>>>>>  SSS*
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>The distinction between the three (and best-first and depth-first)
>>>>>>>>>>is very hazy, read "Research re: search and research" by Aske Plaat.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>--
>>>>>>>>>>GCP
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Eh?  The distinction is _huge_.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>One searches the tree in one direction and requires very little memory.  The
>>>>>>>>>other searches the tree in another direction and requires huge memory.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I'm not sure how you could say that the distinction is very hazy.  They
>>>>>>>>>are as different as night and day...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>However, MTD(infinity) is equivalent to (searches exactly the same tree as) SSS.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>That's fine.  A best-first (breadth-first) search can search _exactly_
>>>>>>>the same tree as a minimax (depth-first) search also.  Doesn't mean a
>>>>>>>thing about how similar the two approaches are, however...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>However, the trees are grown differently.    I don't think any book I
>>>>>>>know of uses the actual search space as a way to define a search
>>>>>>>strategy...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~jonathan/Grad/plaat.phd.ps
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Dave
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Fine, but the point is that in this particular case, they are not as different
>>>>>>as night and day. :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Dave
>>>>>
>>>>>They are different in the base algorithm.  They are different in their
>>>>>memory requirements.  They are different in the order in which they search
>>>>>the tree.  They are different in how hashing may (or may not) work.
>>>>
>>>>They are *NOT* different in the order in which they search the tree.  The
>>>>traversal order is identical.
>>>>
>>>>Dave
>>>
>>>Sorry but that is _wrong_.  It might be true for _one_ example.  But
>>>the topic was the two classes of search, best-first and breadth-first.
>>>They do _not_ in general, search the trees in the same order.
>>>
>>>By their very definition.
>>>
>>>Otherwise there would be no breadth-first or depth-first discussions
>>>in search theory.
>>
>>No, the topic was not about best-first and depth-first, it was about the
>>specific search algorithms GCP mentioned.
>>
>>Dave
>
>http://www.talkchess.com/forums/1/message.html?325994
>
>Hmm, looks like GCP made reference to specific algorithms, but also general ones
> in parentheses.  I was focussing on the specific ones, I guess you focused on
>the general ones. :-)
>
>Dave

That was my point.  breadth-first and depth-first, _by definition_ don't
search the same nodes in the same order, with the one exception of a tree
where each side has exactly one move at any position.  Of course, that is
a trivial case for chess although such positions do exist.

But, nonetheless, I still disagree with the idea that SSS* and mtd(f) search
the same trees in the same order.  They don't.  At least no implementation of
SSS* and mtd(f) that I know of.  The re-searching is a problem, and you can't
possibly do mtd(f) without the re-searching.




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