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Subject: Re: Impossible

Author: Gabor Szots

Date: 03:51:03 11/28/03

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On November 28, 2003 at 06:44:44, Odd Gunnar Malin wrote:

>On November 28, 2003 at 06:40:16, Gabor Szots wrote:
>
>>On November 28, 2003 at 06:12:43, Odd Gunnar Malin wrote:
>>
>>>On November 28, 2003 at 05:00:49, martin fierz wrote:
>>>
>>>>just a short question:
>>>>
>>>>if i rip assembler stuff like popcount and firstone from the crafty source, but
>>>>the rest of my program is entirely different, am i doing something wrong?
>>>>
>>>>if i use the kogge-stone floodfill algorithms posted here by steffan westcott,
>>>>am i doing something wrong?
>>>>
>>>
>>>As soon as you start copying code from another source I think it is cheating if
>>>you want to participate in a competition with your program.
>>>
>>>>how much foreign code is allowed?
>>>
>>>None.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>cheers
>>>>  martin
>>>>
>>>>PS: i use a table-based popcount, not crafty's assembly code. i use a modified
>>>>version of crafty's lastone. i don't use steffan's floodfill code, but i plan to
>>>>give it a try.
>>>
>>>This is not cheating because here you have learned an idea you want to test it
>>>yourself.
>>>
>>>There is a difference in what you want to do with your program.
>>>- If it is a private app. you can do what you want (no one can check).
>>>- If you want your app. to be public you have to get permision from the author.
>>>- If you want to participate in a public tournament you have to write it all
>>>yourself or add the orgin to your team (with permission).
>>>
>>>Some borderlines:
>>>- Fritz's (or others) booklearning code. In a tournament this isn't of any help
>>>but as soon as the competition is match play then the author of the code is also
>>>part of the team and the tournament rule decide if more than one engine can use
>>>it. ( I have to add that CB probably learned some of the learningcode from Hyatt
>>>(I think it was mention here a year back), but this is an article in a paper
>>>(ICCA) and not copying of codes.)
>>>- Nalimov's egtb code. Here too is he part of the team so if the tourney only
>>>allow an author to participate with one entry, only one entry should use his
>>>code.
>>>- Opening book, same as for the egtb code.
>>>
>>>The extreme case that someone seems to not think of as a clone is to start with
>>>tscp or gerbil and modify it.
>>>I think even when you have modified all the code you should still not be allowed
>>>in a tournament without the orgin's permission and added to the team.
>>>Basicly here you add a startrating of 1600-2000 for your engine in contrast with
>>>one who start from scratch where the engine would be below 1000 the first tries.
>>>
>>>BUT it is allowed to look into other code when you are learning, or hunting for
>>>ideas. This is probably the cause that the code is open.
>>>If you draw similarities with normal chess, you study theory books (papers)
>>>before a tournament and in some variants you want to look into other sourcecode
>>>(games) to see how this works in a real game. What you aren't allowed to is to
>>>bring with you these books and games when you write your own code (play your
>>>game).
>>>
>>>I would have wanted that authors that release the sourcecode had spend a litle
>>>time to write some pseudo code instead to show the unique idea and publish this
>>>instead of the code. This would have forced people to learn the code and test it
>>>througout before they can use it.
>>>
>>>Bruce Morland's site is an excellent sample of this. If you still don't
>>>understand his ideas after reading it several times you can take a peep at a
>>>sourcecode where the ideas are implemented.
>>>
>>>Another sample could be the three-four line Hyatt added after the booklearning
>>>stuff in ICCA 1, 1999 about positional learning. These few lines of words are
>>>all you need to implement positional learning into your engine.
>>>
>>>Odd Gunnar
>>
>>
>>It is impossible to write a chess program without using some knowledge already
>>invented. Even starting from scratch. All structural elements should be the
>>same, since basic principles (PV search, iterative deepening, etc.) are well
>>published.
>>
>>Should everyone ask permission of Chrilly Donninger if null-move pruning is
>>implemented in his program?
>>
>>Shall Albert Einstein give creadit to his predecessors who invented the
>>mathematical weapons upon which he based his general relativity theory?
>>
>>There is simply only one answer to the cloning question: don't publish those
>>parts of your source which you don't want others to use. After that, if the
>>source is still indentical, it was invented independently.
>>
>>Gábor
>
>Either you didn't read what I wrote, or I'm a bad writer. The later could very
>well be the case.

Hi Odd-Gunnar,

I'm afraid it is me who is a bad reader. It looks as if we were in agreement
here.

Gábor



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